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In this episode Holistic Dentist Dr. Marvin is joined in studio by the Center for Natural Dentistry’s office manager Jared Young! Today’s show we look into the options you have in Dentistry, with any dental related issue, you have options, and you need to be able to decide which route is the best for you, today, a year from now, and even 30 years from now. SO on Today’s show we dive into some of the materials used in common procedures and so much more. So with that, lets get going on this week’s episode of Let’s Talk Dentistry!
— Transcript of Today’s Show —
Dr. Marvin: Thank you for listening to Let’s Talk Dentistry. This is Dr. Marvin. Thanks for joining us. If you haven’t joined our show before, it’s every Saturday morning here on KPRZ1210. You can also get us online at kprz.com. They also have an iPhone app. If you have one of those fancy phones or if you have an iPad, you can also listen to these shows live at 8:30 every Saturday morning. Today we’ve got a great show. Again, I’m with my partner, Jared Young. How are you doing Jared?
Jared: I’m doing well. I feel like I’m becoming a regular these days.
Dr. Marvin: Yeah, thanks for joining me on the show. We’ve had some great topics in the past. Last week we talked about Mercury fillings. Do you have anything to add from last week?
Jared: You know, I think we finished last week talking about BPA and some of the potential hazards with BPA. We were talking about composite fillings. There are no perfect fillings for any one person. That’s kind of where we ended up.
Dr. Marvin: Obviously the ideal restoration is enamel or the tooth itself, but that’s just not possible right now. We can not take out old, decayed teeth and put in a fresh tooth or components of a fresh tooth. It’s kind of like if you had your finger cut off. You can’t reattach a finger.
Jared: Although we do have an article on our website from last year or the year before about some doctors, I believe in China, that were starting to develop all natural fillings made of human bile.
Dr. Marvin: Yeah, from the gallbladder. That’s still a long ways out, supposedly. Just to get an idea, if your tooth is decayed out, you do have to remove the tooth decay, and you have to replace it. There are several different options out there. We talked about mercury, amalgam fillings, which are still very common. Dentists are still placing those. There are also plastic fillings available. That’s what we were talking about with BPA (bisphenol a) and the potential hazards of that. There are also other metals out there and other compositions of metal, such as gold or an alloy of gold. You’ve got to remember that there’s not a 100% gold filling out there. First of all, it would be way too soft, it would be very expensive, and it’s just not done. They also have porcelain fillings out there. They have their pros and cons too. They have a whole bunch of different types of materials, a combination of metal and porcelain, so there isn’t one material that is good for everybody. That’s basically what we’re talking about.
You have to go to a dentist that understands all the different materials, that uses all the different materials, and chooses the materials that are best for you as a patient.
Jared: We have patients who have called us and asked us about dentists who say, “We’re metal free, we’re mercury free. We don’t use mercury.” But the thing is that they just use one type of composite filling. It’s a one-size-fits-all practice. When it comes to anything in medicine, there is no one-size-fits-all.
Dr. Marvin: It’s impossible for a dentist to own every type of material. It’s impossible for them to have every color for every single one of those materials. For the most part, whenever you go to a dentist, if you think that all dentists are the same, then you’re going to go to a dentist that uses materials that they are comfortable with, that they’ve used in the past. It could be the cheapest material. It could be whatever material is popular or the newest one that just came out, the latest and greatest. You run that risk of going to a dentist that is practicing or trying out something new, and you may or may not benefit. They may have a new technique, they may use a material that hasn’t been proven or that they don’t know how to use, or you could be allergic to it.
That’s one of the focuses of our dental practice. If you want to find our dental practice online, it is trynaturaldentistry.com. Find out a lot of information about what we’re talking about today, some previous episodes, and some success stories that have online. If you are also on facebook, which some of you are, you can also find us at facebook.com/naturaldentistry. Look us up online. We’ve got a lot of great information online. We’ve got this every Saturday morning. If you want to schedule an appointment with us, we can give you that number. 760-536-1199.
I want to get back to the material. When choosing dental materials for your mouth, I always tell people that whatever works for you may not work for someone else, and whatever works for someone else may not work for you. We are all unique; we are all different. We are all the same, but we are also very different.
It’s not good for dentists or anyone to install or put something in your body (supposedly permanently) without testing to see if you have a reaction to it or if you have a sensitivity or an allergy to it. Bio-compatibility testing, which a lot of dentists are unaware of or they don’t do or they don’t appreciate should be done. It’s one of the things we do at the office that is included with a lot of our treatments. We don’t want to put something in your body or inject something in your body– it could be something like anesthetic, like Novocaine or Lidocaine– that you will eventually have a reaction to. Why would we want to do that when we have the tools and the ability to test the materials before hand? If you are allergic to mercury fillings, if you know it, then obviously you’re not going to put mercury in your body. A lot of people don’t get tested and they don’t know they’re allergic to mercury fillings. The same thing can go for the porcelain fillings. The same thing can go with the plastic fillings. There are thousands of different types of plastic fillings. There are a thousand different types of metals and alloys. How would you know? You do have to go to a dentist that understands this process, and that’s what we do at the Center for Natural Dentistry. If you have plastic fillings, you could be allergic to them. One of the things that we do when you come to visit us for one of our comprehensive exams and x-rays is that we test to figure out how your body is responding to whatever is going on inside your mouth.
There are several things that could be going on inside your mouth. You might not be compatible with the dentistry or the materials that were used. A lot of people are upset when they come to see us, because they just had dentistry done recently, and the material that was used was not compatible with them, or they are sensitive to it. Do not start any dentistry without going to a dentist who understands the value of having the materials being made.
Jared: Right. I mean, some people think it’s silly to be allergic to a filling. You can’t be allergic to a plastic! Just because you’re not allergic doesn’t mean somebody else is. Dr. Marvin, are you allergic to pecans?
Dr. Marvin: I am not.
Jared: Yeah, but I am. Is it silly that one person can be allergic to pecans and another one can’t?
Dr. Marvin: No, it’s not silly. The problem is that the way most people find out that they’re allergic to something is they get exposed to it.
Jared: If you’re going to put a filling in your mouth and are therefore exposed to it, you can’t just stop using it. When I found out I’m allergic to pecans, I just stopped eating them, but I can’t if I find out I’m allergic to a filling you put in my mouth. I can’t just stop using it.
Dr. Marvin: Remind me next time I do a filling on you to put a pecan filling inside your mouth.
Jared: That’d be wonderful; it would make me feel great.
Dr. Marvin: The other thing that you have to understand is that you don’t get reactions immediately after you’re exposed to it. Because you’re not reacting immediately does not mean that you’re OK with something. If you have ever had any jewelry (it’s usually inexpensive or cheap jewelry), it may be made out of material that you are sensitive to, but you don’t know that when you purchase the jewelry, so you may wear it. After a day or two or a week or a month– I remember I purchased this very expensive watch. I think it was $1,000. Actually it was a gift that my mom gave me. I started using it, then when I took it out my wrist had some black stuff on it. I could wash it off, but every time I would used that watch, I’d use it. It’s an expensive watch, so it doesn’t really have to be cheap in order for you to be allergic to it. Every time I wore it I would have a reaction after wearing it for a day or two. This is something that I could easily take off, I could easily not wear anymore. I could put it aside, and my body wouldn’t react to it.
When you’re doing dentistry, and you’re getting something installed, everyone thinks all dentistry is the same. Everyone thinks that all plastic fillings are the same. Everyone thinks that everything that’s done in the mouth and all dentists are the same. It’s not true. If your dentist does not understand the value of choosing materials that are good for you, then you can get something installed or put inside your mouth that costs a lot of money, then find out that it has to be undone or redone. You’re spending more money and possibly more damage to your teeth.
Jared: If you’re listening to the show right now, think back to all the times you’ve been to the dentist. See if you can remember one time where your dentist tested to see if you were allergic to anything that they used in the office. I know it certainly hadn’t happened with me before we opened the Center for Natural Dentistry. I’ve been fortunate. I haven’t had to go to the dentist very many times, because I don’t have a lot of dental problems. I have family members that have had a lot of problems, and none of them have ever been tested to see if they’re sensitive or allergic to anything the dentist puts into their mouth.
Dr. Marvin: I don’t think people understand how many materials are being used. Compounds, liquids, filling materials. How much is actually being used during a visit? If you came in for a cleaning, you have the chair, you have the gloves, very important. You may be allergic to latex, or you may have become allergic to latex. That’s a big allergen these days. Latex is a rubbery material from a tree, and they were using it a lot for gloves. Now there are using more synthetic materials. How do you know that you’re not allergic that synthetic material that they’re using for their drugs? That’s number one. Number two is the cleaning or the polishing material that they’re using. A lot of the polishers are made out of metal. They’re made out of fluoride. They can have artificial colors, artificial dyes, they can have rubber latex on the polishing material.
That’s just from a cleaning visit. You could be allergic to not only the filling material but the bonding agent that connects the filling material. What about the cement being used for the crown or the bridge? What about the anesthetic? I’ve had a lot of patients that come in and say, “Don’t use this kind of anesthetic, because my heart races.”
Jared: A lot of patients think all anesthetics are the same. They think everybody uses Novocaine. When was the last time a doctor used Novocaine?
Dr. Marvin: Novocaine is not being used any more. The reason why is because it’s too short acting. It goes into your body, then it goes away. You need an anesthetic that lasts more than five minutes for a lot of these procedures. Novocaine is the one that is recognized by the most people, but it’s not being used any more.
We have five different types of anesthetics that we use. Sometimes we won’t use anesthetics, because it’s not necessary to use anesthetics. We don’t automatically just inject and give people shots with any anesthetic. We are just very cognizant and very aware of the materials that we use, of the ones that we purchase in our office. We have a lot of bio-compatible materials, but not everyone is compatible with all of them, so we need to go out and find more.
Let me give you an example of other materials that are being used. What about your braces? If you have metal braces, there are thousands of different manufacturers. Different manufacturers manufacture different alloys. They have different wires, different stainless steels, different nickles. What about retainers? A lot of people have retainers that are fixed in their mouth, and some people have retainers that are removable. If you ever had braces in the past, you may have a retainer with a piece of plastic attached. What about the plastic? Are you allergic to the plastic? Plastic or acrylic, which is used a lot in dentistry is an allergen. A lot of people are allergic to it, so what about that? What about Invisalign? If you have Invisalign or Clear Correct, there’s a lot of different materials that are being used that you’re not aware of. What about your bite guard or your athletic mouth guard? Could you be allergic to these materials? Absolutely. Have you been tested? Probably not? Would you want to expose yourself to more toxins and have these allergic reactions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Absolutely not. These are all examples of things that we do that really separate our practice from other dental practices.
Jared: It is a big deal. It’s not something that is like, ‘well, it’d be nice, but it doesn’t really matter.’ I think your comment about the next time I need a filling you’ll put a pecan in my filling– that could make me seriously ill over a longer period of time, and I’d have no recourse. I’d have no way to just go home and take it out. I’d have to come back into the office and have you remove it. That’s what putting these materials and allergens into your body, if you’re allergic to them will cause. It’s the same exact thing. It’s like putting a peanut into somebody’s mouth– sticking permanently a peanut into the mouth of someone who’s allergic to peanuts.
Dr. Marvin: You might be asking, “Why don’t most dentists know about this? Why didn’t they teach us this in dental school?” The fact of the matter is that they don’t teach us this in dental school, because they have other things to teach. Dental school is not long enough. It’s very expensive for these dentists to go to these schools. They just want to get out and start paying of their student debt and stuff like that. The things that I am sharing today are just not well known. The problem that I have is that there are a lot of dentists that don’t know about it, but they do learn that there are better materials out there that are more compatible. They’re not willing to know more about it, because it just requires more work. For instance, they have to learn what the materials are. They have to learn how to test. In their mind they’re thinking, ‘No one else is doing it. No other dentists are doing it. I could do dentistry with what I have right now. Why would I want to learn these new techniques?’
Jared: We do it because you’re personally passionate about it, and you also like to learn things about materials. There’s a lot of information about every material that’s out there, but you have to go seek it out. You have to find it, read it, and do the research. That’s something you’re interested in on a personal level, but also because our patients demand it. We’ve set ourselves up. We’ve told patients on the radio show, patients that come in and on the website that we do these things. We look them up. That means that you constantly have to be researching, constantly looking at new materials, constantly looking at new techniques and figuring out what the best options and available options are.
Dr. Marvin: If you are sitting at home right now, or you’re in the car listening to this, I hope Jerrad and I have really emphasized that not all dentists are the same. Not all holistic dentists are the same. There are a lot of holistic dentists here, in town that still place metal crowns. There are ones that still do root canals. They may still use a lot of x-ray, they may still use fluoride. Every dentist is different, and you can not shop around thinking that a crown is a crown is a crown, even if you get them from all the same dentists. The only thing I can do is assure our patients that we will do our best based on what we know. Based on what we know, we’re constantly trying to figure out what’s best. The reason why we constructed this practice is because this is exactly what I would want if I were a patient.
Let me give you an example if I took my car to the shop and I have a problem with my air conditioning… This is actually a true story. I had a problem with my air conditioning. I took it to the shop, and they flushed out the air conditioning stuff and put new stuff in. It started working fine, and I was like, ‘great.’ I spent a couple hundred dollars and got my air conditioning fixed, but then it started to not work again. It was broken again. I was like, ‘Wow. Did I go to the right person?’ So I called the shop back and told them it’s not working. He said, “Oh, you probably have a leak.” OK, I have a leak, so I have to take it back in and pay for a leak.
I took it to a different guy and I said, “I have a leak. How much does it cost?” All mechanics are the same, right? That’s what I was thinking. I took it to the guy, he checked it out and told me it wasn’t a leak. It was just a relay problem. It’s just a part. It’s about a $5 part you can get at the Honda dealership, and they put it in.
I used this experience to realize that the diagnosis is very important, and the treatment is very important if you have the correct diagnosis. I think this is the same for all dentists. If you think that you have a problem, you probably think that all dentists can fix that problem and they all fix it the same way. The reality is that you need to go to the dentist that provides the best diagnosis and can provide the treatment based on that diagnosis. We are not experts. I am not an expert on air conditioning in cars. I am an expert at dentistry. You need to leave the work and the diagnosis to the experts, and you can not look at dentists as being the same.
Jared: Everybody’s different, and you have to take the extra time. That is one thing that sets us apart. I know we’re talking a lot about filling materials and sensitivities, but one of the big things that sets our practice apart from extra practices is the amount of time that we spend with patients, not only in their initial exam, but throughout their life as a patient at our practice. Our exams are two to three times longer, if not more than the average dentist. They’re with the doctor, they’re not with the hygientist.
Dr. Marvin: We spend a lot of time. If you want more personal care, personal service, if you want to be comprehensive and get tested and know what’s really going on inside your mouth that other dentists may have overlooked. I get this all the time. Patients come in and say, “Oh, my dentist says that everything is fine.” Everything is fine until something hurts, and now there’s a problem. Just because it’s not hurting doesn’t mean there’s not a problem. We identify things that are related to the rest of the body, such as your structure and bite, that could have been caused by dentistry. We have to spend this extra time explaining what caused it, what to do about it, what your options are, and also what the costs are in order to fix it. there is no obligation to do treatment when you are at the dental office, especially at our dental practice. We’re not going to try to sell you something that you don’t need. We don’t sell anything, actually.
Jared: No, we’re going to give you the option, tell you what we find, and then give you the option to decided what, if anything, you want to do at that point. Our goal when you come in is to provide good diagnostics, so you know what’s going on and you know what needs to be done, whether you do it with us or anyone else.
Dr. Marvin: There is no high pressure sales, but we don invest a lot in our education. We invest a lot in our diagnostic equipment and treatment equipment. We spend a lot of time in figuring out what’s best for you and what skills are necessary for you, so that you can make better decisions. There’s just no substitute for this kind of dentistry. You need to spend the time up front to get the right diagnosis. If you don’t, you may be recommended treatment that you do not need. You may be recommended treatment that is more harmful, when you could have done something more conservative that actually costs less. People automatically think that because they go to a boutique practice like ours, or to a more natural, alternative practice, that we’re more expensive. In reality we’re not more expensive, because you’re doing less treatment or you’re doing treatment that’s more focused on your overall health and is actually fixing future problems. It’s called preventive dentistry. When you have this holistic, whole-body approach, you can kind of predict the next problem that’s going to happen. You can do something now that’s conservative, more predictable, and it costs less than the treatment that would be done in the future if you don’t do anything now. It just comes around full circle. It’s the best type of dentistry available, this whole-body dentistry that we always emphasize on our radio show and in our practice.
Jared: I’ve been a patient. I know a lot of out patients. Most of the time when our patients come in, it’s transformative. They don’t go some place else. They don’t look at dentistry the same anymore. It’s a big deal. If you haven’t been in before, I encourage you to come in. Do we have a special this week for people who haven’t been in before?
Dr. Marvin: Yeah, we’re going to do a special promotion this week for those first time listeners or those who’ve listened in the past. We’d love to give you an incentive to come in or give us a call. We’re going to give you half off your first visit for the first five callers. We usually only do it for the first three, but today for the first five callers, we’re going to give you half off your first visit. We’re going to spend an hour to two hours with us. We’re going to get down to the nitty gritty, figure out what’s going on inside your mouth, do a 3D x-ray, a cone beam CT scan. It’s the best x-ray available. We’re going to get down to the diagnosis and the treatment. You’re going to leave with a full itemized treatment plan for what’s going on inside your mouth and what you can do about it. You want to call 760-536-1199 now. You don’t want to call later, because you could be left out. You could be number 6. Then you’re going to have to wait for us to have another promotion similar to this one, if we even have another one similar to this.
Jared: I hope I don’t get in trouble for this, but I think I have some extra bottles of mouthwash in the office as well. Maybe we can throw in a bottle of mouthwash for these first five callers.
Dr. Marvin: Alright Jared, you pulled my leg. For the first five callers, half off your first exam and a bottle of my mouthwash, Breath Doctor Mouthwash. That’s a $22 value, plus half off your first visit. Give us a call right now. Thank you Jared for joining the show. I’ll see you next week, same time, same place. I’m out.