Click the player below to listen to this episode of Let’s Talk Dentistry with San Diego holistic dentist, Dr. Marvin.
Female: You’re listening to Let’s Talk Dentistry with Dr. Marvin. This show is sponsored by the Center for Natural Dentistry in Encinitas where they take a holistic approach to dentistry and your health.
Dr. Marvin: Hello. Good morning. It’s here. It’s Dr. Marvin and it’s on Let’s Talk Dentistry, Saturday morning, every Saturday morning at 8:30. I am here live so if you want to give me a call, our phone lines will be open shortly. I just want to give you a little introduction. Thank you for all of those people that have been listening in the last couple of weeks where we had Mercury Awareness Week. We also talked a lot about Mr. James Darcy and his wonderful stuff last week.
This week, we have more great new topics but I’ll override any new topics if you want to give me a call. That number to call into the show is 866-KPRAISE, 866-577-2473. If you haven’t listened to this show before, let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Dr. Marvin Pantangco. I have been practicing natural dentistry for about three years. I’ve been practicing dentistry for over 11 years. Some of the things that we do with natural dentistry is quite different than other dentistry and for those listeners that have been listening, they are quite intrigued and quite interested in what we do.
And if you want to schedule a visit with us at my office, we also have Dr. Godes at my office, write this number down, 760-536-1199. That’s 760-536-1199. We are located here in San Diego. People come long ways just to come see us so you’re very fortunate if you’re listening to this show, if you’re within range of listening to this show. You’re very fortunate to have a natural dentist that is close by and that can provide the type of dentistry that you’re probably going to be very interested in.
Natural dentistry is different than regular dentistry because we focus more on health. We don’t focus on fixing the tooth. There is a difference because the tooth is part of the mouth which is part of the body. And when you fix the tooth, you should look at the body as possible side effects and we should look at it from the big picture that’s why we look at the whole body. That’s why it’s called holistic dentistry or natural dentistry. Just like you go to the store and you would look at a label. You go to the grocery store and you look at the label and you figure out what’s in it.
So if there’s an apple over there, you’re going to figure out, okay, what’s in it? Did they use pesticides for it? Did they put waxes on it? Did they add fertilizers to make the bigger, make them plumpier? You don’t get those on apples but you do get those on certain items at the store. Let’s say you pick up some crackers or bag of potato chips or something like that. You look at the back and you look at the ingredients and you say, “Is this stuff good for me?” And if it’s not then you’re not going to go ahead and pick it up.
But unfortunately in dentistry, in a lot of medicines, they don’t give you all that information. So if you asked a dentist, “Does this product have anything that I’m not compatible with?” Most dentists don’t understand. They don’t know and they don’t know how to test. So natural dentistry is all about safety. It’s all about doing the right thing for you as an individual because as I always say, what’s good for one person is not necessarily good for another person. So you need to get checked out individually. It’s just like some people are allergic to peanuts and some people are not. I have three children. One of my children is not allergic to peanuts and the other two are. How do we know that? It’s because we got tested.
So this is Dr. Marvin, Let’s Talk Dentistry, and I am a licensed dentist here in California. We have a great show for you today. If I don’t get any callers, I’m going to talk about inlays, onlays and crowns. I’m also going to talk about conservative bridges. Today’s theme is pretty much going to be on how do you minimize the amount of dentistry, how do you minimize the amount of damage to teeth. We’re going to talk a lot about that. I’m also going to get more into biocompatible materials. Sorry, I got a stuffed up nose right now, something that happens with me quite frequently. So just bear with me as I clear my nose because I sound real nasally right now.
Just a kind of reminder, we get a lot of patients that call right now. If you want to call our office right now, I do have Rose standing by to answer some of your questions and if you want to schedule a visit. We also have, if you stay tuned until the end of the show, I also provide an offer that today is going to save you hundreds of dollars, actually hundreds of dollars. So stay tuned and especially if today’s topic basically clicks something in your head and you’re interested in getting some more information about it, I am really excited about providing you these services. So our office number again is 760-536-1199. And if you want to call me right now, that’s 866-577-2473. I get a lot of calls every week, interesting calls that sometimes I’ve never heard that question before.
So I’ve got a lot of great information so if now is as good a time as ever. If you’ve always wanted to e-mail us or send us a message, you can also go on Facebook, facebook.com/naturaldentistry or if you can go to our website. We’re got a brand new website out. I’m very proud of that. Thank you, Jared. www.trynaturaldentistry.com and you’ll find a lot of great information about that and we’re posting brand new articles on there. Join our newsletter list. Join our e-mail list and you get a lot of our special offers.
So let me just tell you that one of my listeners came in this past week and he’s probably there listening right now and I really do appreciate it because it gives me a lot of this energy and a lot of this oomph. And he told me the number one thing that he loves about my show and this is not the first time but it just kind of gave me some warm fuzzies was that the reason why I listen to your show is because you have so much passion. And that’s a great word. I have a lot of passion for what I do. I have a lot of passion for doing the right dentistry for these patients and for you my listeners.
And so I look at the big picture and I really, really, truly feel that what I recommend is what your body needs. It’s what exactly what I would do if it were my mouth and that’s why I have a lot of passion. So I guess it comes out in my voice. It comes in what I do. I don’t think I’m a fabulous radio show host or a talk show host but I do have a lot of passion for what I do and that passion just bleeds and comes across in my voice.
Our phone lines are open now, 866-577-2473. You’re listening to Dr. Marvin on a show called Let’s Talk Dentistry where we talk about dentistry but we also talk a lot about more. And today I want to talk about inlays, onlays and crowns. Yesterday, I was near PETCO Park. I went to a continuing education course, which I think every dentist and all your dentists should be going to a lot and met up with some other doctors that are also doing the same type of procedures and these are called inlays, onlays and crowns. They’re actually one-visit restorations. They’re through a process called the Cerec. If your dentist has this, great. You want to have these types of restorations done for a number of reasons. The number one reason is that most of these restorations, they conserve tooth structure.
Now God gave you teeth and God gave you tooth structure. This enamel and the dentin are very, very strong but when you start losing some of it naturally and let’s say part of it breaks off or let’s say you start wearing down, you want to save as much as possible. There is a procedure out there that’s been done for maybe 100 years. They’re called crowns or caps and you’ve heard of those. And a lot of dentists do them. They teach us that in school and a lot of dentists do crowns. They do crowns every single day.
But the problem with crowns and I do crowns when I have to but I like to preserve as much tooth as possible. So when dentists do crowns, they actually take away a lot of tooth structure and they have a little stub or a little nub of tooth and if you’ve ever seen that stub of tooth, you’ll be like, “Wow, where did my whole tooth go? Why did you take off that much?” And it’s one of those ideas where you have to remove in order to save. But with these new advanced procedures using Cerecs and using a restoration called an inlay or an onlay, we’re preserving as much tooth and if you can, you want to keep as much tooth as possible because you can always do a crown later.
But if you can do a more conservative treatment, you should do that now. And I call that minimally-invasive dentistry. So you can go take your broken down tooth or you can take your tooth with a large mercury filling and you go to one dentist and they’re going to recommend a crown. Why? It’s because they know how to do crowns and it’s easier for them to do crowns and that’s what they’re used to. Or you can go to a progressive dentist that puts her ego aside and says, I’m going to learn a more progressive or a more modern technique where we save more tooth structure and we’re going to use a material that can be more biocompatible and that looks like your enamel, that blends in with your teeth and can be done in one visit.
And that’s what we do at the Center for Natural Dentistry. We have that technology. Actually, I’ve been using that technology for 11 years and that technology’s been out for probably about 26 years but I’ve been using it for 11 years and the technology has grown immensely and there’s more and more dentists that are on board with this type of technology.
So Cerec, Cerec technology. You want to go to a dentist that has this technology because they can not only do this type of dentistry in one visit but they’re also able to conserve as much tooth structure using a more biocompatible material and they’re using – it’s white. So, preserve tooth structure, it’s white, it’s biocompatible, all good things. Make sure you do inlays and onlays. Stay tuned until the end of the show and I’m going to give you a steep discount on those inlays and onlays if you want to schedule a consult with me. So stay tuned until the end of the show because it’s only going to be for a limited number of callers because we can’t give this away to everybody so stay tuned until the end of the show.
This is Dr. Marvin on Let’s Talk Dentistry, 866-577-2473. My office telephone number is 760-536-1199. If you want to schedule an appointment with me or Dr. Godes, schedule an appointment now. Now is as good a time as ever. Also in this continuing education course that we got in yesterday, I’m going to tell you that a lot of people are avoiding dentistry and dentistry is one thing that’s not going to get better. If you have a crack in your tooth like you have a crack in your windshield, you cracked windshield never mends itself, never gets better by itself.
So these cracked teeth of yours mean that you have a broken down tooth and this tooth is – this crack is getting in this hairline fracture. It’s getting bigger and bigger and it’s going to eventually cause problems and by the time you feel it, by the time it hurts, it’s going to be a lot more difficult to fix. Your options are limited. It’s also going to cost more. So all of these reasons are reasons why you should go to a dentist that can do more conservative dentistry that can protect your teeth, that can do dentistry before it starts to hurt so that you’re in great condition. And this is what we’re talking about. We’re talking about people that take action before things hurt.
If I told you in the future that you were going to get cancer, if I told you in the future that you’re going to get cancer but you’re not feeling it right now. Would you like to know where that cancer is? Would you like to know if there is – where it is and what you can do to keep it from getting worse or to reverse it now before things? That’s what we do in dentistry and that’s why I love dentistry because we have great advances, great studies, great research and going to a natural dentistry can try more natural treatments in order to reverse these issues such as cavities.
If you have cavities, we have a great way to reverse these. Just call our office, 760-536-1199. We’ve done this before and we’re going to continue to be on the cutting or the bleeding edge on reversing and detecting these issues way before it starts to become a problem.
Hello, this is Dr. Marvin on Let’s Talk Dentistry. How can I serve you?
Jerry: Hey, sir. How are you doing today?
Dr. Marvin: Oh, doing good. What’s your name, sir?
Jerry: Jerry.
Dr. Marvin: Jerry, nice to meet you.
Jerry: Hey, Jerry – I mean, Doctor, in recent years I’ve had a couple of root canals and the doctor who did my root canals, as I remember, he was very, very meticulous. Once he like drilled into the root, he was very, very meticulous about like irrigating it and cleaning it as thoroughly as he possibly could because I just remember him like telling me this as he was doing it.
Dr. Marvin: Good.
Jerry: Then he – I know he put X-rays before then after he filled it up, he took X-rays again and I remember him saying to me, “I don’t want any infection. That’s why I’m being so meticulous about doing what I’m doing about [indiscernible] all the irrigating and cleaning and so forth.” And the point I’m getting at is he, if he cleans real, real well and he does fill it up even though it is a metal, whatever metal substance they put in there, because it’s cleaned so well, won’t that perhaps prevent any problems?
Dr. Marvin: The more that they clean, the better off you are. Absolutely. You went to someone that is very meticulous, which is great; that really knows and trying to do whatever they can to prevent future problems. That’s all fantastic. So yes, okay, that is tons better than doing the alternative which is going to someone that is not meticulous and is not taking their time and is not cleaning it out as well as they can. So yes, that is much better. That’s the kind of root canal, if I were going to have a root canal, that’s the type of root canal that I would have.
I would – the problem with this is that it’s not what’s in the tooth that’s the problem, it’s what’s outside of the tooth that is the problem. And those nerves that are outside the tooth, sometimes they don’t work. You don’t clean out those nerves and the infection outside of the tooth can get bigger and it’s not all about what’s in the tooth and that’s where the disconnect is with people that do root canals which is 99.9% of the dentists out there is that they think these root canals are sourced or is originates from the tooth.
And if he can clean out the tooth really, really well, that’s great but you’re just buying time. It’s not like you go in there and you clean it out every two years. The whole idea is that root canal therapy, you’d clean it out well. You put in a nice filling inside there then you leave it for the rest of your life and you can continue to chew with the tooth but the routine is it’s not for you to go in there every time and get the tooth cleaned out and that would be my preference if you were to get a root canal done, you need to get it cleaned out because bacteria is lodged in there and it’s like a cork and the bacteria starts to grow and starts to grow again. You have to go in there and clean it out again and that’s why I don’t support root canal therapy for those two reasons.
Jerry: But even if you use the biomaterials that you were speaking of?
Dr. Marvin: Yes.
Jerry: Biocompatible materials. I mean, can’t you still get bacteria in there even with that kind of material in there?
Dr. Marvin: That’s correct. That’s why I don’t recommend root canals. That’s correct. There are some dentists or some endodontists, which are the specialists for root canals that are using more biocompatible materials. The reason is because they were using toxic materials before so a lot of dentists are using toxic materials that have mercury and nickel and a lot of other metals so that it can be seen on the X-rays, they’re also using these sealers, which is like the glue for that filling material which supposedly seals everything but that’s toxic too because it not only kills the bacteria but also kills yourself.
So we’re living just like the bacteria’s living so we need to figure out what materials are good for us so they’re using more biocompatible materials but at some extent, that’s not good for us either. And how do they know if that material’s good for them? Because they don’t know how to test the individual on that material. So they’re just going like across the board and just generalizing and saying that this is a more biocompatible material than before so therefore, it’s going to be good for all the people. So I’m going to start using this material now. And that’s what they’re doing.
So yes, it just goes down to the root thing again, it’s like if they don’t know how to test and they don’t give you informed consent and they don’t give you all the ingredients in the material then you never really know and you’re doing what you’re doing is you’re trying to make your best decision at that time, trying to choose the best provider but do they really know what they know, or do they truly know what they don’t know? And they don’t. So it’s just very, very difficult call to make.
So what I do is I test those root canals that you had done to see if it’s affecting you and very few dentists are able to do that and that’s one of our things that we really specialize in at our office. So, I do have a lot of root canals that come into my office and I don’t routinely recommend that all of them be taken out, only the ones that are infected and it’s not necessarily the tooth that is infected. It’s the bone around it that’s infected.
And that dentist that you went to, the endodontist that you went to, man, they have great intent. They’re wonderful people. And they’re doing the best that they can but on one side they want to save the tooth and you want to save the tooth but on the other side, you don’t want to leave infections inside there that can be causing your body and your immune system harm. So you just have to do whichever you think is best for you.
Jerry: Hey, one last thing. I know you talk about the stub. After they grind off all the tooth and there’s like a stub left before they put the…
Dr. Marvin: The crown or the cap or the bridge.
Jerry: The crown. Is it possible they can grind off too much that the crown they put on, there’s not enough tooth to connect the two?
Dr. Marvin: Absolutely. Absolutely and it happens all the time. When a dentist uses a drill, these drills are actually going at like 400,000 rounds per minute. I mean that’s that whining sound. And that drill causes a lot of heat and that friction causes a lot of heat and that heat can damage the nerve in the tooth and if it damaged the nerve in the tooth, the nerve starts to die and then you start getting pulpitis or infection in the nerve and then it starts becoming infected and then they’re going to say, “Oh, you need to do a root canal.”
And sometimes they can do it through the crown that they had made or sometimes they’ll say, “Okay, you need to do a root canal and a post and then a new crown.” So you’re out of luck because if you want to save this tooth, you have to do a root canal and you have to spend a lot more money, maybe $2,000, $3,000 just to save this tooth after you spent, whatever, $1,000 to put the crown on it. So you need to go to a dentist that is very, very conservative.
The problem with very conservative dentistry is that if not done properly, the dentistry doesn’t look that nice. It’s because when they do these crowns, if the dentist had not removed enough tooth, there’s not enough space to put the metal, the opaque porcelain and the nice porcelain to make it look like a tooth and so the teeth look bulkier or they look opaque. And so there’s this fine line. That’s why the dentistry is – the practice of dentistry we’re practicing on patients to figure out what should I do. Should I do a more aesthetic crown and remove more tooth or should I do a more conservative crown and do it?
My recommendation is that you go to the dentist that’s the most conservative and that has skills and techniques and uses good laboratory work to get the right type of material. So it happens all the time. Dentists don’t want to redo work so they end up taking away more tooth and in the back of their mind, they may be saying, “Well, I have to remove a lot of tooth and if it starts to hurt later on, then this person is going to pay me more for it to save the tooth.” So unfortunately, there’s a lot of that being done.
Jerry: So if they grind off too much tooth and they connect it to a crown, will the crown eventually fall off because there’s not enough to hold onto?
Dr. Marvin: Oh, it definitely can because that stump that is there will break too.
Jerry: Right.
Dr. Marvin: So that’s why it’s vitally – it’s super important to go to the right dentist to make sure that you don’t get too much tooth taken off. When the tooth already has a root canal and they’re starting to do this, well, there’s no more nerve so it’s not that big of a deal to remove a lot of tooth, you still need to save a lot of tooth because the more tooth you save, the more you can – just in case something happens in the future where you need to redo the root canal, you still have good, solid tooth structure.
A lot of dentists spend years and years and years into crossing their fingers and they’re hoping that the dentistry that they do will last. But the problem is when they remove so much tooth and there’s not much to hold onto, it becomes a big problem and then you start like, it makes decision-making for a dentist very difficult where they have to say, “Do I want to redo this tooth or do I want to go ahead and take it out and put a dental implant?” So it just goes from one thing to another thing to another thing and that’s why dentistry is where it is right now. I mean it’s basically a repair type of field, like a mechanic for teeth that are 10, 20, 30, 40 years old.
Jerry: Yeah, and one last thing. I mentioned that the guy took – he took X-rays like before and after and in between because he just wanted to like he says make sure there was no infection. You could see it from X-rays and stuff. I mean, will that help from getting infections?
Dr. Marvin: X-rays are a picture. And so when you have a picture of a tooth, especially during the procedure, it doesn’t really mean anything. What they’re doing when they’re taking X-rays is looking for measurements and making sure they’re doing it at the right length. And they also take pictures afterward to see how well they did for their own records. That’s what the X-ray’s for.
So if you want to see if your root canal is still good, you need to get X-rays possibly every year on that same root canal to see if there’s any changes in the bone around it. You can’t really see how anything changes in the tooth. It’s not like you can see bacteria or an infection in the tooth. That’s why you want to take a look but if there are signs of changes at the end, good or bad, that’s why you take an X-ray so that’s the reason they should continually take X-rays.
Jerry: Hey, don’t you guys – once you drill the hole before you fill it up with the, whatever substance you fill it up with, don’t you got like a liquid or something that would absolutely kill every bacteria? I mean I would think they would have that by now. Some kind of juice they can put in there to kill all the bacteria in hidden crevices and stuff like that.
Dr. Marvin: What they do is they use bleach or they use some other liquid, which is very toxic like I said to yourself also. So you need to be very, very careful with that. So that’s the situation that they’re in and it doesn’t last forever. It can kill the bacteria once. It’s just like you clean your toilet bowl once but it doesn’t keep it away forever.
Jerry: Thank you.
Dr. Marvin: So thank you, Jerry. Great call, Jerry. Thank you very much. Today’s special. If you schedule for an exam, I’ll give you free X-rays. I’ll give you free X-rays. That’s $350 value and 20% off one of those inlays, onlays. 20% off, then you save hundreds. Call right now, 760-536-1199. The first six callers are going to get that special. So save hundreds, 760-536-1199. First six callers only. Call right now, 760-536-1199. I’ll see you next week. I’m Dr. Marvin, Let’s Talk Dentistry. Keep smiling. Bye bye now.
Female: You’ve been listening to Let’s Talk Dentistry with Dr. Marvin. This show is sponsored by the Center for Natural Dentistry in Encinitas where they take a holistic approach to dentistry and your health.