THE PAT McMAHON SHOW
Host: Thank you Jay-Jay Cheers! Happy Mother’s Day Weekend and joining me we have Dr. Bruce Nelson. Cheers! Welcome to the Pat McMahon Show thank you for coming in.
Dr: Well thank you for inviting me.
Host: And do you think I scared everybody? With the…
Dr: That is pretty scary.
Host: you thought it was a candy cane
Dr. I thought it was a candy cane yes.
Host: but you know, I have nightmares about this at night you know, if I got to go in and get my teeth cleaned and my gums scraped I’m just you know very scared about that and you know I love what you say, ‘we can’t recover from what we don’t treat.’ And I think that’s so important, um I’m looking at your smile, you have gorgeous teeth.
Dr: thank you
Host: my parents paid a lot of money this smile (chuckles)
Dr. That’s good, that’s good
Host :The last time I went to the dr. I was surprised I have to admit. Because I do floss, I do brush, um, but they said I have deep pockets and…
Dr. Yes
Host: can you explain what pockets are and what that, and why that is a sign that something is wrong and something needs to be treated and with in your mouth.
Dr.: okay well, any kind of gum disease is a bacterial infection. And bacteria if they get a chance to get established will irritate the tissues and eventually you’ll start to lose the tissue attachment around the neck of the tooth. And that’s when we call it a “pocket” that little cuff of tissue that grows around the neck of the tooth and when that gets deeper that’s what we’re measuring. That’s an indication of the disease process starting. So when the gum pockets gets to deep you start to lose the bone around the tooth. That’s what we call periodontal disease. And eventually if that proceeds to far you end up losing your teeth.
Host :oh that’s not good, no!
Dr: which obviously we don’t want you to do.
Host: well since I do t.v. that’s not what I want to do. (chuckles)
Dr: no no
Host: So there’s bacteria right now, having a party in my mouth? In my mouth, in my gums?
Dr.: well there’s always millions of bacteria in your mouth they’re always there. The trick is to keep the bacteria under control.
Host: right
Dr: and that’s why we always tell you to brush and to floss
Host: we mentioned today that what, I was thinking what a great awesome gift it is to you know, it’s something mom’s usually don’t take care of themselves. They’re always worried about their children, getting them braces.
Dr. sure
Host: getting them tennis shoes, but what an awesome thing, to , for some father out there right?
Dr: absolutely
Host: to set an appointment for their mom to have a teeth cleaning and you know , your, your information says that 80% of people of gum, some sort of gum disease. And how many of that would be women?
Dr: Like I said that population is about 50% women so 50% of your 80% of Americans that have gum disease would be women.
Host: so this would be something a mother would appreciate
Dr: yes
Host: getting to go have done, because didn’t you say, ‘ so goes the mouth, so goes the rest of the body.’
Dr. absolutely
Host: right and if you’re…if you have an infection, that can get in your blood stream?
Dr: oh absolutely
Host: what other things can that lead to in effect?
Dr. well there’s a lot of research now showing now that the bacteria that do get in your mouth are in the bloodstream. There’s an increased incidence of heart disease, of diabetes, stroke.
Host: Mmm
Dr: worsening of the symptoms of gum diseases, pregnant women that have gum disease show to have preterm, low birth weight babies. And….
Host: so this isn’t just about your smile?
Dr: no
Host: this about your whole body? Right?
Dr: your whole body is involved. Bacteria in your mouth, that if you have a lot of bacteria, people have inhaled them. They’ve shown people with a greater chance of respiratory infections that have gum disease.
Host: sighs
Dr: so there’s a lot of things that are systemic that effect your overall body health.
Host: right and that makes sense, we…let’s take the mystery out of the procedure because I think a lot of people think of this..(holds up fake hook) because It’s not this, it’s not, it’s not
Dr. no
Host: it’s not the old gum scraping, and you’rereally, and before you would do the surgery, it was like cutting and the stitches, so what’s going on here?(playing video of dr. doing the lanap procedure)
Dr: okay at Ameridontics what we do is we’re, we do a procedure called LANAP which is laser assisted new attachment procedure. We’re actually using a laser, to go around the neck of the tooth to where the bacteria are building up on the root surface of the tooth. And we’re cleaning out and sterilizing the pocket with the laser. And instead of cutting the gum tissues and suturing them back together, which is the old technique. We’re using a small fiber optic on the laser which is about the size of about three hairs and we’re just introducing that around the neck of the tooth…
Host: hmmm
Dr. and it sterilizes the pocket and cleans out the diseased tissue selectively, it doesn’t randomly cut it like it would with a scalpel. So it’s a really nice procedure the healing time is much faster there’s virtually no discomfort, people go back to work right afterwards, it’s totally different then the peoples concepts of the past treating gum disease with the scalpel and the surgery that goes along with the whole technique.
Host: and you know ignoring the problem, this is not one of those things ignorance is bliss..
Dr. no
Host: it’s not gonna go away, correct?:
Dr: well your teeth will go away…
Host: laughs
Dr: inaudible
Host: and well you’ll not only lose teeth, but like you said the bacterial infection getting into your blood stream and …
Dr: right
Host: and affecting people that have diabetes or heart disease. Did they ever stop to think that this is caused by periodontal disease?
Dr: We have a lot of people that after they get the gum disease treated we mark on how much better they feel. And people that have diabetes that have symptoms and they’ve been having a hard time controlling, not always but a lot of the times they will say that it’s easier for them to control their diabetes. And you know, we’re just happy to help people get better health overall
Host: And you know technology is an incredible thing and the fact that you and this group have stayed on top of that and are committed to that..
Dr. Yes
Host: excellence of learning new techniques and offering that to your clients and potential clients. And you know, so what are the signs? Like if I’m flossing and my gums are bleeding…
Dr. Yes if you have red puffy gums that bleed when you floss or brush that’s usually an indication that gingivitis, a beginning sign of gum disease, a lot of the times as the gum disease progresses, you may actually notice a decrease in those symptoms. But, often times, bad breath goes along with it, and then obviously as you start to lose bone the teeth start to feel loose or you start to notice, some people notice that their front teeth are drifting out and they’re starting to get spaces between their front teeth that they didn’t have. That’s usually related to the fact that they’re losing the bone around those teeth and the teeth are starting to drift.
Host: And so, it’s not too late, people need to call you? And I love your phone number that’s its 888-FIT-GUMS.
Dr. Thank you
Host: Isn’t that perfect that your teeth your teeth are going to fit in your gums? I love it, so it’s not too late?
Dr. No
Host: um I noticed in the brochure that you have and on your website, where the gum actually starts growing back to the tooth after procedure and after you get that lime deposit, right? Scraped away?
Dr. Right the tartar deposit.
Host: So if it’s not too far gone eventually there can be reconstruction with the gums?
Dr. Well this procedure is really remarkable because the latest study that just came out indicates that you actually do get a new root surface forming, you get new attachment of the tissue to the root surface and you are actually getting regenerating bone in a lot of cases, which is something that has been unheard of in the past.
Host: right..
Dr: and so we see a lot of people that have in the past I would have said they’re going to lose their teeth.
Host: right
Dr: and with the full treatment they end up being able to keep their teeth. It’s a remarkable thing to be able to make people that happy. They come in thinking they’re going to lose their teeth and we’re able to say, “No we’re able to save them for you.”
Host: So, you need to contact today, uh, Dr. Nelson, to find out more information. What’s your website? Where people can find out more information?
Dr: It’s Ameridontics.com . We have a number of dentist in the Valley that belong to this. And we’re all trained and licensed in the procedure. Which is a F.D.A. approved procedure.
Host: thank you, thank you so much for being here today Dr. Bruce Nelson.
Dr: Well thank you.
Host: and for helping us to know it doesn’t have to be like this. (holds up fake hook and chuckles) anymore! So you want to give them a call. 1-888-FIT-GUMS. Stick around it’s a Mother’s Day celebration, opportunities for working for stay at home moms. More on the Pat McMahon show.
