Scientists are discovering more and more associations between poor oral health and everything from heart disease to dementia. But can flossing and brushing properly guarantee a longer life?

Isn’t it weird that dentistry and medicine have been kept largely separate? Why should our mouths be treated differently from the rest of our bodies? Going to the dentist often feels like more of a lifestyle and cosmetic add-on, especially for adults in the UK. And, even if you can find an NHS dentist, the service is not free at the point of use like medical doctors are.

The origin story for this rift is that dentistry began, in the middle ages, as a trade – with tooth extractions handled by “barber surgeons” and dentures crafted by jewellers and blacksmiths. Today, dentistry and medicine still have their own separate training routes, professional bodies and NHS setup. Generally speaking, medical doctors can’t act as dentists, and dentists aren’t medical doctors. But the tide is turning on this conceptual separation, because the links between oral health and systemic healthcare are becoming ever more apparent.

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The latest in our series of writers paying tribute to their favourite comfort films is an ode to Brad Pitt and Aaron Sorkin’s lovably human baseball drama

The older I get, the more I want to hear people talk. I want films in which recognisably human characters interact in recognisably human ways. No one need die; nothing great need be at stake. I just want to be treated like an adult. Moneyball treats its audience like adults.

Though it was released in 2011, it’s a very 1970s film: its theme is analogous to the paranoid thrillers of that decade. In Moneyball, an American institution is in the hands of an elite, and a lone man who doesn’t trust the system is trying to change things. Yes, it’s about baseball rather than the CIA, but I don’t think it’s coincidence that this is the film where Brad Pitt finally looked like the inheritor to Robert Redford.

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I was isolated and nervous when I decided to roll up my sleeves and start volunteering. But I shouldn’t have been intimidated. It’s brought so much happiness and community into my life

I live in a fairly average town in Oxfordshire, and despite having friends and family nearby, I never felt as if I was properly a part of the community. I didn’t feel rooted, or that I knew my neighbours beyond a quick hello. I moved here in my late 20s with my partner and spent a lot of time at home. In my 30s, I got a dog, had children and started working from home.

As a result, I spent a lot more time in my local area, but I still felt like an outsider. At this point in my life, where I was focused on building a family and setting down my own roots, this lack of connection made me feel isolated – until I started volunteering.

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De Rijksoverheid en de regio slaan de handen ineen om de Willem Barentszkade op Terschelling te renoveren. Dat hebben minister van Infrastructuur Vincent Karremans, de burgemeester van Terschelling Roel Cazemier en gedeputeerde van Fryslân Matthijs de Vries maandag bekendgemaakt

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

date stamped on slide August 1969

BOEDAPEST (ANP/BLOOMBERG/RTR) - Hongarije wil het eigen vetorecht binnen de Europese Unie niet meer inzetten als chantagemiddel. Dat maakte beoogd minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Anita Orbán duidelijk tijdens een hoorzitting in het parlement. Ze gaf aan dat haar land zich gaat inzetten om het vertrouwen terug te winnen van andere landen in de EU en de NAVO.

"Te vaak heeft Hongarije de besluitvorming in Europa in de weg gestaan", zei Orbán, die geen familie is van de vorige premier Viktor Orbán. "We gebruikten het veto niet als laatste redmiddel, maar voor politiek theater." Ze noemde het een prioriteit voor de nieuwe premier Péter Magyar, die een betere relatie met de EU nastreeft, om te zorgen dat miljarden aan bevroren EU-subsidies alsnog worden uitbetaald.

Hongarije had onder de vorige premier, die zestien jaar aan de macht was, een gespannen relatie met de EU. Er waren zorgen over de rechtsstaat en corruptie in Hongarije. Ook de warme banden met Rusland wekten wrevel in Europa.