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Dental care can be expensive. In fact, many people put off dental treatment due to high costs. Whether you’re holding back due to a lack of insurance or high copays and benefit caps with your dental insurance plan, there are options for free, low cost, or sliding scale dental care. It’s important to note that the availability of these services will depend on where you live. While some options are open to everyone, others depend on your income level or eligibility for government programs....

Receiving an endometriosis diagnosis can mean a lot of changes to your lifestyle. It may mean that you have to take medication long term, adjust your diet and/or undergo surgery. Depending on the severity of your endometriosis and the treatment options your healthcare provider recommends for you, there are some strategies you can adopt to cope better. Emotional Many women with endometriosis struggle with mental health issues, either directly or indirectly related to the condition....

Receiving a diagnosis of eosinophilic gastritis and/or eosinophilic duodenitis (EG/EoD) may bring a host of changes to your lifestyle, as well as many different emotions. This disease affects the digestive system, causing inflammation. For that reason, it causes symptoms such as abdominal pain and nausea that can affect your ability to take part in daily activities. In addition, EG/EoD is a chronic condition for some, which can lead to having concerns about the future....

My mom is the strongest woman I know, a two-time breast cancer survivor. In 1993, she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. This was before science knew that there are genetic causes or genetic links to cancer. This article is part of Breast Cancer and Black Women, a destination in our Health Divide series. Meet the Author Erika Stallings is a lawyer, writer, and patient advocate based in New York City....

The esophagus is the muscular tube that connects the back of the throat (or pharynx) with the stomach. Its main job is to deliver food, liquids, and saliva to the rest of the digestive system. Along its course, it runs down the neck, through the thorax (chest cavity), before entering the abdominal cavity, which contains the stomach. This essential organ can be impacted by a number of health conditions—most commonly gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but also esophageal cancer, heartburn, and eosinophilic esophagitis, among others....

Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) is a malabsorptive condition that occurs when the pancreas fails to produce important digestive enzymes. Without these enzymes, the body cannot properly digest food and absorb nutrients, particularly fat. EPI most often occurs in people who have conditions affecting the pancreas, though they often don’t have symptoms until the condition has become advanced. Symptoms The initial symptoms of EPI can be vague, mild, and similar to other gastrointestinal illnesses....

Issues around food and eating are common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are several reasons for this. Many have health issues that make it unpleasant or even painful to eat. For others, the same hypersensitivity that makes an autistic child unable to tolerate loud noises or itchy fabric extends to certain food smells and textures. Kids with autism also often have traits and behaviors that make eating a challenge....

What Is Gilenya? Gilenya (fingolimod) is an immune modulator used to treat people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). It belongs to a class of medications called sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulators. In MS, the immune system attacks your central nervous system (CNS), which causes your symptoms. Gilenya is metabolized to the active metabolite fingolimod-phosphate, which blocks lymphocytes from emerging from lymph nodes. Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell released by the immune system to fight infection or disease....

One important step in choosing the right doctor is to do a background check on that physician. You can research a doctor’s credentials to be sure he or she is competent to take care of you. It’s not always possible to research ahead of time. For example, you may be assigned a doctor in an emergency room or you must see a different doctor because yours is out when you arrive for an appointment....

Hyper-progression (or hyperprogression) is a term that is used to describe the accelerated (more rapid than expected) growth or progression of a cancer after treatment is initiated. While witnessed rarely in the past with other therapies, hyperprogression has become more common with the addition of immunotherapy drugs to treat some advanced cancers. Medications such as Opdivo (nivolumab) and Keytruda (pembrolizumab) can sometimes lead to a durable response (long-term control) of even very advanced cancers, but may also result in hyperprogression in an estimated 3% to 29% of people depending on the type of cancer—progression that may be associated with lower survival....

Hypoplasia surgery can include a number of different surgical interventions aimed at rectifying hypoplasia, which is incomplete development of an organ in the body. While hypoplasia is usually congenital and can involve any part of the body, corrective surgery is most frequently used to treat hypoplasia of the heart, blood vessels, lungs, or gastrointestinal (GI) system. Typically, these procedures are done during childhood, and optimal correction might involve more than one separate operation....

The knees are the joints most often affected by osteoarthritis (OA). Knee arthritis occurs when the cartilage in the knee breaks down, which can happen due to aging, being overweight, or injury, among other things. The disease process begins before symptoms—pain, stiffness, and motion restriction—are noticed. Because of this and the fact that knee osteoarthritis is a progressive disease, getting a diagnosis and proper treatment as early as possible is key....

Kyphoplasty (also known as “vertebral augmentation”) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that treats spine compression fracture associated with osteoporosis, tumor growth, or injury. Depending on the case, kyphoplasty can be performed while a patient is put to sleep, or while they’re awake and under local anesthesia. It’s typically an outpatient surgery. Most are able to go home the same day. An engaged and informed patient is essential to the success of the procedure....

When it comes to age, multiple sclerosis (MS) doesn’t discriminate. Although most people are between 20 and 50 when they’re diagnosed, the disease can strike folks who are older. This is called late-onset MS and it’s commonly defined as the occurrence of the first MS symptoms after age 50. The way the disease manifests in late-onset MS can be different from what normally happens in adult-onset MS, which most commonly affects people in their mid-20s and 30s....

Children who have autism tend to love a few things very intensely. Play therapists have, for many years, built on these passions to help children learn skills such as collaboration, communication, and symbolic thinking. Now, a group of researchers finds that LEGO building toys are a particularly fruitful tool for autism therapy—and a great way to help children with autism build an interest they can share with their typical peers....

Liver lesions are abnormal growths of cells in the liver. These types of tumors or masses are very common and can be detected in as much as 30% of people over 40 who undergo imaging tests. The majority of liver lesions are benign (noncancerous) and usually don’t require treatment. But in some cases, liver lesions are a sign of disease or cancer and should be treated. Benign Liver Lesions These are non-cancerous masses that form in the liver, and they don’t typically cause health problems....

You can get Lyme disease after you are bitten by a tick, usually a deer tick, that is infected with the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria if the tick isn’t removed before 48 to 72 hours. Symptoms of infection can vary and depend on the disease stage. Early common symptoms include: A rash called erythema migransFeverHeadacheChillsFatigueJoint pain If left untreated, some people may present with unusual symptoms of Lyme disease, such as heart inflammation, irregular heartbeat, weakness, pain, sensory symptoms, and problems with memory or concentration....

The right to abortion care is being curtailed nationwide, and the reversal of Roe v. Wade is expected to restrict abortion services further. Telemedicine providers have played a key role in offering abortion care online, particularly in states with limited or banned abortions. And mail-order abortion pills could become even more prominent in the coming months. Key Takeaways State laws limiting abortion rights and clinic closures nationwide have made it increasingly difficult to access abortion services in recent years....

Each year, more than 290,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States. At diagnosis, about 6% of females have metastatic breast cancer, or cancer that has spread to other areas of the body. Others go on to develop metastatic breast cancer when cancer recurs. Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in women in the United States. Metastatic breast cancer causes most of the deaths from breast cancer....

It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between a migraine and a headache when you’re experiencing such a high level of pain and pressure in your head. Read about the differences between a migraine and a headache, the similarities, and more in this overview. What Is a Headache? Headaches are among the most common types of pain that people experience. There are over 150 different types of headaches, but they can be divided into two broad categories:...