On The Beat 2/17/20 - Golden Triangle Periodontal Center

Dr. Starr joins Troy today to discuss how periodontal health affects more than just teeth and gums. To make an appointment today with Dr. Starr at the Golden Triangle Periodontal Center call 662-329-2696 or 662-323-7066

Troy: welcome to on the beat everyone.

I'm over here with dr. starr from golden triangle periodontal center.

Today, we're talking periodontal and how it affects your health, the dos and the don'ts.

Welcome back to the show, my friend.

Dr. starr: thank you.

Troy: look, we've talked about periodontal and diabetes.

Dr. starr: correct.

Troy: okay.

I want us to just explain to everyone at home how our health and our body affects our mouth and our teeth.

Dr. starr: it's very interesting.

There's a lot of studies going on, a lot of research right now.

We found a connection between periodontal pathogens and lots of other diseases.

You minimize the periodontal pathogens in your mouth, you minimize the amount of periodontal pathogens that are in your bloodstream, which could affect other organs.

Troy: explain that to me right there.

Periodontal what?

Dr. starr: disease?

Troy: no, pathogens you said.

Dr. starr: pathogens, that's the bacteria that are bad.

They're bad bugs.

Troy: okay.

That's the bad stuff everyone.

Dr. starr: yeah.

They're bad bugs.

We don't like those guys.

Troy: how do we make sure we don't have them?

Dr. starr: you do it by good oral hygiene.

You do it by good hygienic cleanings at your general dentist.

You maintain and you minimize the amount in there, they call it 'titers', so amount of bacteria in the mouth.

Troy: okay.

Understand.

All right, so let's talk about what some of those issues are for our health.

Let's just break it down.

As we said, we have talked about diabetes before, which i didn't realize either.

What are some other issues?

Dr. starr: there's a strong linkage to cardiovascular disease.

The theory is it's an inflammatory reaction to the bacteria going through your coronary arteries of your heart, and that could stimulate the plaque build up.

You have an inflammatory response and you start getting clots and stuff.

Troy: now, we just want everyone to know we are talking about our teeth and it all stems from periodontal disease.

Dr. starr: yes.

Troy: when we hear our heart, diabetes, people are thinking, dr. starr, what?

Dr. starr: yeah, i know.

It doesn't seem right.

The blood goes through your gums, goes through your body, which goes through the pump, which is your heart, also goes through the organs.

There's also a strong increase in pancreatic cancers, kidney cancers.

There's blood dyscrasia that are linkage.

It's like a 54% increase in kidney cancers for patients that were found that had periodontal disease, untreated periodontal disease.

There's a huge increase they're seeing.

Now, there's all this research trying to figure out how we can treat it even better, and that's why we come to learn this, kill the bugs.

Troy: what are some of the signs that they may have that?

Dr. starr: it's inflammatory disease, so bleeding, swelling, drainage pus and stuff around your teeth, loose teeth, bone loss, severe infections.

If you suddenly snapped your fingers and they all started bleeding, you'd knock everybody down running to the emergency room.

Troy: of course, but why don't we do that with our teeth?

Why do we seem to forget about it?

Dr. starr: i don't know.

I do know that it is treated more early now the general dentist population has been educated to know how to handle it, so that helps a lot.

It's a lot of intervention.

Still, nationally, it's trending up, the amount of periodontal disease.

Troy: is that because we have conversations like this where it doesn't seem so scary?

Dr. starr: that's what i'm hopeful for.

That's what i hope for.

I want people to be healthy and it's not just their teeth and gums, it's their total body.

Troy: i just want to ask you about that.

Someone sitting at home who's brand new to you, okay?

What are you saying to them when they're coming in and they say, "look dr. starr, i know my teeth need to be probably pulled out and i can't cope.

I just don't know how to get past that."

What are you doing in your clinics to soothe them?

Dr. starr: we believe in dupont's motto, better living through chemistry if we have to really do some invasive things.

First off, it's education, education, education.

They need to learn and i need to teach them what the disease is, where they are, where they're headed, and how we can handle it.

Once they do that and they understand it's not as invasive, it's not knives and string like the old days, now it's lasers, lights and medicine is more holistic approach to treating the disease.

It's a heck of a lot easier than it used to be.

Troy: again, we appreciate you.

Thanks for coming in.

Dr. starr: thank you for having me here.

Troy: if you need any more information about periodontal disease and your health everyone, give this doctor a call, dr. starr from golden triangle periodontal center.

He'll take care of all your dental needs.

Back after this break.

Weather open troy: welcome to on the beat everyone.

I'm over here with dr. starr from golden triangle periodontal center.

Today, we're talking periodontal and how it affects your health, the dos and the don'ts.

Welcome back to the show, my friend.

Dr. starr: thank you.

Troy: look, we've talked about periodontal and diabetes.

Dr. starr: correct.

Troy: okay.

I want us to just explain to everyone at home how our health and our body affects our mouth and our teeth.

Dr. starr: it's