Insurance companies usually cast a jaundiced eye on what they consider
”cosmetic” dentistry. Now, as a measure of how important a set of straight, interlocking teeth is to mental as well as physical health, researchers at the University of Iowa have developed the Dental Aesthetic Index.
Dentist Nathan Cons, sociologist Joanna Jenny and statistician Frank Kohout teamed up to analyze the reactions of 2,000 people to pictures of mouths full of teeth. Those surveyed were asked to characterize the pictures in terms ranging from attractive to unattractive and from beautiful to ugly, Psychology Today magazine says.
The results showed that visibly missing teeth made a mouth appear most ugly. Other problems that turned people off included overbites, crowded teeth, spacing troubles, irregular shapes and failure of teeth to properly meet.
Based on these responses, Kohout assigned each problem a score. Then he formulated an equation into which an individual`s specific problems can be plugged.
Cons, Jenny and Kohout hope to market the Dental Aesthetic Index to insurance companies, which will use it to decide when and how much cosmetic dentistry is warranted. The researchers also have proposed that the National Institute of Dental Research fund a study to show how Medicaid could use the index in determining how much orthodontic treatment is needed for its low-income clients.
ROUGHING IT
The number of people camping in National Park Service campgrounds is shrinking. But those who still care to spend a night or two in the forest either are of hardier stock or poorer than predecessors. It seems that while the overall number of campers is down, the percentage who sleep in tents is up.
In 1976, 9.3 million people camped in park service campgrounds, 58 percent of them in recreational vehicles, 42 percent in tents. In 1986 there were 8.3 million campers, 53 percent in RV`s and 47 percent in tents.
BURNED OUT
In Canada, 81 percent of impotent men smoke, while just 58 percent of men in the general population do, Bottom Line Personal newsletter reports. Smoking, theorize researchers at Queen`s University in Kingston, Ontario, may restrict blood flow to the penis. One in five smokers in a Canadian study had abnormal penile blood pressure; only one 12 nonsmokers did.
DUMBING DOWN
Women who marry smart men get smarter as they grow older, while those who marry less intelligent men appear to lose some intelligence over time, a 30-year study of 175 couples revealed. The study, begun at the University of Washington and directed by K. Warner Schaie, also found that husbands are less affected by the intelligence levels of their wives.
BABY JOCKS
The American Academy of Pediatrics says children shouldn`t begin playing team sports until age 6.