THE MOST HEALTH PROBLEMS WE SEE IN OUR OFFICE BLOG #54
BLOG #54 THE MOST HEALTH PROBLEMS WE SEE IN OUR OFFICE
Dr. Spiker Davis D.D.S. 713-781-2800 Dr. Matt Guerre D.D.S. 713-781-2800
In collaboration with Dr. John Seger M.D. Cardiologist 713-791-9444
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When I was in dental school, we saw all kinds of health problems in our patient population and I was actually shocked at how sick so many people were. Once I got out of school and into the real world, I realized things were not as bad as I had been used to in school. So, over the years I have always tracked what health conditions that we see in our office, and I wanted to create a list for you based on the fact that most of these health problems have a link to the health of your mouth and or to what you eat.
TOOTH DECAY-Tooth Decay is the number one disease in the world! According to the CDC, 93% of Americans either have active decay now or have had it in the past. Today in my practice about 50% of my patients had decay in some form or another. My question to you is what causes decay?
GUM DISEASE-Gum disease is the number two disease in the world. According to the CDC and other groups, about 80% of the American population has some form of gum disease. The mild form is called gingivitis and the severe form is periodontitis. Today in our practice almost exactly 80% of all the patients that came in had one of those two forms of gum disease. 20% of those patients needed to go see a gum specialist soon or possibly lose some teeth. What do you think causes gum disease?
DIABETES-According to one study I read, about 27% of the adult population is being currently treated for diabetes. However, I think there is a silent epidemic of people with diabetes but are not being treated because they don’t know that they have this condition. In our office, the percentage of patients including children with diabetes is about 30%. We can often see signs of diabetes in the health of the gums. Most of our patients with diabetes have gum disease and there is a definite link between the two. If you have diabetes, your body is unable to process blood sugar and the resulting elevated blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels, the heart and lead to stroke, heart attack, and blindness. Did you know that more people died from diabetes-related health issues last year in the United States than died from Covid? Other than taking medications for diabetes, what is the number one treatment?
HEART DISEASE-Last year 29% of older people were treated for heart disease. This is usually a buildup of plaque in the artery walls or narrowing of the arteries which can lead to heart attack or stroke. The definition of Heart Disease is what happens when your heart’s blood supply is blocked. In our office, we see about 50% of our patients over the age of 50 being treated for some form of heart disease and it is usually in the form of taking some kind of medication or being on some type of diet. What role does diet play in heart disease?
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE-This is also called Hypertension. In our office, we check a patient’s blood, pressure before most dental procedures because we know that elevated blood pressure can increase your risk of having a heart attack or stroke during a dental procedure. For most doctors, a reading of 120/80 is considered normal. There are many medical doctors and hospitals that recommend your blood pressure now be 115/70. In our office, about 60% of the men over the age of 55 will technically have high blood pressure. In our office, we choose to wait on performing dental procedures if the pressure is greater than 160/110 depending upon what the procedure is and are there other medical conditions that influence our decision. What role does diet play in high blood pressure?
The above list is what we typically find in patients in our office. In every one of those 5 conditions, we know that sugar plays a major role. Obviously, decay and gum disease are fed and nurtured by eating sugar. If you have diabetes, your physician will immediately put you on a diet that is low in sugar and carbohydrates. In my opinion, I think growing up eating too much sugar does damage to the pancreas and may cause type II or adult-onset diabetes. For heart disease and high blood pressure, the American Heart Association recommends limiting sugar to 6 teaspoons or less per day for children and adults. That means you are allowed one pound of sugar every 18 days. As a dentist, I think that is way too much and you should limit all sugar to about 2-3 teaspoons per day or less-NONE IF POSSIBLE! YOU DON’T NEED IT!!
SUMMARY-In our office the top 5 health problems that we see on a regular basis are heavily connected to sugar intake. As far as I’m concerned, sugar is very addictive and once you get hooked it is very hard to quit. My recommendation would be to quit as soon as possible.
RANT AND RAVE-It are very obvious that sugar can be extremely dangerous to your health. There is not one health benefit to eating sugar that I can see other than it really tastes good. This past weekend we did some babysitting with our grandkids. I checked the pantry and read most of the labels on anything in a package or a can. I only found one product in the entire pantry that had no sugar-it was microwave popcorn. Then I added up all the sugar that one grandson consumed on Saturday. He had bread, orange juice, candy, health bar, hamburger, banana, lemonade, milk, cereal, etc and by the time the day was over I calculated that he had consumed over 400 grams of sugar. That is almost a pound of sugar in one day! I am really worried that he will end up with diabetes etc. as he gets older. How do we get them to quit eating all the sugar?????? I think the biggest secret to that is to read the label on everything you buy and don’t buy products with sugar. Watch out for any ingredient that ends in an “OSE” like dextrose, fructose, maltose, etc. anything ending in an “OSE” is sugar. Also, watch out for corn syrup as it is sugar also.
“THE MOUTH IS THE WINDOW TO YOUR HEALTH”. BRUSH AND FLOSS TWICE DAILY, AVOID SUGAR FOR 2021 AND SEE YOUR DENTIST AND PHYSICIAN ON A REGULAR BASIS.
Davis D.D.S. spiker@thepaleodentist.com John Seger M. D. Malt Guerre D.D.S.
Humor for the week: “What time did the man go to the dentist? Tooth-hurty!”
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