ABOUT US – THE PALEO DENTIST

MY STORY-FROM CHEST PAIN TO EXTRA HEALTHY-it all started in summer of 2017 with some mild chest pains just under my left breast. I blew it off to bench presses at the gym or indigestion. Over the next few months it would come and go. Then all of a sudden, the chest pain became severe and it scared me, “OH NO, THE BIG ONE IS COMING OR MAYBE EVEN HERE”!

I ran off to the cardiologist who also seemed very concerned and we ran very extensive tests (EKG, Nuclear Stress tests, PET scans etc.,) and found nothing. “OH YEAH” was my comment, so what is causing my chest pain? I WAS VERY GLAD TO HEAR IT WASN’T MY HEART!

The cardiologist referred me to a gastroenterologist claiming that he believed my pain was from heartburn/indigestion. “OH BULL”- HOW CAN THAT BE was my opinion? Off I go for endoscopy and colonoscopy (cameras up both ends).

So now we get a diagnosis of inflamed intestines (Gastritis, Colonitis) and the removal of a couple of polyps. I was at least instructed by this Dr. to alter my diet (no coffee, less fats, eliminate alcohol and eat a bland diet etc.). I tried this for a month and not much changed.

As a dentist, I thought I was doing pretty good on my diet as I had weighed the same for about 40 years and avoided a lot of sugar, ate vegetables and worked out at the gym.  So, I was convinced that the first cardiologist misdiagnosed my pain and now I go off to another cardiologist who took over for Dr. Michael Debakey. He also ran a lot of tests (a new type of PET scan and more) and still nothing showed up.

He said he didn’t know what was causing my chest pain, but he was sure IT WAS NOT MY HEART! Again, I’m very thankful that it was not my heart but what the heck was causing this chest pain???? So frustrated, I turn to the only other Dr. that I know-DR. GOOGLE! With minor effort I locate a guy with similar issues and he solved all of his problems by going on the “PALEO DIET”.

I didn’t know what the Paleo diet was, but it turns out he had written a book about it and he was a dentist (Gum specialist), so I’M IN! After reading his book (“Crazy Good Living” by Dr. Al Danenberg) it sounded like this type of diet might work for me and the book indicated that the Standard American Diet (SAD) was very inflammatory and many health issues could be resolved or improved by following the PALEO diet (which is anti-inflammatory) for 30 days. That was August 20, 2018 and after consulting with my wife (a gourmet cook) we decided to give it a try.

What freaked me out was that my chest pain was gone in 3 days! So, after almost a year of pain and doctor visits, I suddenly felt fabulous. After a month of being on the diet everything in my body felt or worked better. Many issues other than my chest pains were also completely gone or drastically improved!

WHAT A GAME CHANGER! Listed below are some of those changes

1. Chest pain-it was completely gone and now a year later those pains have not returned. Pain can be a great motivator. NO PAIN, NO GAIN-RIGHT?
2. Sinus allergies-about 80% gone. I still had congestion in the spring with all the pollen, but otherwise in general when I wake up in the morning and throughout the day there are little to NO nasal issues. I’ve taken allergy shots for 30 years and they basically did very little and yet this diet gave me 80% improvement in a 30 days!
3. Arthritis-50% improvement- the swelling is still there but the pain is gone and my movement is much better.
4. Indigestion heartburn is gone and only returns if I cheat. I didn’t really realize this was a problem until the problem was gone! How good is that? Cheating is getting less and less because I like feeling good!
5. Sleep apnea is gone-I had been diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) several years before but I couldn’t stand all those CPAP, BYPAP machines. I tried them for several months and the only time I got good sleep was I’m the weekends when I unplugged the darn thing. Then I even tried the dental mouthpiece for OSA. It was better much than a CPAP but my jaws were sore the next day. After losing 12 pounds I had another sleep study and I was cured. AWESOME!
6. Cholesterol is lower and my ratio is normal
7. Triglycerides much lower-down to 100.
8. Less tartar at my dental cleaning-I really didn’t pay much attention until at my regular cleaning my hygienist noticed that there was a lot less tartar. I was really shocked because I’ve always been a very low sugar type of eater and I’ve had very few dental issues.  I have only had 3 fillings in my life and they were when I was a teenager.  So I was impressed as this would really help my patients to have better dental health.
9. BPH-enlarged prostate- this has gotten much better on the Paleo diet. Most nights I don’t have to get up and go to the bathroom unless I cheat or drink too much.
10. Sleep much better- usually 7-8 quality hours.
11. Blood pressure lower-My blood pressure has never been high (I work out regularly), but it went down from about 125/80 to 115/75.
12. Blood sugar level and A1c are lower-as a dentist I’m not normally a big sugar eater but blood sugar has ranged around 100 and my A1c has been about 5.6. Now both are lower.
13. Lost weight-in high school and college I ran track but dropped my junior year and weighed 175 pounds. I weighed 203 after getting married and have been in the 200 pound range ever since. After being on the Paleo diet now for about 10 months I weigh 176. I wasn’t trying to lose weight as I thought I was ok, but the weight just fell off without much effort. It seems to me that all of those carbs were doing me in BIG-TIME.
14. Energy level is way up-I have always been an early bird and always fairly energetic, but at 72 years of age I wasn’t as energetic as I used to be and just blamed it old age. Not anymore.
15. DUNLOP’s Disease cured! – YOUR BELLY DONE LOP OVER YOUR BELT. After losing weight I’m now wearing a 32” pants for the first time since high school. Just FYI I’m now 6’ tall, weigh 176 lbs. with a 32” waist. Pretty good for an old man.

I’m not a physician so all I can do is tell you my story and show the evidence and research behind all of my changes and then you decide. As a dentist I know and understand that infections in the mouth can and do affect many other systems in your body. Decay and gum disease have been claimed by many to be the # 1 and #2 diseases in the world.

Did you know that about 70% of all Americans have some form of gum disease (an infection in the gums or bone surrounding your teeth)? It makes sense to me that if you had gum disease it could spread to other parts of the body or affect other parts of the body.

Also, infections in the mouth can be very inflammatory for the rest of your body.  So, with that understanding, doesn’t it also make sense that if you had a healthy mouth the rest of your body would also be healthier? So, as dentist my main goal in life is to educate people on how to have a healthy mouth and if that improves everything then we are all better off!