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Did Israel build a bunker under al-Shifa hospital?
Ali Abunimah 16 November 2023



Israel’s ongoing assault on al-Shifa hospital – where 7,000 people are currently besieged in desperate conditions – may be part of its attempt to prove its claims that Hamas operates a sophisticated command bunker under the hospital.
That James Bond villain-like lair was depicted in an animation released by the Israeli army last month.

Israel has never offered any evidence for its claims. But as I explain in the video at the top of this article recorded on Wednesday, its assertions go back to at least 2009.



That year, The New York Times reported that “The Israeli intelligence chief, Yuval Diskin, in a report to the Israeli cabinet, said that the Gaza-based leadership of Hamas was in underground housing beneath the No. 2 building of al Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza. That allegation cannot be confirmed.”
Also in 2009, Haaretz reported that “Senior Hamas officials in Gaza are hiding out in a ‘bunker’ built by Israel, intelligence officials suspect.”

“Many are believed to be in the basements of the al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza City, which was refurbished during Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip,” the Tel Aviv newspaper added.

And in 2014, the pro-Israel publication Tablet asserted that “The Israelis are so sure about the location of the Hamas bunker … not because they are trying to score propaganda points, or because it has been repeatedly mentioned in passing by Western reporters – but because they built it.”

“Back in 1983, when Israel still ruled Gaza, they built a secure underground operating room and tunnel network beneath al-Shifa hospital – which is one among several reasons why Israeli security sources are so sure that there is a main Hamas command bunker in or around the large cement basement beneath the area of Building 2 of the hospital,” Tablet added.

Israel claims it destroyed underground infrastructure in 2021

During its assault on Gaza in May 2021, Israel heavily bombed the area around al-Shifa, perpetrating what came to be known as the al-Wihda Street massacre.

“The air raids turned one of the busiest streets in Gaza, and the main access point to the strip’s chief hospital al-Shifa, into a crater-marked moonscape,” Britain’s The Independent reported at the time.

“In place of apartment blocks are mangled heaps of concrete fringed with curls of iron rebar and scraps of belongings.”

When challenged over the death and devastation its attacks caused to apartment buildings and their civilian residents near al-Shifa, the Israeli military claimed that it was attacking “underground military infrastructure” that was located under the road.

“The underground military facilities collapsed causing the foundations of the civilian houses above them to collapse as well leading to unintended casualties,” the army added.

Israel never presented any evidence to support these claims.

But now, as it besieges and attacks the hospital again, Israel expects the world to believe that Hamas would keep its main command center in exactly the location Israeli and American newspapers have said it is in for years, and which Israel asserted in 2021 had been substantially destroyed.

Still, given Israel’s propensity to lie, it may well “discover” an underground facility which Israel itself built, and try to present it to the world as vindication of its accusations.

Israel releases more videos

On Thursday evening, the Israeli military released a video showing a cache of weapons displayed on the ground in an outdoor area, that it claims was found in al-Shifa hospital.

The military offered no evidence that the weapons – about a half dozen rifles, some magazines, hand grenades and what appears to be a drill – were found inside the hospital.



It also released a video showing what it claims is the entrance to a tunnel near the hospital. The brief video shows a hole in the ground surrounded by overturned earth and rubble, making it difficult to discern what is depicted.
Earlier this month, Israel claimed to have found the entrance to a Hamas tunnel near the Qatari-funded Sheikh Hamad hospital. The opening was in fact a water reservoir for the hospital.





Biden admits “indiscriminate bombing” by Israel

Trapped inside al-Shifa, some 7,000 people face a catastrophic situation and a slow death, without a water supply, food, medicine, medical oxygen, fuel or electricity.

On Thursday, Israel continued to lay siege to al-Shifa as its troops ransacked buildings and bulldozers carried out excavations around the hospital and its grounds, including severing the main water line.

This comes as US President Joe Biden continued to push Israel’s claims that Hamas uses the hospital as a command center.

He also repeated previously debunked atrocity propaganda that Hamas fighters beheaded and burned dozens of Israeli babies on 7 October.

And despite other comments Wednesday evening that show Biden to be out of touch with the realities of the situation, he did inadvertently admit that Israel has been bombing Gaza indiscriminately.

Defending what he claimed was a careful Israeli assault on al-Shifa, the president said “this is a different story than I believe was occurring before, an indiscriminate bombing.”

This admission means there can be no doubt that Biden has been arming Israel while knowing it is indiscriminately killing civilians, including thousands of children – a confession that will be of great interest to those trying to hold him legally accountable for war crimes and stop the slaughter in Gaza.



Patients dying

Speaking with Al Jazeera Arabic on Thursday, al-Shifa hospital’s director Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya said that one dialysis patient had died earlier in the day and four others faced imminent death.

In total the hospital is caring for 45 patients who require dialysis – something they can’t receive with no electricity to run the machines.



Two of some 650 injured people had died because staff could not provide effective treatment. Wounds he said are becoming seriously infected, some with maggots.
Of 39 premature babies in the hospital, three had died in recent days, according to Abu Salmiya.

With no electricity or fuel, incubators have stopped functioning. Purified water to make special formula for the babies has run out, so staff are using ordinary water and some of the infants are now sick with diarrhea, infections and fever.



Thousands of displaced people, many of them children, have no food and are suffering from worsening desperation and hunger.
Meanwhile, according to Dr. Abu Salmiya, the hospital compound is besieged from all sides by tanks and bulldozers, but no one can see clearly what they are doing.

He said that anyone who tries to move between hospital buildings is shot at by snipers or drones.

Israelis refuse to speak

According to Dr. Abu Salmiya, hospital administrators tried to send a delegation to speak with the Israeli military and ask for food, water, fuel, medicine and other urgent relief supplies.

On Wednesday, Israel presented a few guns and other equipment it claims to have found in one al-Shifa hospital building.

The so-called evidence did not corroborate Israel’s longstanding claims that Hamas has a sophisticated command bunker under the hospital.

It was met with the same widespread skepticism and derision as the farcical “evidence” of Hamas activity that Israel offered after it raided the Rantisi children’s hospital days earlier.

Over the 48 hours that Israeli forces have occupied parts of the al-Shifa compound, no shots have been fired at them, according to Dr. Abu Salmiya.

Palestinian resistance groups have firmly denied they use hospitals for military activities and have regularly called for impartial international bodies to visit the hospitals and investigate Israel’s claims.

“Israeli soldiers briefly exchanged fire with gunmen outside the hospital before going in, a senior military official said, but more than 12 hours after it began, the operation appeared more like a police raid than a pitched battle,” The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper quoted a witness inside the hospital recounting that the Israelis “are digging and excavating and breaking tiles and looking.”

While there is a particular focus on al-Shifa, Israel is also now laying siege to al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City.



Biden repeats Israeli lies

On Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden repeated Israeli assertions that Hamas has a major command center located under al-Shifa hospital.

“Here’s the situation,” Biden told reporters after meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping in San Francisco. “You have a circumstance where the first war crime is being committed by Hamas by having their headquarters, their military hidden under a hospital. And that’s a fact. That’s what’s happened.”

Administration officials have made similar assertions in recent days but have adamantly declined to offer any evidence for them. Nonetheless, they are a green light for Israel’s attack on al-Shifa.

“We’ve discussed the need for them to be incredibly careful,” Biden added. “You have a circumstance where you know there is a fair number of Hamas terrorists. Hamas has already said publicly that they plan on attacking Israel again like they did before, to where they were cutting babies’ heads off to burn – burning women and children alive.”

Last month Biden notoriously stated that he had seen photos corroborating Israeli claims that Palestinian fighters had beheaded dozens of beheaded babies, before the White House had to admit the president had been shown no such photos.

Israel has presented no evidence for that claim and many of its other assertions. Meanwhile there’s a growing body of evidence that Israeli forces killed many of their own civilians on and after 7 October.

Defending Israel’s actions at al-Shifa, Biden asserted, “they’re also bringing in incubators. They’re bringing in other – other means to help the people in the hospital, and they’ve given the doctors and – I’m told – the doctors and nurses and personnel an opportunity to get out of harm’s way.”

Were Biden well-informed, he would know that al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza do not lack incubators, but the electricity and fuel to power them.

Notably, al-Shifa director Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera earlier that the Israelis had delivered no supplies to the hospital – in spite of propaganda by the Israeli army designed to market its attack on the hospital as a “humanitarian” operation.

Abu Salmiya said that despite the dire circumstances, the medical staff would not abandon their patients and would stay there and die with them if it came to that.

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood
al-Shifa Hospital


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‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 44: WHO says Israel turned Al-Shifa Hospital into ‘death zone,’ thousands of Palestinians ‘humiliated’ as they flee to southern Gaza
Mustafa Abu SneinehNovember 19, 2023
Palestinians pray during the funeral of their relatives, who were killed after an Israeli airstrike on the city of Deir al-Balah, at Al-Aqsa Hospital, November 19, 2023. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)
Palestinians pray during the funeral of their relatives, who were killed after an Israeli airstrike on the city of Deir al-Balah, at Al-Aqsa Hospital, November 19, 2023. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)
Casualties

12,012 killed*, including 4,900 children, and 32,300 wounded in Gaza
215 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,200
*This figure covers the casualties from October 7 to November 16. Due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip (particularly in northern Gaza), the Gaza Ministry of Health has not been able to regularly update its tolls.

Key Developments

World Health Organization described Al-Shifa Hospital, which was raided by Israeli forces last week and was emptied of nearly all patients, medical staff, and displaced civilians, as a “death zone.”
Doctors Without Borders said a convoy evacuating 137 of its Palestinian staff members and their families was targeted by Israeli forces, killing one relative and injuring another on Saturday.
Palestinians who were injured, elderly, or have kids were forced to get out of vehicles and walk an average of 10 hours for 14 km to Salah Al-Deen Street’s checkpoint.
Horrific stories spread of women harassed, young men stripped naked in front of the crowds, doctors and journalists detained and interrogated, and people sent into a hole dug in the ground at the Salah Al-Deen Street checkpoint.
As of November 11, 807,000 Palestinians remained in the areas of the northern Gaza Strip, after an estimated 400,000 fled south of the Gaza Valley throughout the first month of the war.
Jordan sets up a field hospital in the city of Nablus, which has raised alarm in anticipation of a further deterioration of the situation in the occupied West Bank.
The Israel Prison Service imposes punitive measures against Palestinian prisoners, including poor-quality and insufficient food, denial of access to the exercise yard, daily power cuts, medical neglect and restriction on family visits.
Al-Shifa Hospital turned into “death zone” as almost 400,000 Palestinians flee north of Gaza Strip

The WHO described Al-Shifa Hospital, which was raided by Israeli forces last week and was emptied of nearly all patients, medical staff, and displaced civilians, as a “death zone.”

“Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and was told more than 80 people were buried there,” the WHO team who spent an hour inside Al-Shifa said.

On Sunday, Mohammed Al-Zaqout, the director of the Gaza hospital, told Al-Jazeera Arabic that four premature babies had died in Al-Shifa, which stopped receiving patients and directed them to be treated at the Indonesian Hospital.

Zaqout said that medical staff at Al-Shifa are in talks with the WHO to evacuate the remaining 32 premature babies in the incubators. There are still 25 medical staff and 291 patients inside Al-Shifa as of Sunday morning, two of them in the ICU and 22 in the dialysis department.

“Lack of clean water, fuel, medicines, food and other essential aid over the last 6 weeks have caused Al-Shifa Hospital…to essentially stop functioning as a medical facility,” the WHO said.

“Corridors and the hospital grounds were filled with medical and solid waste, increasing the risk of infection. Patients and health staff with whom they spoke were terrified for their safety and health, and pleaded for evacuation,” the organization added.

Israel claimed that Hamas fighters had a command and control center and web of tunnels under Al-Shifa, while the U.S. said that, based on intelligence sources, the hospital functioned as a node for Hamas’s operations. Hamas and Palestinian resistance factions were adamant in denying these claims and repeatedly called for international investigation teams to inspect the facility.

Almost a week after its brutal siege and raid on Al-Shifa on November 15, Israeli forces have yet to publish evidence of Hamas’ tunnels or weapons cache in Al-Shifa. The occupation forces released a video showing a few rifles, bullet magazines, and bullet-proof vests, claiming it was left behind at Al-Shifa by fighters of Hamas. The video was taken down and then reposted after removing a section in which a laptop was presented as evidence of Hamas’s presence at Al-Shifa.

Al Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara commented on the Israeli forces’ video, saying, “I’m baffled as to why Hamas keeps ‘leaving behind’ guns for the Israeli military to ‘find’ as evidence for their presence under hospitals!”

“Oh yea, leave the gun, take the cannolis,” he wrote in X, in a satirical reference to a scene from The Godfather.

Doctors Without Borders convoy targeted

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced on Saturday evening that 12,012 Palestinians were martyred in the Israeli bombardments and airstrikes since October 7, and around 32,300 were wounded.

Until October 17, there were 3,750 people reportedly missing or under the rubble, 1,750 of them children. Israeli bombardments killed 4,900 children, 3,155 women, and 690 elderly people.

Two-thirds of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip have stopped operating, and medical organizations such as the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) are struggling to respond to calls to evacuate the wounded or rescue the trapped under the rubble.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said a convoy evacuating 137 MSF Palestinian staff members and their families was targeted by Israeli forces, killing one MSF employee’s relative and injuring another on Saturday.

“MSF condemns in the strongest terms this deliberate attack,” the organization said.

MSF informed the Israeli forces of their movement towards the southern Gaza Strip. The convoy was made of five cars, all marked with the MSF emblem on the roof, carrying 137 people, 65 of them children, who were stuck for almost a week in Gaza City.

However, they could not cross the overcrowded Israeli checkpoint at Salah Al-Deen Street and had to drive back 7 km north into Gaza, when they were targeted in Al-Wehda Street.

“MSF calls again to urgently allow the evacuation of our staff, as well as of thousands of other people, trapped by fighting and living in extremely dire conditions in northern Gaza. We are calling for an immediate ceasefire, which is the only way for corridors to be implemented in order to safely evacuate trapped civilians,” it said in a statement.

Salah Al-Deen Street checkpoint: ‘The corridor of death and humiliation’

For the past week, Israeli tanks and forces were stationed on the east and west of Salah Al-Deen Street, which cut the northern Gaza Strip into two halves. Palestinians evacuating areas of intense fighting in Gaza City, Sheikh Ridwan, Beit Lahia, Jabalia, and Beit Hanoun had to pass through an Israeli military checkpoint. Wafa correspondent Aseel Al-Akhras, who left Al-Shifa Hospital over the weekend, was among the thousands of people who took the perilous journey to the south on foot.

She described the “humanitarian route” that Israel designated for civilians to flee south as the “corridor of humiliation and death.” Akhras said that Palestinians who were injured, elderly, or have kids, were forced to get out of vehicles and walk an average of 10 hours the 14km south to Salah Al-Deen Street’s checkpoint, which was surrounded by tanks.”

She said she was detained at the checkpoint for more than an hour and a half.

“The displaced girls and women were harassed, and one of them had her gold stolen. Some of the displaced were forced to completely remove their clothes in the cold, in front of all of us,” she said.

Akhras said that Israeli tanks caused a cloud of soil and dirt to cover people while waiting. They were asked to raise their IDs, while some of them were taken into a hole dug near the checkpoint.

“We were interrogated by the occupation soldiers, and I was separated from my family. Doctors and Red Crescent employees were also interrogated and arrested…we saw them shooting a young man whose fate we do not yet know. They also forced six young men to kneel before the [Israeli] occupation flag at gunpoint,” she said.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, as of November 11, there were about 807,000 Palestinians living in the areas of the northern Gaza Strip. An estimated 400,000 fled to the south of Gaza Valley to the areas of Khan Yunis, Dier al-Balah, and Rafah.

In the north of Gaza Valley, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said that 183,000 forcibly displaced people are sheltered in 154 UNRWA facilities.

On Sunday morning, Russia announced that it evacuated 550 people with Palestinian and Russian dual citizenship from Gaza, 230 of whom are children.

In the past 24 hours, Israel bombed hospitals, schools, mosques, and family houses in various areas in Gaza. On Sunday, a shell targeted the children’s department at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. In Al-Nafaq Street in Gaza, Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike on a house on Saturday evening, while in the central Gaza Strip, at least 31 people were killed in bombardments. In Nuseirat camp and Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, 15 people were killed on Sunday morning. Al Jazeera Arabic reported that Israeli forces destroyed four mosques in Jabalia refugee camp, bringing the number of completely destroyed mosques to 76 and targeted churches to three.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II called for a ceasefire in Gaza to put an end to the humanitarian crisis created by the “ugly war against civilians” during a meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.

“Israel’s continuation of its hideous war on Gaza and its illegal violations in the West Bank and Jerusalem will lead to an explosion in the situation in the entire region,” said King Abdullah.

U.S. President Joe Biden stressed in an Op-ed in The Washington Post on Saturday that there will be no ceasefire before Hamas releases the Israeli captives taken on October 7.

“As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a ceasefire is not peace,” Biden wrote.

Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s Foreign Minister and former spy chief, warned of the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, asserting that Israel’s possession of nuclear capabilities could trigger an arms race in the West Asia region.

“The ongoing possession of nuclear weapons by Israel, coupled with the failure to denuclearize the region, will escalate the nuclear arms race, leading to increased nuclearization in the area. This is not a favorable situation for both the region and the world,” Fidan said in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic.

West Bank: sixth Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli custody, Israeli forces kill three Palestinians

As tension intensified in the occupied West Bank, Jordan set up a field hospital in the city of Nablus, which alarmed Palestinians anticipating a further deterioration in the situation.

Jordan had set up field hospitals in the West Bank’s cities of Ramallah in 2000 and Jenin in 2001 during the early days of the Second Intifada.

As of Sunday morning, 215 Palestinians have been martyred in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers.

In Jenin, Issam Al-Fayed, 46, a person with special needs, was killed on Sunday morning by Israeli fire near the “horse” roundabout at the entrance of Jenin refugee camp. Omar Al-Laham, 20, from Dheisheh refugee camp, was killed when Israeli forces stormed the camp. A third Palestinian was killed in Aida, another refugee camp near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. On Sunday, Thaer Samih Abu Assab, 38, was the sixth Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli custody since October 7.

Qaddoura Fares, the head of the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, told Wafa that Abu Assab is from the town of Qalqilya and died in the notorious Negev Desert Prison. Abu Assab was arrested in May 2005 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The Commission said Abu Assab’s death was a “premeditated assassination operation.”

Last week, Ahmad Muhammad Mari, 33, died inside Megiddo prison. On November 6, Majed Ahmad Zaqoul, 32, from the Gaza Strip, also died in the prison. In October, prisoners Omar Daraghmeh, 58, from Tubas, and Arafat Hamdan, 25, from Ramallah, died in Israeli custody. Another Palestinian prisoner from the Gaza Strip, whose identity is yet to be identified by the Commission, was also announced dead.

The Commission said that the Israel Prison Service has imposed punitive measures against Palestinian prisoners, including insufficient and low-quality food, denial of access to the exercise yard, daily power cuts, medical neglect, and restrictions on family visitation.

There are 7,000 Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails as of November 6, according to the Addameer prisoners’ rights group. Almost 2,070 of them are serving administrative detention terms, a policy used by Israel to detain Palestinians without charge or trial indefinitely.

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The Immune System and Vaccines are Complicated ⋆ Brownstone Institute
The Immune System and Vaccines are Complicated
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Vaccines are a complicated area, which is because the immune system is immensely complicated. Targeted vaccines have ancillary effects, and it is not possible to predict what they are.

Professor Peter Aaby’s group has done ground-breaking research on the effects of vaccines in randomized trials and in field studies. His team discovered that all live, attenuated vaccines decrease total mortality whereas some non-live vaccines increase total mortality. There are also gender differences, and the sequence of vaccinations is important. It is best to end with a live vaccine.

My rule of thumb is that if a vaccine is part of the official vaccination program in some countries and not in others of similar standing, it is not important to get vaccinated. An example is the rotavirus vaccine against diarrhoea, which is not on the childhood program in Denmark even though we had a strong lobby group promoting it.

The Measles Vaccines
The measles vaccines are a good example that live, attenuated vaccines decrease total mortality much more than what is possible based on their targeted effect, in this case on preventing measles. In a randomised trial in Bissau, for example, children vaccinated against measles at age 6 months had 70 percent lower mortality than unvaccinated children, and this reduction was not due to prevention of measles infection. The WHO has estimated that there were 128,000 measles deaths globally in 2021, mostly among unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children under the age of 5 years.

If we do not vaccinate our children against measles, it will lead to many deaths and cases of severe brain damage that could have been avoided. We have a joint responsibility towards each other to ensure we get vaccinated because herd immunity is important. Measles is highly contagious, and to prevent the occurrence of measles epidemics, vaccinating about 95 percent of the population is necessary.

Annual Influenza Jabs are not Needed
People all over the world, particularly the elderly, are being nudged by the authorities to get an annual vaccination against influenza, but it is not at all obvious that this is a good idea. In fact, there are several reasons to be skeptical.

First, the preventive effect is small. Twenty-nine people would need to be vaccinated to avoid one case of influenza-like illness and 71 people to avoid one case of influenza, and the vaccination does not reduce hospital admissions or days off work.

Second, as the virus mutates quite rapidly, the effect obtained by vaccination will likely be smaller than in the randomized trials.

Third, the vaccine has negative effects on the immune system. Canadian researchers showed in four different studies that people who received a seasonal influenza vaccine in 2008 had an increased risk of getting infected with another strain in 2009.

Fourth, all vaccines cause harms, which can potentially be serious. Pandemrix, one of the influenza vaccines used during the 2009-2010 pandemic, caused narcolepsy in children and adolescents with a certain tissue type. Up to several years after vaccination of children and adolescents, people may suddenly start falling asleep while engaging in their normal activities, and there is no cure.

Fifth, we should always consider the likelihood of getting infected without vaccination. Influenza pandemics are uncommon and rarely involve large portions of the population. In any given year, the likelihood of acquiring influenza if unvaccinated is therefore very small. I never had an influenza vaccination, and my wife, a professor in clinical microbiology, never had one, and together, we have perhaps had influenza twice for 135 years. But we don’t know. When people say they have influenza, it usually just means an influenza-like illness of which there are many, which vaccination does not protect against.

Some fundamentalists, particularly in the United States and Australia, have mandated influenza vaccination of healthcare workers to protect patients. This violation of informed consent is deeply troubling and unethical. Moreover, a large review about vaccination of healthcare workers caring for elderly people did not find an effect on laboratory-proven influenza, lower respiratory tract infection, hospitalisation, death due to lower respiratory tract illness, or all-cause mortality.

A researcher mentioned that, “to focus exclusively on the risk posed by unvaccinated workers – treating them as outcasts or, worse, terminating their employment – while overlooking the risk posed by vaccinated workers, potentially jeopardizes patients.” Indeed. Vaccination may provide staff with a false sense of security that might reduce their level of handwashing and potentially increase, rather than decrease, the risk of infecting patients.

HPV Vaccines: Not a Simple Issue
When the HPV vaccines were suspected of causing serious neurological harms – postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and chronic fatigue syndrome – the European Drug Agency cleared the vaccines. However, they did not investigate the issues themselves but let the manufacturers do it for them.

My research group examined the clinical study reports submitted to the European Medicines Agency and found a significant increase in serious neurological harms. This was surprising because almost everyone in the control groups had been treated with a hepatitis vaccine or a strongly immunogenic adjuvant, which might also cause harms, making it difficult to detect the harms of the HPV vaccines.

The Cochrane review of the HPV vaccines was incomplete and ignored important evidence of bias. The authors overlooked several adverse events and failed to mention that some of the included trials did not report serious adverse events for the whole trial period. For example, three Gardasil trials with a total of 21,441 girls or women with up to four years follow-up only reported serious adverse events occurring within 14 days post-vaccination even though it takes years in many patients before serious neurological harms get diagnosed.

The Cochrane authors found more deaths in the HPV vaccine groups than in the comparator groups, and the death rate was significantly increased in women above age 25, risk ratio 2.36 (95 percent confidence interval 1.10 to 5.03). They considered this a chance occurrence since there was no pattern in the causes of death or in the time between vaccine administration and death.

However, deaths are often miscoded. For example, traumatic head injury and drowning in a bathtub have been described, and this could have been caused by a syncope or near syncope, which is a recognized vaccine harm that can occur at any time. The serious neurological harms seem to be caused by an autoimmune reaction.

The drug companies, EMA and Cochrane called the trials placebo-controlled, which they weren’t. I find it shocking that vaccines are not tested against placebo or no treatment because this makes it impossible to ever know with certainty what the rare but serious harms are. There is no good reason why vaccines – which are preventative drugs – are not tested in the same rigorous way as other drugs.

EMA declared that the adjuvants used in the vaccines to boost the immune response are safe, but the five references provided in support of this view were either non-accessible or irrelevant. Furthermore, nothing is safe if it is active. GlaxoSmithKline has stated that its aluminum-based comparator might cause harms, and the clinical study reports show that this is also the case for Merck’s adjuvant.

The decision-making is not straightforward. The official propaganda has made women believe that cervical cancer is a major threat to their lives, but this cancer only contributes 0.5 percent of all deaths. Thus, very few women can benefit from the HPV vaccines, and since they do not protect against all HPV types, regular screening is still recommended even for women who are vaccinated. As the precursors to cancer are very slow-growing, women can avoid getting cervical cancer if they go to screening. This is more effective than getting vaccinated, but it comes with a price, e.g. conization for cancer precursors increases the risk of preterm birth.

COVID-19 Vaccines: A Mess
The story of the COVID-19 vaccines is officially touted as one of success but what stands out is a story of massive deceit and lack of scientific evidence behind many of the recommendations.

The randomized trials that led to emergency approval of the vaccines showed that only one of 50 severe cases of COVID-19 occurred in the vaccine groups. This makes it likely that the vaccines have saved lives, and meta-analyses of the trials showed that the adenovirus vector vaccines, but not the mRNA vaccines, decreased total mortality significantly.

The hype has been extreme, however. Among those that have claimed 100 percent efficacy of the vaccines are the FDA, US presidential advisor Anthony Fauci, the Australian government, Science Magazine, Reuters, CNN, US National Public Radio, The Hill, Sky News, Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson. The efficacy is closer to 50 percent and many people, including me, have become infected despite having received two or more doses of the vaccine.

Officials, including US President Joe Biden, once claimed that the vaccines were 100 percent protective against transmission to other people, but now it is widely acknowledged that there is no evidence that the vaccines can prevent transmission.

The information on the website of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is particularly misleading. The CDC uses industry jargon when claiming that the vaccines are “safe and effective.” It states that “Adults and children may have some side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine, including pain, redness or swelling at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever, and nausea. These side effects typically resolve after a few days.  Serious side effects are rare but may occur.”

The link to serious side effects does not lead to any mention of what those are. But we know that the vaccines kill some people, e.g. because they can cause myocarditis, most commonly in young males, and thromboses.

The CDC recommends “everyone ages 6 months and older get an updated COVID-19 vaccine to protect against serious illness.” However, children tolerate the infection very well and it is likely harmful to vaccine children against COVID-19. Moreover, boosters may be harmful at any age but this is not popular information either. Facebook censored research and an interview with top vaccine researcher Professor Christine Stabell Benn even though the European Medicines Agency was also worried that COVID-19 vaccine boosters might be “overloading people’s immune systems and leading to fatigue.”

Facebook also censored research that showed that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines could weaken the immune response and make cells of the immune system “lazy” when it comes to fighting off viral and bacterial infections. Facebook called this research “false information.”

The Cochrane Collaboration, which has the logo “Trusted information,” did not provide trusted information. The Cochrane authors used industry jargon in the title of their review, “Efficacy and safety of COVID‐19 vaccines,” even though I convinced Cochrane many years ago that we should talk about benefits and harms of the interventions we study, in agreement with the CONSORT guidelines for good reporting of harms in trials, which I coauthored in 2004.

The Cochrane authors concluded that there is little or no difference in serious adverse events compared to placebo whereas Peter Doshi and colleagues who reanalysed the pivotal mRNA trials found that one additional serious adverse event occurred for every 800 people vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine. Their article, published four months before the Cochrane review, was not cited in it.

When I studied the pivotal randomised trials, which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and in the Lancet, I found that essential data on serious and severe harms were missing (see also my freely available book, The Chinese virus: killed millions and scientific freedom).

Doshi et al.’s criticism of the Cochrane review, which is published within the review itself, is so substantial that it is fair to call the Cochrane review a politically expedient garbage in, garbage out exercise.

There can be no doubt that the COVID-19 vaccines are much overused and partly to the wrong people. Now that most of us have had the infection, recommending booster after booster seems to be a particularly bad idea.

Childhood Vaccines
The childhood vaccination programs differ a lot from country to country. In the US, 17 vaccines are recommended, in Denmark only 10.

Since vaccinations can weaken the immune system and since some non-live vaccines increase total mortality, it is reasonable to ask if the many vaccinations in the US could result in net harm.

It is very important to study this possibility, but I am only aware of two researchers who have done it. They did several studies and found that those nations that require more vaccines for their infants have higher infant mortality, neonatal mortality, and under age five mortality. I find this an alarm signal that should lead to other studies as a matter of urgency.

Censorship
Censorship is detrimental for scientific debate and scientific advances, and it is harmful for the patients. But for vaccines, it is all over the place.

Peter Aaby, one of the world’s top vaccine researchers, lectured about vaccines at the opening symposium for my Institute for Scientific Freedom in March 2019. In early November 2021, YouTube removed the video of his lecture. Everything he said was correct and important for people who want to understand what vaccines do. We appealed this outrageous act of censorship, but to no avail, and I therefore uploaded his lecture on my own website.

In February 2022, a US lawyer wrote a 3-page letter to Susan Wojcicki, Chief Operating Officer, Legal Support, YouTube, asking her to restore Professor Aaby’s video about the beneficial and harmful effects of vaccines so that a healthy conversation surrounding medical science could continue. The lawyer received an automated message saying that the video had violated YouTube’s Community Guidelines, adding that “If you think a Community Guidelines strike was applied to your account in error, you can appeal it.” The lawyer appealed and received no reply.

In July 2022, Christine Stabel Benn uploaded a videocast with Peter Aaby on YouTube about his research in Africa, which mainly addressed his discovery of the beneficial non-specific effects of measles vaccines. But Aaby also mentioned his interactions with the WHO related to the introduction of a high-titre measles vaccine, which he and his colleagues’ studies had shown increased mortality in girls.

Initially, the WHO did not react, but when American colleagues confirmed Aaby’s findings in Haiti, the high-titre vaccine was withdrawn. It has been estimated that this vaccine would have cost around 0.5 million lives per year in Africa alone. It is an important lesson that a highly beneficial vaccine that has saved millions of lives can kill millions if used in too high doses. But YouTube quickly removed the videocast due to “inappropriate content.” Censorship kills. It is as simple as that.

In September 2022, I was interviewed by enGrama in Spain for an hour about organised crime in psychiatry and the drug industry. I spoke about COVID-19 for 5 minutes, which made YouTube instantly eliminate the whole interview. This was utterly ridiculous. What I said was true, but YouTube even refused to allow the interviewers to download their own video. Later, they succeeded to reproduce it via the YouTube Studio and it is now up again, but without the forbidden 5 minutes. I have described verbatim what they were about.

I was convinced – and still am – that the pandemic was caused by a laboratory leak in Wuhan and that the virus was manufactured there; that repeated vaccinations could weaken the immune response; and that the vaccines can cause serious harm, even death. All of which is considered taboo by social media.

In September 2023, I launched an evidence-based podcast channel, Broken Medical Science, in collaboration with documentary filmmaker Janus Bang. To avoid censorship, we have our own server but also publish the episodes on social media. I interviewed Professor Martin Kulldorff, one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, about “The harmful effects of lockdowns, facemask mandates, censorship, and scientific dishonesty,” and Christine Stabell Benn about “Vaccines, a complicated area. Some decrease total mortality, some increase it, and COVID-19 vaccines are overused.”

Within 7 minutes after we uploaded these episodes on YouTube, they got this label: “COVID-19 vaccine. Learn about vaccine progress from the WHO.” But some of the WHO’s information was questionable, which we addressed in our newsletter:

What are the benefits of getting vaccinated against COVID-19?

One should always ask what the benefits and harms are, of any intervention. The vaccines have killed some people because of myocarditis and thromboses.

Getting vaccinated could save your life. COVID-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives.

What is the evidence for this? The vaccines are not particularly effective because the virus mutates.

Consider continuing to practice protective and preventive behaviours such as keeping a distance, wearing a mask in crowded and poorly ventilated spaces.

The randomized trials have not found any effect of face masks.

Even if you have had COVID-19, the WHO still recommends that you get vaccinated after infection because vaccination enhances your protection against severe outcomes of future COVID-19 infection, and you may be protected for longer. Furthermore, hybrid immunity resulting from vaccine and infection may provide superior protection against existing variants of concern.

This has not been documented, and many researchers doubt that it is correct.

To ensure optimal protection, it is important to receive COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters recommended to you by your health authority.

It has not been documented that boosters are beneficial, and the European Medicines Agency has warned that boosters may be harmful, as they may weaken the immune system.

In both cases, within a couple of hours, YouTube removed the link to the WHO, with no explanation. We speculate that perhaps YouTube is worried about their reputation. I had interviewed two of the most knowledgeable people in the world about vaccines who, to some extent, contradicted the WHO’s recommendations, based on solid science.

It is time to change the paradigm about vaccines, and to study them more thoroughly – and their combinations – before they are possibly allowed onto the market.

A Final Word about Censorship
My deputy director, PhD Maryanne Demasi, and I have been unable to publish our systematic review of serious harms of the COVID-19 vaccines in a medical journal. This is not because I don’t know how to do research and publish it in good journals. I have published over 100 papers in “the big five” (BMJ, Lancet, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine and New England Journal of Medicine) and my scientific works have been cited over 190,000 times.


Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
For reprints, please set the canonical link back to the original Brownstone Institute Article and Author.

Dr. Peter Gøtzsche co-founded the Cochrane Collaboration, once considered the world’s preeminent independent medical research organization. In 2010 Gøtzsche was named Professor of Clinical Research Design and Analysis at the University of Copenhagen. Gøtzsche has published more than 97 papers in the “big five” medical journals (JAMA, Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal, and Annals of Internal Medicine). Gøtzsche has also authored books on medical issues including Deadly Medicines and Organized Crime. Following many years of being an outspoken critic of the corruption of science by pharmaceutical companies, Gøtzsche’s membership on the governing board of Cochrane was terminated by its Board of Trustees in September, 2018. Four board resigned in protest.


https://brownstone.org/articles/the-immune-system-and-vaccines-are-complicated/

Why So Many Countries Followed China’s Lockdown Example
Ron Brown
A novel coronavirus that was 10 times deadlier than the flu had gripped the world in 2019. Without a compass to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic, all lessons learned from previous viral pandemics were thrown out the window. The World Health Organization was adamant, “This is not the flu.” Tony Fauci terrified the US House of Representatives with forecasts of disaster. Global populations were defenseless without a vaccine for the novel coronavirus that no one had ever seen before. The only viable defense at the time was to shut down the world.

China took the lead in lockdowns. Media exported from China showed people dropping dead in the streets. Caskets were piling up. Doors to buildings were sealed to lock in tenants. Throughout the panic, all reasonable alternative assessments of risks from the viral outbreak were ignored, censored, or rejected.

Nevertheless, I wondered whether a video of a person falling down in the street was really representative of the entire population. Were caskets piling up largely due to families fearing to claim them because of contamination with the virus? I noticed that the front doors to my local mall in Ontario, Canada had also been sealed, just like in China apartment buildings, but this was only to control access through a single entrance to the building, not to seal in customers.

My first clue that the emergency response to the outbreak of the coronavirus didn’t seem to make sense was when I heard Fauci tell television audiences that if our response seems to be overreacting, then we are probably doing the right thing. What? Since when is overreacting ever the right thing to do? Do generals win wars by overreacting?

I looked at the numbers that Fauci had presented to the US House of Representatives concerning case and infection fatalities of the coronavirus. They were backwards! His 10-times deadlier prediction was simply a made-up number! This was in March 2020. By May 2020 it was obvious that people were NOT dying at the inflated rate Fauci had predicted.

I published a paper on Fauci’s coronavirus mortality overestimations: Public Health Lessons Learned From Biases in Coronavirus Mortality Overestimation. But when I mentioned all this to my friends, they responded that the lower than predicted deaths just proved the lockdowns were working. Fauci was off the hook. Back to China.

WHO/China Joint Mission on Covid-19

The answer to why countries followed China’s lockdowns is simple. They were told to do so by the World Health Organization (WHO). Why did the WHO tell them to do that? You might want to ask Dr. Bruce Aylward, the Director of the WHO/China Joint Mission on Covid-19 investigating the coronavirus outbreak.

Aylward noticed a precipitous drop in novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) in China during February 2020. This was before China adopted WHO’s name of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Upon seeing China’s surveillance data, Aylward announced the spectacular findings to the world and told the world to do what China has done and lock down. But he appeared to make a fundamental epidemiological error by wrongly assuming that the association of China’s lockdowns with lower deaths proved the lockdowns were working (just like my friends had told me).

Soon after in March 2020, China published its latest case definitions for NCP (Covid-19). In a nutshell, the definitions showed that no one could be declared to have died of the disease unless they had viral pneumonia (a severe acute respiratory illness), and only if no other virus normally associated with viral pneumonia was present, except SARS-CoV-2.

Coinfections with the coronavirus were not acceptable criteria, and what should have been a broad surveillance case definition with high sensitivity to monitor the spread of the virus within the population narrowed down considerably into an overly specific diagnostic case definition. That pretty much sealed the deal to declare Covid-19 deaths in only single digits for many months during the pandemic throughout China. This super-low outcome impressed Dr. Bruce Aylward enough in February 2020 to implore the world to lock down. Did we ever!

In the meantime, other countries used case and death definitions that went to the opposite extreme of China’s narrow diagnostic definitions, disseminating overinflated surveillance numbers without adjusting the numbers to remove bias. Even Fauci eventually admitted that reported cases and deaths counted WITH the coronavirus are much higher than cases and deaths counted FROM the coronavirus. Ironically, the WHO had previously published material on the correct use and interpretation of surveillance and diagnostic definitions in infectious disease outbreaks. Aylward didn’t appear to get the memo.

There is more to the story. Was this even really a novel coronavirus, or just a novel genetic sequence of the coronavirus showing greater detail than previously available? China supposedly received updated genetic sequencing technology in late 2019. They had abandoned surveillance of SARS in 2003 for lack of technology.

Now they were back in business again by the end of 2019. The team of virologists that reported the genetic sequence of the virus in Wuhan noted that it would be necessary to investigate the epidemiological evidence to guide infection control responses. Who has time for that? Shut it down!

If the novel coronavirus isn’t really so novel, this would explain why the lockdowns didn’t work. We had already known that lockdowns don’t work in other viral pandemics. Even China eventually gave up its Zero Covid Policy after it was obvious that lockdowns weren’t working. My friends owe me some explanations to justify their lockdown views. Maybe Fauci isn’t off the hook after all.

For more information on biases in Covid-19 case and death definitions, see my peer-reviewed article with cited references: Biases in COVID-19 Case and Death Definitions: Potential Causes and Consequences.

Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
For reprints, please set the canonical link back to the original Brownstone Institute Article and Author.

Your financial backing of Brownstone Institute goes to support writers, lawyers, scientists, economists, and other people of courage who have been professionally purged and displaced during the upheaval of our times. You can help get the truth out through their ongoing work.


https://brownstone.org/articles/why-so-many-countries-followed-chinas-lockdown-example/

Head of the burns ward at Gaza's Al-Shifa Medical Complex in a phone call with Al Jazeera:

The main buildings of the complex are lacking water and electricity

The hospital is almost empty of patients and the Internet is still cut off

The general situation is unsafe and surgeries cannot be carried out due to lack of electricity

Children suffer from severe intestinal infections due to the lack of clean water

Israeli snipers are deployed throughout the complex and its surroundings

The Israeli occupation stole a number of dead bodies from inside the medical complex

We lost most of the intensive care patients who were dependent on ventilators

Head of the Burns Department at Al-Shifa Hospital to Al-Jazeera:
—
The occupation forces stole a number of bodies from inside the medical complex.

Most of the wounded and patients in the intensive care unit died due to the cut-off of oxygen and fuel.

A large number of premature infants died due to the "israeli" siege imposed on the Complex.

The remaining premature infants will not be able to withstand for long under these conditions.

The occupation forces killed everyone moving around the Complex and bombed most of the buildings around it.

The occupation forces stormed two buildings inside the complex, and tanks are still present.

Snipers are deployed in all areas surrounding the hospital.

Exhaustion of water and electricity in the main buildings of the Complex.

The hospital is almost empty of patients, and the internet is still cut off.

The food that arrived is insufficient for about 40% of those inside the hospital.

The overall situation is unsafe, and surgeries cannot be performed due to the cutting-off of electricity.

Children are suffering from severe intestinal infections due to the lack of clean water.

Maintaining proper oral hygiene is crucial for overall health and well-being. A healthy mouth not only enhances your smile but also helps prevent various dental and systemic diseases. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the importance of oral hygiene, discuss effective oral care practices, explore common oral health issues, and provide tips for maintaining optimal oral health. So let's dive in and discover everything you need to know about oral hygiene.


Table of Contents


Introduction to Oral Hygiene

The Basics of Oral Hygiene

Brushing Techniques and Tips

Choosing the Right Toothbrush and Toothpaste

The Importance of Flossing

Benefits of Mouthwash


Key Components of an Effective Oral Care Routine

Regular Dental Check-ups

Professional Dental Cleaning

Dental Sealants and Fluoride Treatments


Understanding Common Oral Health Issues

Tooth Decay and Cavities

Gum Disease: Causes, Prevention, and Treatment

Bad Breath: Causes and Remedies

Tooth Sensitivity: Causes and Solutions


The Role of Diet in Oral Health

Foods That Promote Healthy Teeth and Gums

Foods to Avoid for Optimal Oral Health


The Link Between Oral Hygiene and Overall Health

Oral Health and Heart Disease

Oral Health and Diabetes

Oral Health and Pregnancy

Oral Health and Respiratory Infections


Oral Hygiene Tips for Different Stages of Life

Oral Care for Children

Oral Care for Teens

Oral Care for Adults

Oral Care for Seniors


Oral Hygiene Products: What to Look For

Choosing the Right Toothbrush

Types of Toothpaste and Their Benefits

Flossing Tools and Techniques

Mouthwash and Its Varieties


Natural Remedies for Oral Health

Oil Pulling

Herbal Mouthwashes

Homemade Toothpaste Recipes


The Importance of Oral Hygiene in Preventive Dentistry



Preventive Treatments and Procedures

Benefits of Preventive Dentistry



Frequently Asked Questions about Oral Hygiene



How Often Should I Brush and Floss?

Are Electric Toothbrushes Better than Manual Ones?

Can Poor Oral Hygiene Cause Bad Breath?

Are Natural Toothpastes Effective?



Conclusion


1. Introduction to Oral Hygiene

Maintaining good oral hygiene is essential for both the health of your teeth and gums and your overall well-being. Oral hygiene encompasses a range of practices that help prevent dental issues such as tooth decay, gum disease, and bad breath. It involves regular brushing, flossing, and rinsing with mouthwash, as well as visiting your dentist for check-ups and cleanings. By adopting proper oral hygiene habits, you can enjoy a healthy smile and reduce the risk of various oral health problems.


2. The Basics of Oral Hygiene

To start your journey towards excellent oral hygiene, it's crucial to understand the basics. Let's explore the key elements of an effective oral care routine.


Brushing Techniques and Tips

Brushing your teeth is the foundation of good oral hygiene. It helps remove plaque, bacteria, and food particles that can lead to tooth decay and gum disease. Here are some essential brushing techniques and tips to keep in mind:



Brush at least twice a day
: Brush your teeth for two minutes, morning and night, using a soft-bristled toothbrush.

Use the proper technique
: Hold your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to your gums and use gentle, circular motions to clean all tooth surfaces.

Don't forget your tongue
: Gently brush your tongue to remove bacteria and freshen your breath.

Replace your toothbrush regularly
: Replace your toothbrush every three to four months or sooner if the bristles become frayed.

Consider an electric toothbrush
: Electric toothbrushes can be more effective at removing plaque and reducing gum inflammation.


Choosing the Right Toothbrush and Toothpaste

Selecting the right toothbrush and toothpaste is essential for maintaining optimal oral hygiene. Here are some factors to consider when choosing these oral care products:



Toothbrush
: Opt for a toothbrush with soft bristles and a comfortable grip. Consider the size and shape of the brush head to ensure it can reach all areas of your mouth.

Toothpaste
: Look for toothpaste that contains fluoride, as it helps strengthen tooth enamel and prevent cavities. Consider additional features like tartar control or sensitivity relief, depending on your specific needs.


The Importance of Flossing

Brushing alone cannot reach the tight spaces between your teeth, which is why flossing is crucial for comprehensive oral hygiene. Flossing helps remove plaque and food particles from areas that your toothbrush cannot reach. Follow these tips for effective flossing:



Floss daily
: Make it a habit to floss at least once a day, preferably before brushing your teeth.

Use the right technique
: Wind the floss around your fingers and gently insert it between your teeth. Curve the floss into a C shape and slide it up and down against each tooth surface.

Be gentle
: Avoid snapping the floss into your gums, as it can cause irritation and bleeding. Instead, use a gentle back-and-forth motion.


Benefits of Mouthwash

Mouthwash is an excellent addition to your oral care routine as it helps kill bacteria, freshens your breath, and reduces the risk of gum disease. Consider these points when using mouthwash:



Choose the right mouthwash
: Look for a mouthwash that contains fluoride and has antibacterial properties.

Follow the instructions
: Read the label and use the mouthwash as directed. Most mouthwashes recommend swishing for 30 seconds to one minute.

Don't replace brushing and flossing
: While mouthwash is beneficial, it should not replace brushing and flossing. It should be used as an additional step in your oral hygiene routine.


3. Key Components of an Effective Oral Care Routine

In addition to brushing, flossing, and using mouthwash, there are other critical components of an effective oral care routine. Let's explore these key elements.


Regular Dental Check-ups

Regular dental check-ups are essential for maintaining good oral health. During these visits, your dentist will examine your teeth and gums, check for any signs of dental issues, and perform professional cleanings. It is recommended to visit your dentist every six months or as advised by your oral healthcare professional.


Professional Dental Cleaning

Professional dental cleanings, also known as prophylaxis, are crucial for removing plaque and tartar buildup that cannot be eliminated through regular brushing and flossing. During a cleaning, a dental hygienist will use special tools to remove plaque, tartar, and stains from your teeth. This process helps prevent cavities, gum disease, and other oral health issues.


Dental Sealants and Fluoride Treatments

Dental sealants and fluoride treatments are preventive measures that can further protect your teeth from decay. Dental sealants are thin, protective coatings applied to the chewing surfaces of your back teeth to prevent bacteria and food particles from getting trapped in the grooves. Fluoride treatments, on the other hand, involve the application of fluoride to strengthen tooth enamel and make it more resistant to acid attacks.


4. Understanding Common Oral Health Issues

Despite practicing good oral hygiene, you may still encounter certain oral health issues. Understanding these problems can help you prevent, detect, and treat them effectively. Let's explore some common oral health issues.


Tooth Decay and Cavities

Tooth decay, also known as dental caries, is one of the most prevalent oral health issues worldwide. It occurs when bacteria in your mouth convert sugars and carbohydrates into acids that attack the tooth enamel. If left untreated, tooth decay can lead to cavities, toothaches, and even tooth loss. Preventive measures like regular brushing, flossing, and dental check-ups can help prevent tooth decay.


Gum Disease: Causes, Prevention, and Treatment

Gum disease, also called periodontal disease, is an infection of the gums and tissues that support your teeth. It is primarily caused by poor oral hygiene, leading to the buildup of plaque and tartar along the gumline. If left untreated, gum disease can progress from gingivitis (mild inflammation) to periodontitis (severe infection), potentially leading to tooth loss. Preventive measures like proper brushing, flossing, and regular dental cleanings can help prevent gum disease.


Bad Breath: Causes and Remedies

Bad breath, also known as halitosis, can be embarrassing and a sign of underlying oral health issues. Common causes of bad breath include poor oral hygiene, gum disease, dry mouth, certain foods, and underlying medical conditions. To combat bad breath, practice good oral hygiene, drink plenty of water, avoid tobacco and alcohol, and consider using mouthwash or breath fresheners.


Tooth Sensitivity: Causes and Solutions

Tooth sensitivity is characterized by pain or discomfort when consuming hot, cold, sweet, or acidic foods and beverages. It is often caused by exposed tooth roots, worn enamel, gum recession, or tooth decay. To alleviate tooth sensitivity, practice good oral hygiene, use desensitizing toothpaste, avoid acidic foods, and consult your dentist for appropriate treatment options.


5. The Role of Diet in Oral Health

Your diet plays a significant role in maintaining optimal oral health. Certain foods can promote healthy teeth and gums, while others can contribute to dental issues. Let's explore the relationship between diet and oral health.


Foods That Promote Healthy Teeth and Gums

Eating a balanced diet rich in nutrients can promote healthy teeth and gums. Include the following foods in your diet to support optimal oral health:



Calcium-rich foods
: Milk, cheese, yogurt, and leafy green vegetables provide calcium, which helps strengthen tooth enamel.

Crunchy fruits and vegetables
: Apples, carrots, and celery stimulate saliva production and act as natural tooth cleansers.

Lean proteins
: Chicken, fish, and eggs are excellent sources of phosphorus, which helps protect tooth enamel.

Vitamin C-rich foods
: Citrus fruits, strawberries, and bell peppers boost collagen production, which supports healthy gums.


Foods to Avoid for Optimal Oral Health

Certain foods and drinks can contribute to dental issues like tooth decay and gum disease. Limit or avoid the following for optimal oral health:



Sugary and sticky foods
: Candies, sodas, and sugary snacks can feed bacteria in your mouth, leading to tooth decay.

Acidic foods and drinks
: Citrus fruits, tomatoes, and carbonated beverages can erode tooth enamel over time.

Starchy foods
: Chips, crackers, and bread can linger in your mouth and convert to sugars, increasing the risk of tooth decay.


6. The Link Between Oral Hygiene and Overall Health

Maintaining good oral hygiene not only benefits your teeth and gums but also contributes to your overall health. Poor oral health has been linked to various systemic conditions. Let's explore the connection between oral hygiene and overall health.


Oral Health and Heart Disease

Research suggests that there may be a link between poor oral health and heart disease. The bacteria associated with gum disease can enter the bloodstream and contribute to the development of cardiovascular problems. By practicing good oral hygiene, you can potentially reduce the risk of heart disease.


Oral Health and Diabetes

Diabetes and oral health have a bidirectional relationship. Poorly controlled diabetes can increase the risk of gum disease, while periodontal disease can make it more challenging to control blood sugar levels. Managing diabetes and prioritizing oral hygiene can help prevent complications and improve overall health.


Oral Health and Pregnancy

Pregnancy hormones can affect oral health, making pregnant women more susceptible to gum disease and tooth decay. Poor oral health during pregnancy has also been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Maintaining good oral hygiene and seeking regular dental care are essential for pregnant women.


Oral Health and Respiratory Infections

Research suggests a connection between poor oral health and respiratory infections, such as pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Oral bacteria can be aspirated into the lungs, leading to respiratory infections. By practicing proper oral hygiene, you can potentially reduce the risk of respiratory infections.


7. Oral Hygiene Tips for Different Stages of Life

Oral hygiene needs evolve throughout different stages of life. Let's explore some oral care tips for each stage:


Oral Care for Children

Teaching children proper oral hygiene habits from an early age sets the foundation for a lifetime of good oral health. Some tips for children's oral care include:



Start early
: Begin cleaning your baby's gums with a soft cloth or infant toothbrush even before the first tooth erupts.

Introduce toothbrushing
: Once the first tooth appears, use a soft-bristled toothbrush and a smear of fluoride toothpaste to clean their teeth.

Supervise brushing
: Children should be supervised while brushing until they have the dexterity to do it effectively on their own.

Encourage healthy snacks
: Limit sugary snacks and drinks, and encourage fruits, vegetables, and dairy products for healthy teeth and gums.


Oral Care for Teens

Teenagers face unique oral health challenges, including orthodontic treatment and an increased risk of cavities. Here are some tips for teens' oral care:



Orthodontic care
: If your teen has braces or other orthodontic appliances, they must maintain proper oral hygiene and follow their orthodontist's instructions.

Avoid tobacco and alcohol
: Educate your teen about the risks of tobacco and alcohol on oral health, including bad breath, stained teeth, and increased gum disease risk.

Mouthguards for sports
: Encourage your teen to wear a mouthguard during sports activities to protect their teeth from injury.

Regular dental check-ups
: Schedule regular dental check-ups for your teen to monitor their oral health and address any concerns.


Oral Care for Adults

Maintaining good oral hygiene habits becomes even more critical in adulthood. Here are some tips for adults' oral care:



Brush and floss daily
: Brush your teeth at least twice a day and floss once a day to remove plaque and prevent dental issues.

Watch for signs of gum disease
: Look out for symptoms like bleeding gums, persistent bad breath, or gum recession, and seek dental care promptly.

Avoid tobacco and limit alcohol
: Tobacco use and excessive alcohol consumption can significantly impact oral health. Quit smoking and limit alcohol intake for a healthier mouth.

Monitor oral changes
: Pay attention to any changes in your mouth, such as sores, lumps, or discoloration, and consult your dentist if you notice anything unusual.


Oral Care for Seniors

As we age, our oral health needs change. Here are some oral care tips for seniors:



Maintain diligent oral hygiene
: Continue to brush and floss regularly and use mouthwash as needed.

Address dry mouth
: Dry mouth is a common issue among seniors and can increase the risk of cavities. Stay hydrated, chew sugar-free gum, and talk to your dentist about potential solutions.

Regular dental check-ups
: Schedule regular dental check-ups to monitor your oral health, especially if you wear dentures or have other dental appliances.

Medication review
: Certain medications can impact oral health. Discuss any changes in your medication with your dentist to mitigate potential side effects.


8. Oral Hygiene Products: What to Look For

Choosing the right oral hygiene products can enhance your oral care routine. Consider the following factors when selecting toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and mouthwash:


Choosing the Right Toothbrush


Opt for a toothbrush with soft bristles to avoid damaging your tooth enamel and gums.

Consider the size and shape of the brush head to ensure it can reach all areas of your mouth.

Electric toothbrushes can be a good option for those with limited dexterity or specific oral health needs.


Types of Toothpaste and Their Benefits


Look for toothpaste that contains fluoride, as it helps strengthen tooth enamel and prevent cavities.

Consider additional features like tartar control, sensitivity relief, or whitening properties, depending on your specific needs.


Flossing Tools and Techniques


Traditional dental floss is effective for most people. However, if you struggle with traditional flossing, consider alternative options like floss picks or water flossers.

The key is to find a method that allows you to clean between your teeth effectively.


Mouthwash and Its Varieties


Mouthwash can provide additional protection against bacteria, freshen your breath, and promote healthy gums.

Look for mouthwash that contains fluoride and has antibacterial properties for maximum benefits.


9. Natural Remedies for Oral Health

If you prefer natural alternatives, several remedies can complement your oral hygiene routine. Here are a few natural remedies for oral health:


Oil Pulling


Oil pulling involves swishing oil (such as coconut or sesame oil) in your mouth for 10-20 minutes, then spitting it out.

Proponents of oil pulling claim that it helps remove bacteria, reduces plaque, and improves oral health.


Herbal Mouthwashes


Several herbal mouthwashes contain natural ingredients like tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil, or peppermint oil, which can help freshen your breath and reduce bacteria.


Homemade Toothpaste Recipes


If you prefer making your own toothpaste, there are various homemade recipes available that use ingredients like baking soda, coconut oil, and essential oils.


10. The Importance of Oral Hygiene in Preventive Dentistry

Oral hygiene plays a crucial role in preventive dentistry, which focuses on maintaining oral health and preventing dental issues. Let's explore the significance of oral hygiene in preventive dentistry:


Preventive Treatments and Procedures


Regular dental check-ups and cleanings are essential preventive treatments that allow your dentist to detect any oral health issues early on.

Other preventive treatments may include dental sealants, fluoride treatments, and oral cancer screenings.


Benefits of Preventive Dentistry


By practicing good oral hygiene and undergoing preventive treatments, you can reduce the risk of dental problems and potentially avoid costly and invasive dental procedures.

Preventive dentistry promotes long-term oral health, enhances your quality of life, and saves you from the discomfort of dental issues.


11. Frequently Asked Questions about Oral Hygiene

Let's address some common questions related to oral hygiene:


How Often Should I Brush and Floss?

It is recommended to brush your teeth at least twice a day, ideally after meals. Flossing should be done at least once a day, preferably before brushing.


Are Electric Toothbrushes Better than Manual Ones?

Electric toothbrushes can be more effective at removing plaque and reducing gum inflammation. However, proper brushing technique is more important than the type of toothbrush used.


Can Poor Oral Hygiene Cause Bad Breath?

Yes, poor oral hygiene can lead to bad breath. Bacteria in the mouth can produce foul-smelling compounds, resulting in unpleasant breath odor.


Are Natural Toothpastes Effective?

Natural toothpastes can be effective at cleaning teeth and freshening breath. Look for natural toothpaste options that contain fluoride to ensure adequate protection against tooth decay.


12. Conclusion

Maintaining optimal oral hygiene is essential for a healthy smile and overall well-being. By following a comprehensive oral care routine, including regular brushing, flossing, and dental check-ups, you can prevent dental issues and promote a lifetime of good oral health. Remember to choose the right oral hygiene products, watch your diet, and be aware of the connection between oral health and overall health. By prioritizing oral hygiene, you can enjoy a confident smile and a healthier life.


Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of oral hygiene, it's time to put your knowledge into practice. Start implementing these tips and recommendations to achieve optimal oral health for yourself and your loved ones.

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PEOPLE ARE EITHER GOOD OR *EVIL
*Terms and Conditions may apply

Sage Hana
There is only good and evil.

Never shall the two cross paths.

People are good!

Hooomans good.

That Evil happens and keeps happening is due to one thing:

Dolts Botching Shit.

Mistakes were made.

Hooomans fallible.

As such, if you see Evil being committed, consider whether it is a Good Person, (usually someone that I know, who I like) making an honest mistake…or…meeebbeeee following the YouTube “Community Standards” of RightThink.


“You Americans need to get over your politics and get the shots…”
Okay, y’all. I’m trying to make a point here.

About how all politics of Evil is local and if you like a guy or gal, they are making mistakes, and they will do better, see. And that is a redemption arc and we lap that shit up like dogs to vomit.

I watched this go down in real time.

I was watching closely the Goodies all making the same mistake.

THEY WERE ALL MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE.

To satisfy the instincts, probably.

Because the SYSTEM was stronger than the INDIVIDUAL GOODINESS.

Jimmy Dore said on this livestream that his Google “liasion”, aka MINDER, was a good dude, and the problems were up the chain at Google. His guy was…GOOD.

February 17, 2023


Turbo Aging is real. Look how young Jimmy looks here.
November 3, 2023


February 17, 2022

Jimmy Dore is right now doing a live stream with guest Jackson Hinkle.

Jimmy is wrestling with his Shadow Self. I’m watching this bout play out.

It is a true Battle Royale.

Jimmy has said many times, purportedly in jest, that he would sell out if they would pay him enough.

He is busy complaining again about how YouTube “context-checked” him on “reducing transmission and infection” and force(s) him to say that the jabs “reduce transmission”.

Note that YouTube’s science is directly contradictory to what Dr. Byram Bridle is pointing out in his latest interview with Steve Kirsch.

Jimmy also reveals that he has a “nice gentleman” liaison from YouTube who helps him stay on the straight and narrow. Jimmy faults the “higher ups” at YouTube.

Good to know, Jimmy. Glad that there are nice YouTube liaisons helping you to censor your content.

What do you think Jimmy Dore makes on his YouTube channel?

$30-K a month probably? Spitballing…

Jimmy, are you familiar with the emerging data of the experimental injection negative efficacy?

You should cover that, Chicago. Want to run that by your YouTube Censor Pal first?


EVIL SUPERVILLAINS working at the behest of Satan?

Hardly!

*edit as this section is not clear. This is my words with a Steve Kirsch post as evidentiary support as to how the loophole works.

Steve stans for FDA’s Janet Woodcock.

The Medical Murder Community I don’t think will ever reckon.

They know they have garbage data. They keep playing along. It must gnaw at them. To keep going and never tearing it down to the foundation. Building on sand and it keeps tumbling over.

They got rolled. They didn’t ask the right questions (Day Tapes). They got going on some premises and some data and…all the nice people they know also didn’t know that the Cull was On, they just had bosses.

(It is also entirely possible that I am being a Sweet Summer Child here.)

And Steve Kirsch is super rich and in communication with “experts” and players.

https://www.skirsch.com/covid/Backstory.pdf


So very much like Trump Hero Ballers cannot bear to pin blame on Trump.

And Blue Pill Covidians cannot bear to pin blame on Anthony Fauci.

Erryybbody knows somebody and Leave Janet alone.


They were all goodies.

All of them.

Nobody did anything bad.

Nobody got murdered, which would require intent.

Or that world (or Bible Story) would be lost to me.


Look.

I get it.

A lot of people were lied to and murdered and maimed.

Mistakes were made.

Let’s look forwards.

Just roll with it.

The Creative Intelligence identified what makes you tick.

They gave you a bunch of Superhero movies on top of the Goody Baddy, Giant Loophole Redemption Arc terms and conditions apply.

They have over a century of Psychological Research into motivating you to buy the Clear Coat on the Plymouth.

Nobody is going down for murder.

They were all good.

Mistakes were made.




Bill Gates Redemption Arc coming soon.


https://ko-fi.com/sagehanaproductions64182

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sagehanaJ

Al Shefa is the main hospital in besieged Gaza! The Zionist terrorists have no mercy!

#IsraelWarCrimes

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/8/why-is-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-at-the-heart-of-israels-war

Why is Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital at the heart of Israel’s war?
It’s Gaza’s largest hospital, sheltering and treating thousands of Palestinians even as Israel attacks it.

Lorraine Mallinder
An injured Palestinian boy is carried from the ground following an Israeli airstrike outside the entrance of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City
For Palestinians in Gaza, it’s the “house of healing”. For Israel, it’s Hamas’s main command centre.

Al-Shifa, the biggest hospital in the enclave, is now at breaking point, battling to treat thousands of patients as it comes under direct attack from the Israeli military.

Last week, the Israeli army bombed an ambulance outside the hospital, part of a convoy that was meant to carry patients from Gaza City to the Rafah border crossing, so they could be treated in Egypt. Fifteen people were killed in the attack, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which had coordinated the journey with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the attack, which killed people inside and around the ambulance, should be investigated as a possible war crime.



On Monday, it was reported that Israeli forces had again targeted the hospital, this time hitting a solar panel system that provided electricity to its main departments. With barely any fuel left in its tanks to keep its one generator running, it’s now only a matter of time before the hospital is forced to switch off vital equipment like ventilators and dialysis machines, leaving patients to die.

Here’s what you need to know about al-Shifa and why is it being targeted:

What is al-Shifa?

Dar al-Shifa, literally translated as “house of healing”, is the largest and most extensive medical complex in the strip, comprising three specialised facilities: surgical, internal medicine, and obstetrics and gynaecology.

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Week in the Middle East


Located in the northern Remal neighbourhood, close to the port, the site originally housed British Army barracks. It became a hospital in 1946, undergoing successive expansions under Egyptian rule and during the Israeli occupation in the 1980s.

The hospital has become a lifeline for people seeking urgent medical intervention. Like all hospitals in the besieged strip – bar the Jordanian field hospital, which received an airdrop of medical aid at midnight on Sunday – it has been denied urgently needed supplies of medicine and fuel.

It has the capacity to treat 700 patients, but right now doctors are treating approximately 5,000, according to a recent report by Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF. Thousands of people who have lost their homes are living in the hospital corridors and in the courtyard.

INTERACTIVE_GAZA_al-Shifa_NOV8_2023-1699442409

Already overwhelmed, the hospital has been flooded with bodies and wounded patients since last week’s bombing of the Abu Assi school, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Casualties mounted on Sunday, following one of the heaviest nights of bombardment seen so far, which saw the Israeli military hit 450 targets in the north – including the nearby Shati refugee camp.

Dr Marwan Abusada, the hospital’s head of surgery, said that al-Shifa can offer 210 beds on normal days. Currently, 800 patients are waiting to be admitted, he said in a statement relayed to Al Jazeera by NGO Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).

The hospital is also low on personnel. Israeli air attacks have killed 150 medical staff in the strip.

What are conditions like right now?

“At all levels, we are dealing with a health disaster,” said Dr Abusada.

MSF, which supplied al-Shifa with the medicines and equipment that it still has in its stock, has reported that surgeons at the hospital are operating on patients without painkillers. Short on beds, surgeons have amputated limbs as patients lie on the floor.

With nowhere to keep patients in the unhygienic conditions, patients who have undergone surgical procedures run a high risk of infection. “We have a type of worm, called white flies, covering the wounds after the surgery. They appear after one day,” said Dr Abusada.

Running on empty, the hospital is barely able to deliver needs, conserving its electricity supply for its emergency unit, intensive care and operating rooms. “We are trying hard to continue delivering services to the patients who need kidney dialysis, urgent catheterisation and … incubators, but we are delivering the bare minimum,” said the doctor.

On Monday, an Al Jazeera report depicted scenes of chaos outside and inside the hospital, with bloodied patients lining the corridors. Having just pronounced a man dead, surgeon Sara Al Saqqa spoke of living, sleeping and waking at the hospital, working as many as 72 consecutive hours.

“Every day, we say today was the worst ever, then the next day is worse,” she said, adding later that there aren’t enough freezers to keep the corpses.

At the weekend, the hospital was forced to transfer its maternity ward to the private Al Helou International Hospital in Gaza City. An estimated 50,000 pregnant women are caught up in the conflict, according to the United Nations Population Fund in Palestine. Premature births and miscarriages are on the rise, owing to the fear and panic caused by bombardment.

In northern Gaza, where the hospital is located, the main sources of water – a desalination plant and the pipeline from Israel – have been shut down since the start of the war. At present, the hospital only receives salty groundwater, unsuitable for drinking and hygiene. According to the UN, only 5 percent of Gaza’s water needs are being met.

A Palestinian man mourns
A Palestinian man mourns as civil defense teams and residents conduct a search and rescue operation for Palestinians stuck under the debris of a demolished building following Israeli airstrikes hit al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on October 24, 2023. [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images]
Why is it under attack?

Al-Shifa is a prime target for Israeli forces, which claim the hospital is located above the headquarters of Hamas, the armed group that has governed Gaza since 2007.

Last month, the Israeli military released a video that used a combination of satellite imagery and animated graphics to claim that it had intelligence-based proof of Hamas’s purported use of the hospital below ground, with tunnels, facilities and meeting rooms. Hamas has rejected those claims, which it said is sheltering more than 40,000 displaced people.

It’s not the first time that links have been drawn between Hamas and al-Shifa. Following Israel’s 2014 ground offensive in Gaza, Amnesty International accused Hamas of committing “spine-chilling” atrocities against political rivals in abandoned areas of the hospital to extract confessions of collaboration. In an earlier report, the rights group had also accused Israel of war crimes during its incursion, which killed more than 2100 people.

Back then, too, the hospital had come under attack. Israel and Hamas traded blame for an explosion at the hospital that reportedly killed at least 10 children. Hamas blamed the blast on an Israeli drone attack, while Israel claimed it had been caused by a failed Palestinian rocket. The episode had shades of a similarly disputed, but much deadlier explosion at al-Ahli Arab Hospital last month.

In the current conflict, Israel has accused Hamas of storing fuel for its own operations, preventing more supplies from entering in the limited number of humanitarian convoys crossing into the strip. With no power, 16 out of the 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip have stopped working.

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza City, November 7
Smoke rises following Israeli attacks, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, in Gaza City, November 7, 2023 [Mohammed Al-Masri/Reuters]
What next for al-Shifa?

As Israeli forces close in, the outlook is bleak for al-Shifa. At the time of writing, Israeli troops had severed northern Gaza from the rest of the enclave and were engaging Hamas fighters in the heart of Gaza City.

Israel has insisted that it wants to rout Hamas, destroy the alleged headquarters below the hospital and hunt down the group’s fighters. It has also said it wants to assume control of the strip’s security for the foreseeable future.

Federal regulators are warning Americans not to use 26 over-the-counter eye drop products that they said could lead to eye infections — and partial vision loss or blindness. #Recall

The Aequorea victoria, the oceans Medusa with a life saving secret.

It has a fluorescent protein that revolutionised science.

This discovery lead to huge advancements in the field of medicine making cells, diseases, such as cancer and HIV, visible.

How cancer cells spread, how infections progress, imaging in every plant and animal, we can see only because of this ancient jelly and a protein it had for millions of years which helped it glow to save its own life: https://www.livescience.com/16752-gfp-protein-fluorescent-nih-nigms.html

Tinea capitis, otherwise known as scalp ringworm, is a fungal infection of the scalp. It is more prevalent among young children than adults. The fungi causing the infection can be caught from animals such as dogs, cats, guinea pigs and cattle. Some people are carriers of tinea capitis. These people do not have any symptoms of the infectionTinea capitis, otherwise known as scalp ringworm, is a fungal infection of the scalp. It i

A276a would allow minors to get vaccines and drugs that purport to prevent sexually transmitted infections without parental knowledge or consent.