Proper digestion is important to our overall health but we forget that digestion starts in the mouth with proper chewing. Nutritional experts say that each mouthful of food should be chewed forty times.  If we do not chew our food properly, it passes through our digestive system in a chunk that essentially rots as it passes through our digestive system. Patients with dentures have 90% less chewing force. They tend to list “digestive problems” as health concerns and often need medications for these issues. Dental implants bite with a force similar to that of natural teeth and may resolve these issues.

Vancouver Island Implant Centre, VancouverIslandImplantCentre.com

Did you know that falls are the leading cause of senior hospitalization in Canada? Or that more than 1 in 3 seniors suffer from malnutrition and 1 in 10 seniors suffer depression? An in-home nursing service dedicated to quality and continuity of care can help. Look for individualized care-plans for nursing and companionship services to suit your needs. With a little intervention and extra help, it is possible to keep seniors safe and happy in their own homes.

Comfort Keepers^®, Parksville, ComfortKeepers.ca

Our brain shrinks as we age. Interestingly enough, recent studies have shown that brain shrinkage occurs faster in hearing impaired individuals. This happens because a lack of hearing stimuli doesn’t affect just the ears. It also affects parts of the brain that deal with speech and sound. Parts of the brain that stop receiving sound stimuli shrink at a rapid rate and can lead to early onset cognitive impairment like dementia and Alzheimer’s. If you have concerns about your hearing, don’t wait. Get your hearing tested today. The sooner you return auditory stimulation to these parts of your brain’s hearing system, the better.

Lana Cuddeford, Nanaimo, HearingLife, HearingLife.ca

Dental implants are the most natural way to restore missing teeth. They distribute the forces back to the bone where they naturally belong. This is in contrast to partial dentures or bridgework that places the force of the missing tooth on the neighboring teeth, leading to a higher risk to their damage and or loss. As well, the bone where the missing tooth is will continue to shrink away with time. This leads to the loss of bony support on the neighboring teeth adding further risk to their future. The placement of dental implants will actually stop this “”bone shrinking”” process and preserve, not damage the neighboring teeth.

Elegance Sculpting is the premier destination for your laser services & spa needs in Parksville. They offer high quality laser services to their guests utilizing advanced and innovative techniques. This full service laser clinic is committed to helping you transform your beauty regime while enjoying a relaxing and rejuvenating in-clinic experience, every time. Their non-invasive, cutting-edge body contouring technology will help you on your journey to becoming the best version of yourself. Come see the clinic during their Open House on March 6; 5 – 8pm for demos, gifts and door prizes.

Did you know that music players can produce max volumes of 100 decibels or more? At that level, hearing damage can occur within 15 minutes! A good song or a loud environment can tempt us to turn up the volume on our music players, but listening to music too loudly can, over time, cause permanent damage to our hearing. In fact, hearing loss is on the rise in teens and young adults due to loud noise exposure. Consider wearing over-the-ear headphones. These headphones (also known as supra-aural earphones) sit on your ear rather than in them like ear buds and canal phones. They have a band that stretches over your head. Supra-aural earphones don’t send sound vibrations directly into your eardrum. A consistently direct sound vibration hitting your ear drum can, over time, damage your hearing.

If you experience headaches, try Acupuncture to alleviate your pain! There are four main types of headache: tension, cluster, sinus and migraine. Headaches are typically caused by triggers, such as food, stress, hormones, dehydration and weather. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the goal is to diagnose the root cause of the headache, not to just treat the symptoms. After diagnosing the correct cause of the headache, the acupuncture treatment facilitates blood flow, treats the underlining cause and alleviates pain.

Are you looking for a drug free solution for pain relief? Would you like to feel more balanced and stable when walking and increase your mobility? After years of research, VOXXLife has developed a technology (VOXX HPT) that triggers a very precise neuro response that helps the brain maximize its natural pain fighting mechanisms. The documented results and benefits from using products with the VOXX HPT pattern include enhanced pain relief and management, especially PDN pain, enhanced stability and balance, and improved mobility. Discover the technology of Voxx socks and insoles at the Oceanside Health & Wellness Fair on March 16 in Parksville.