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Dentists say teeth grinding is surging during COVID-19 pandemic

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — With the pandemic causing uncertainty, isolation and disruptions in routine, research has continued to show increases in far-reaching physical and mental health problems — and now, dentists are noting that teeth grinding and jaw clenching, known as bruxism, also seem to be on the rise.

“Since the pandemic, patients have been coming to me with new complaints of jaw pain, tooth pain, broken or chipped teeth or just because their partners are telling them they’re grinding — in numbers that I’ve never seen before,” Dr. Saul Pressner, a family dentist in New York City, said.

Clenching and grinding is a common problem, but Pressner said he has even treated adults whose teeth clenching issues are brand new.

“I’m really seeing both — people who were pre-disposed to clenching and grinding, who already had appliances made for them, and some who had no evidence to show they were ever clenching or grinding before,” Pressner said.

While the causes of bruxism are largely unknown, some experts believe this behavior is related to sleep patterns and processes within the central nervous system. There are a few risk factors that are associated with increased rates of bruxism, including anxiety, highly stressful life circumstances and heavy alcohol use — all things that have increased across the population this year.

“Patients admit to being more tense since the start of the pandemic,” said Dr. Yanell Innabi-Danial of River Town Dental in Dobbs Ferry, New York. “They exhibit tenderness radiating to head and neck muscles, causing headaches.”

The stress isn’t only affecting people while they sleep. It can persist into daytime grinding and clenching as well.

Patients are also clenching their jaws “while working, driving, and doing other activities during the day,” Innabi-Danial said, who noted that clenching and grinding can cause wear on the chewing surfaces of the teeth, which can lead to cavities and gum disease.

And bruxism isn’t just affecting adults. Children can experience it, too.

Dr. Kevin Simon, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Harvard, said he has seen an increase in patients with anxiety or other mental health-related disorders who make note of physical complaints such as headaches and jaw pain.

“Physical complaints are associated in no small part to the tension and stress they are carrying around in the form of clenching and grinding. More headaches, more tension in the jaw and neck,” Simon said. “Treating the underpinning mental health condition becomes essential to treating those symptoms.”

Ultimately, dentists and mental health professionals agree that tackling this issue will involve addressing stress and anxiety along with preventive dental care to ensure that complications don’t arise in the future.

“Night guards do not stop patients from clenching and grinding, but it does protect the teeth and joint while doing so,” Innabi-Danial said.

Mouth guards, however, can be cost-prohibitive, with few insurances covering the expense, and dentists also caution that over-the-counter guards may not adequately protect a patient’s teeth. Innabi-Danial said that if night guards, behavioral intervention, jaw and tongue exercises and a diet consisting of softer foods do not help, then patients can consider having Botox injected in their jaw muscle.

“Mouth guards are just one piece of it,” Pressner added. “I always recommend meditation, yoga, trying to separate their workspace from relaxation space, exercise, all those things for my patients as soon as I notice signs of teeth grinding. This can have so many benefits to their dental and jaw health down the line.”

America’s newest National Park and the debate over its designation

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. – With lockdowns closing businesses and athletic seasons getting canceled, Americans took to the outdoors in 2020. People walked, ran, and picked up sports like golf and tennis. Many also took trips to many of the nation’s public lands.

A recent report from the Outdoor Foundation found more than eight million Americans went hiking in 2020 compared to 2019. Americans have continued that trend in 2021, with attendance to National Parks reaching record numbers.

The New River Gorge in West Virginia was named the country’s 63rd National Park as part of the December COVID-19 relief bill, and although always well-known regionally, it has quickly turned into a popular outdoor destination.

“We have seen an uptick this year since the designation,” park superintendent Lizzie Watts tells ABC News. “We hope that uptick is tied to two things: that COVID gave a lot of people the opportunity to learn how safe being outdoors are, and [also] encouraged families to take hikes and go outside where we can actually do things.”

One of the oldest rivers in the entire world, fifty three miles of the New River flows through the park, surrounded by over 70,000 acres worth of scaling rock and lush green trees. The park is a haven for mountain bikers, hikers, rock climbers, and white water rafters. Visitors can also harness in and walk across a beam along the New River Gorge Bridge—one of West Virginia’s most-recognized landmarks.

With a stream of visitors coming in, Watts recommends people plan ahead of their trips:

“Know what the popular trails are, and then also have an alternative… Try to do it Monday through Friday if you can, early morning, later in the evening when there will be less people because part of your experience is you want that grandeur of enjoying it to yourself or with your party.”

Local businesses are expressing their excitement about the park’s new designation.

“This is a huge light that can be shone on how awesome it is to live here,” says Adam Stevens, the owner of the Arrowhead Bike Farm and Campground in Fayetteville.

Stevens tells ABC News his business saw a spike during COVID-19 pandemic, and anticipates another as a result of the National Park designation:

“Not only are we this amazing, iconic geological preservation… we’re also wildly popular activity point for outdoor people. So, that was what we had before all this happened. Then, through COVID we saw a spike. Now we have this National Park thing which brings a different type of visitor.”

At the Fayetteville equipment shop Water Stone Outdoors, co-owner Maura Kistler says they too noticed an increase in visitation:

“Foot traffic has been off the hook. We sit and look across the shop at each other all the time and I’m like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ And that is a great problem to have.”

She tells ABC News that businesses have been waiting for this moment and feel ready, but there is some concern about how the park’s infrastructure will hold up:

“The New River Gorge is National Park-standard ready… we just need a few more parking lots and need to get better about distributing visitors across our park. We need to use all the different trails and all the different overlooks. It’s been really easy to just send people to the standard spots and that’s doing visitors a disservice. We just need to get smarter about that and that’s what we’re working on now.”

There is another concern for one group in the region: public land access. It was a hotly debated topic as the state considered whether the area should be designated a National Park.

“A lot of us hunters… we feel the land was taken from us. That’s my stance on it, and I believe of a lot of other local people,” says Larry Case, writer for the blog Guns & Cornbread. He spent decades as a conservation officer and hunter in the New River Gorge.

Hunting is steeped in tradition in West Virginia, and was even one of the many outdoor activities that saw a pandemic boost.

Hunting did not stop in the New River Gorge, however. Changing the designation from a National River to a National Park and Preserve permitted hunting in most areas. Approximately ten percent of the land is a National Park, where hunting is no longer allowed. The other 90 percent is a preserve, where hunting is allowed.

Advocates say hunters lost just a small portion of land. Case tells ABC News, however, losing any land is impactful for hunters:

“Hunters need to be concerned about public land access… and we didn’t need to change the area to a National Park for the protection of the area… We’re not against tourism, not against National Parks. I just personally don’t see why they had to take this area away from hunters.”

There is a genuine understanding between competing groups. Maura Kistler told ABC what hunters experience with the National Park designation does amount to a loss:

“I know Larry Case. He’s a good man. The hunters have been expressing their concerns and dissatisfaction. They lost some hunting… these are hunting grounds that have been used for generations and that is never an easy thing to accept.”

Park superintendent Lizzie Watts acknowledged the role hunters play in conservation efforts and in curbing a growing deer population in the region.

“A lot of hunters are some of the best conservationists in the world… and we have a huge population of deer in particular… I truly think the best decisions are compromises… both of the parties feel very passionate about what they believe. I think we truly all respected his [Larry Case’s] side of the equation… the compromise that the senators came up with was a Park and Preserve where we get to do both.”

She says there was an effort to compromise and, ultimately, to try to do what is best for the park:

“I think the American public and the national visitors are the true winners because we have a place at this stage, and more people will know how unique this wonderful ecosystem is.”

Listen to the report on the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve here.

Biden backs Cuban protests as island’s president blames ‘imperialist’ provocations

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Monday released a statement in solidarity with the thousands of Cubans who protested over the weekend about shortages and rising prices for food and medicine amid the coronavirus pandemic in what’s being called an unprecedented rejection of the island nation’s government.

Cuba’s communist leadership has already denounced the protests as a “systemic provocation” by Cuban dissidents and the U.S. government, encouraged its supporters to counter protests, and sent its armed forces into the streets, risking clashes with demonstrators.

“We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime,” Biden said in a statement Monday.

“The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights. Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves,” he said.

Sunday’s protests, in several cities across the island, are some of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in Cuba’s recent history, and Biden had been called on to show support for the protests.

While he helped the Obama administration’s efforts to ease tensions with Cuba and reopen trade and travel, Biden has kept most of former President Donald Trump’s sanctions and restrictions in place on America’s close neighbor and longtime adversary.

The administration says it is still reviewing its Cuba policy, earning the ire of progressives in the Democratic Party, but with these nearly unprecedented demonstrations, it may have to move more quickly than it hoped.

So far, the administration has voiced support for the Cuban people’s right to peacefully assemble and condemned any violence. Prior to Biden’s statement, acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Julie Chung and Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan weighed in with that sentiment.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged public grievances over blackouts and food and medicine shortages during a televised address Monday, but he blamed the island nation’s problems on the long-standing U.S. embargo and accused American “imperialists” of stoking tensions on social media.

“Yesterday, Cuba lived the most heroic day. Thousands of patriotic people defend the Revolution,” he said on state television, referring to pro-government demonstrations in Havana later on Sunday.

“We do not want to hurt our beloved people,” added Díaz-Canel, who assumed the presidency in 2019 and became the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party this April, officially taking over for Raúl Castro.

Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla had even sharper words Monday, firing back at Sullivan and Chung’s statements of support for protests by saying the White House has “no political or moral authority to speak about Cuba.”

“His government has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to promote subversion in our country & implements a genocidal blockade, which is the main cause of economic scarcities,” he tweeted, referring directly to Sullivan’s statement.

Cuba is going through its worst economic crisis in decades, with its economy contracting by double-digits last year. But along with the economic crisis, the country is dealing with another deadly surge of COVID-19.

Surfside building collapse latest: Death toll rises to 94

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — The death toll of the devastating partial collapse of a 12-story residential building in Surfside, Florida last month rose to 94, officials announced Monday.

The recovery effort entered its 19th day on Monday and officials said 84 victims are now identified, 222 people are accounted for, and 22 are potentially unaccounted for.

Mayor Miami-Dade Daniella Cava also spoke about the weather’s impact on the recovery mission during a news conference Monday. She said that the weather service was embedded in the recovery efforts and that weather issues are expected for the next few days.

The mayor also said that police and medical examiner teams were working around the clock to identify victims and that 207 families have been served at a family assistance center.

The disaster occurred on June 24 around 1:15 a.m. local time at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex’s 136 units were destroyed, according to officials. The rest of the building was demolished, due to concerns over structural integrity and an incoming tropical storm.

The death toll has soared since the remainder of the condo building was destroyed and no longer posed a threat to the recovery search area.

While there is still much recovery work to be done, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters family members and first responders took part in a memorial walk on Saturday night and paid tribute to everyone who has supported the efforts.

Levine Cava thanked the search and rescue teams who came from Israel and provided two commanders with keys to the city before they departed back home.

“We took a moment to celebrate and thank the men and women from all the search and rescue teams … who have been working 24 hours a day for the last two and a half weeks,” she said.

The cause of the partial collapse to a building that has withstood decades of hurricanes remains unknown and is under investigation. Built in the 1980s, the Champlain Towers South was up for its 40-year recertification and had been undergoing roof work — with more renovations planned — when it partially collapsed, according to officials.

Surveys and inspections of the surrounding buildings are still ongoing.

Miami-Dade County official tests positive for COVID-19, raising concern about Surfside site

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MIAMI) — Jose “Pepe” Diaz, chairman of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners, has tested positive for COVID-19, his office announced in a statement Sunday night.

Diaz’s chief of staff, Isidoro Lopez, also tested positive for the virus.

“Both started experiencing flu-like symptoms earlier today and will be isolating,” the statement read. “Staff and others who have been in close contact with them will be getting tested between today and tomorrow.”

The two men have been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the statement.

Although the chances of contracting the novel coronavirus after being fully vaccinated are very rare, so-called breakthrough cases are still possible. Health officials and experts alike have warned that new, more contagious variants of the virus may be more effective at evading vaccines.

Diaz, 60, has been among the officials on the site of a condominium collapse in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Since the deadly disaster occurred before dawn on June 24, Diaz has been seen regularly attending press briefings and closed-door meetings. The news of his infection raises concern about a potential outbreak among those who have been on the site.

For weeks, hundreds of first responders from various search and rescue teams across Florida, the United States and even other countries have been combing through the vast wreckage in Surfside, pulling out bodies and belongings from the pancaked layers of rubble. During a press briefing on July 2, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky revealed that at least six workers have tested positive for COVID-19. The workers were members of the same task force but were no longer on the site. Investigators were conducting contact tracing and testing of all other workers, according to Cominsky.

It was unclear whether the infected workers were vaccinated or if anyone had been placed in quarantine.

The search for bodies is ongoing, as 22 people remain listed as missing. At least 94 people have been confirmed dead, according to officials.

Florida, home to some 21.5 million people, has reported more than 2.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 38,000 deaths from the disease. More than 43% of the Sunshine State’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

On Friday, the Florida Department of Health reported an increase in COVID-19 cases and a higher positive test rate over the past week. The number of newly confirmed cases rose by about 8,000 compared with the week prior, for a total of 23,747 new cases. Meanwhile, the rate of positive COVID-19 tests statewide was 7.8%, compared with 5.2% the week before.

Amazon users report website down

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — If you were trying to make a purchase on Amazon overnight, you may have run into some issues.

Several users went on Twitter to complain that they couldn’t get past the homepage after logging into their accounts or that they weren’t able to complete their purchases.

The website Downdetector, which tracks outages, says there were more than 38,000 reports of users having trouble with Amazon’s site after 11 p.m. ET Sunday.

Service on the site has since been restored.

Biden statement on Cuba protests: ‘We stand with the Cuban people’

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Sunday’s protest was one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in Cuba in recent history and Biden has been called on to show support for the protests.

One of the first responses from the U.S. government came overnight from Julie Chung, the acting assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, who tweeted out support for the Cuban people’s right for peaceful assembly but condemned any violence — a sentiment echoed by national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla threw cold water on the U.S. statements on Monday, saying the White House has “no political or moral authority to speak about Cuba.”

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, in a televised address earlier Monday, acknowledged public grievances relating to blackouts, food and medicine shortages, but defended the regime’s leadership and, instead, blamed many of the island’s problems on the U.S. embargo.

Díaz-Canel also accused the “imperialists” — a term commonly used to refer to the U.S. — of interfering by stoking tensions on social media, allegedly urging the public to go out onto the streets.

Along with experiencing an economic crisis, the country is dealing with another deadly surge of COVID-19.

Teenager abducted from basement of his home found badly injured, three suspects arrested

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(PHILADELPHIA) — A 17-year-old boy who was abducted from the basement of his own home has been found badly injured at a property about a mile away as three suspects have been taken into custody.

The incident occurred at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Sunday evening when authorities say an unnamed 17-year-old boy was abducted from the basement of his home in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to ABC News’ Philadelphia station WPVI.

When officers arrived to the scene of the crime, the teen’s family members told authorities they heard a noise coming from the basement of the family’s house that sounded like a struggle, but when they went to see what was going on they discovered that the 17-year-old had vanished, according to WPVI.

Family members discovered a bullet hole in the basement but told authorities that they did not hear a gun discharge at any point during the struggle.

The Philadelphia Police Department said that the victim’s vehicle was still parked outside of the home at the time of the suspected abduction and blood and three bullets were also found in the vicinity outside the house, according to WPVI.

After conducting their initial investigation, authorities were able to pinpoint the boy’s location thanks to his cellphone, police told WPVI.

“We were able to track the 17-year-old’s cellphone to a property in the 6200 block of Trotter Street,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told WPVI. “When police went to that location, they declared it a barricade since we believed that this was an abduction point of gun.”

Hostage negotiators and a SWAT unit were immediately dispatched to the suspected location of the 17-year-old at approximately 2 a.m. Monday morning.

Upon arrival, authorities were able to make contact with three suspects involved in the abduction — one male and two females, all in their 20’s — before convincing them to exit the property, according to WPVI.

Police entered the premises and found the 17-year-old bleeding heavily and suffering from bruising to his face and head while he was in and out of consciousness.

The teen was taken to a local area hospital to be treated for his injuries and was reunited with his family after the three-hour ordeal.

Authorities say that they don’t yet know the motive of the abduction but did confirm to WPVI that they believe the teenager has a history with at least one, if not all, of the three suspects involved in the case.

The Philadelphia Police Department was able to identify all three people involved in the abduction with help from the victim and they were subsequently arrested and taken into custody where they are awaiting charges. The investigation is currently ongoing.

Key ways to prevent kids from drowning, according to new AAP report

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The American Academy of Pediatrics released a new report that identified top drowning risks for children and recommendations to help prevent tragedy.

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in the U.S. for children ages 1 to 4 and the third-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in children and teens 5 to 19, according to the AAP.

The latest research from the AAP’s Prevention of Drowning report found that male toddlers and teenage boys are at the highest risk of drowning.

The report also emphasized that no single intervention, such as swim lessons or lifeguards, is sufficient and therefore recommended “multiple layers of protection to prevent drowning.”

AAP’s key ways to prevent children from drowning:

– Close, constant, attentive and capable adult supervision when children are in and around water as well as life jacket use among children and adults.

– To prevent unsupervised access, four-sided pool fencing at least 4-feet tall with self-closing and self-latching gates that completely isolates the pool from the house and yard.

– In the home, be aware that infant bath seats can tip over, and children can slip out of them and drown in even a few inches of water in a bathtub. Infants should never be left alone in a tub, even for a minute.

– Parents and caregivers should prevent unsupervised access to the swimming pool, open water or a bathtub.

– To prevent drowning in toilets, young children should not be left alone in the bathroom, and toilet locks may be helpful.

– Water should be emptied from containers, such as pails and buckets, immediately after use.

Check out more information from the full report.

Three shot outside barbershop after argument between two men over who won foot race a month ago

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(HOUSTON) — Three people have been shot outside of a barbershop following an argument between two men in their 40’s allegedly over who came first in a foot race over a month ago.

The incident occurred at approximately 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 10, in northeast Houston when the Houston Police Department received a call regarding a shooting involving several victims outside the Mean Kutz barbershop, according to ABC News’ Houston station KTRK.

“There were two males that were arguing outside the barbershop here over who ran a race faster,” said Houston Police Department Assistant Chief Wendy Baimbridge told KTRK in a short press conference following the shooting. “So at that point, one of the victims started walking away from the argument. The suspect then shot him twice in the shoulder.”

Two innocent bystanders who were inside the barbershop at the time were also struck in the shootout. One was shot in the rear end while the other was shot in the arm, according to Baimbridge.

The suspect who initially began firing subsequently fled the scene of the crime traveling eastbound away from the barbershop in a black Nissan Frontier. Authorities said they do not have the vehicle’s license plate at this time.

The Houston Police Department confirmed that they have gathered video evidence from the phone of a witness as well as surveillance footage from a liquor store next to the barbershop.

One victim was taken to Kingwood Hospital to be treated while the other two were taken to Memorial Hospital. None of the three people who were shot suffered life-threatening injuries and all are expected to survive.

“I just came to get a haircut but that didn’t go as planned,” said one woman who witnessed the shooting.

The suspect is currently at large and major assault detectives are currently investigating the incident. Anyone with information is asked to contact Houston Police Department’s Major Assault Division or Crime Stoppers.

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