Thursday, July 3, 2008

Did You Know!!

When I first started medical school, I would send regular e-mail updates to family and friends back home. In some of those emails, I started the "Did You Know" segment where I shared various and sundry interesting (or ridiculously disgusting) facts from what I was learning. It was a popular segment, so here is the first DID YOU KNOW of my new blog! I hope you enjoy!

DID YOU KNOW...
If you have chronic bad breath, called halitosis, you might have something called a Zenker's Diverticulum! This is basically an outpouching near the top of your esophagus - what should be a smooth tube gets a little Gucci purse hangin' out the side. Sounds bad, eh?! But before you go running to your doctor, in order to be diagnosed with Zenker's, you also have to have serious difficulty swallowing. The bad breath occurs because food gets caught up in the outpouchings and basically starts to rot. NEAT!

But take heed: most of you who have bad breath just need to brush your teeth more often and floss. And it wouldn't hurt to buy some Scope.

NOW YOU KNOW!

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