The Dentist A good diet and regular brushing helps us maintain healthy teeth. But there are occasions when we need the help of a doctor. A doctor who treats problems relating to teeth and gums is called a ‘Dentist’. Since we cannot see into all the nooks and corners of our teeth and there are places where even the bristles of our tooth brush can’t reach, the bacteria in our mouth...

Hospitals In the 19th century hospitals were unclean and unhealthy places used more for confining patients with infectious diseases. Today a hospital is generally housed in a large building and is staffed with Doctors, Nurses and operating staff. Like other big establishments, hospitals also have separate departments which would include an X-ray department, a pathological laboratory, operation  theatres, intensive care units, emergency and casualty departments, catering department etc. Besides these are...

The Doctor A doctor is a person who is qualified to find out what is wrong with a sick person and what would cure him or her and it takes five to six years of study before a person is licensed to be a doctor. Different types of doctors are specialists in various parts of the body. Accordingly, it is necessary to choose the right type of doctor depending upon the...

Protection Against Illness and Disease The human body, if well maintained is it’s own best doctor. Our body has important mechanisms with which it can defend itself and cure itself. The Inflammation mechanism destroys invading germs and the repair mechanism in the body takes care of mending the torn or injured tissue. Where any of these mechanisms fail or become weak, modern medical science can support them and protect our body. Among...

Diseases   Everyone, at some stage, in a lifetime suffers from one disease or the other. Some may be minor and may be cured quickly while others may require prolonged treatment. Diseases can strike any part of our body and some may even become chronic (those which lost for n long time) diseases can be caused due to harmful micro organisms  which may enter  our body while inhaling or through the...

Drugs and Medicines Medicines and drugs are substances prescribed by doctors for the cure of illnesses and they should never be taken without the advice of a doctor. Drugs are used to cure or prevent illnesses, they are also treat emotional disorders, ease pain and relieve the effects of the disease. Prior to prescribing a drug a doctor examines the patient and based on the symptoms or medical tests he diagnoses...

Great Medical Discoveries    ANATOMIST was Andreas Vesalius who taught in an Italian university and wrote the greatest ‘book in the history of science, it was called ‘De Corporis Humani Fabrica’ (On the Structure of the human Body). BLOOD CIRCULATION WAS DISCOV-ERED BY an English doctor called William Harvey and the findings were published in 1628. PASTEURISATION WAS DISCOVERED BY a chemist called Louis Pasteur in 1866. His idea of heating...

The History of Medicine The Human body has always been prone to ailments and man has always tried to find new ways of curing sicknesses. Some of the initial methods of treatment were illogical but then they aroused man’s curiosity to know more about the human body thus leading to the development of modern medicine. Initially disease was looked upon with superstition and cure was, carried out by priests and magicians....