Dental health and longevity.

0:00 Speaker 1 With us today’s doctor Peter Michalos and he is on in house genius historian, knows about medical items and one good guy, doctor Peter Michalos. So what’s on our mind this Sunday morning.

0:17 Speaker 2 Well, today, John, we’re going to talk about an interesting topic that’s very important, and that is dental health and how dental health relates to our longevity. And they found that certain types of gum disease, for example, certain bacteria that grow within the mouth are associated with heart disease.

0:39 And what they’ve found was those bacteria that are found in the mouth and gum disease are also found in plaques that’s inside the actual heart plaques that cause heart attacks and strokes. And that’s very interesting. And somehow the bad bacteria are seeping into the blood stream and activating inflammation.

1:03 And they found that people who have this type of inflammation it seems to raise also certain blood markers like the sedimentation rate, the see reactive protein, the homocysteine levels. So sometimes when people have inflammation that nobody can find, sometimes it can end up being an infection somewhere in the body, like some people can have an ongoing bone infection.

1:29 I steal my light is sitting in their bone somewhere and it’s elevating and nobody understands it. Or gum disease can actually do it too. So they found that people who have gum disease and certain bacteria that grow in the mouth have a two and a half times greater chance of having cancer, which is also very interesting. And

1:48 for example, in esophageal cancer, they found that there’s one type of bacteria called a Nytheria species and strep pneumonia species found in the mouth. When that is higher, those people have a higher incidence of esophageal cancer. And I was having a discussion with doctor Adam Behar and doctor Robert Sigarelli. Adam bear is a periodontis They specialize in

2:12 gum disease, and he was saying that the first signs are bleeding of the gum, sensitivity of the gums, swelling of the gums, loose teeth, and that’s why it’s important to maintain our gum health. And during COVID, what we found with many people did not go get their cleanings, did not follow up with their dentists, so we’re seeing

2:32 a lot more gum disease. Therefore, you can translate that into we’re going to be seeing more heart attacks and strokes because the arteries that feed our heart pump, those tend to get plaque inside them, and inside that plaque is calcium, and it’s like basically dried oils and cholesterol plaques, but inside them they also have these bacteria. So the

2:55 bottom line is we’re reminding people to go to your dentist, get cleaningsrobably at least twice a year minimum, getting an annual exam by your dentist, and work on your dental health. And they found that people who between aged sixty four and sixty five have at least twenty teeth that are still there have a lower incidence of having heart and

3:17 stroke problems. But even if you had, for example, dental problems when you were younger and you lost a lot of teeth, if you change your diet, you can change the whole course of that and reduce the inflammation. Because when they dig up skulls from ancient times or even two thousand years ago, guess what they find. They find

3:37 the skulls in tact with no cavities. Why because back then our ancestors didn’t have processed food and refined sugar. So all these ancient skulls didn’t have cavities, but when you look at a modern man skull or someone who’s passed away and you look twenty thirty forty years ago, the mouths are filled with cavities. So this is an

3:58 important lesson in longevity and dental health, and we’re going to be talking more about on the show some Yeah, doctor, I.

4:06 Speaker 1 Mean they are you used to take an information test? I forget that what it was. It was a three digit guests are test. Will that ESR test uh be good for your all areas of your body?

4:23 Speaker 2 Yes, it’s a test that shows all areas of body and general inflammation the same way that the C reactive protein is another inflammatory marker, and oral and gum health can sometimes be the source of that as many times people do scans, X rays, blood tests and they can’t find out where the inflammation is. But then when they

4:43 have a good periodontal evaluation, they find out that sometimes it comes from the gums, and that inflammation is also associated with heart plaques and heart inflammation. So that’s why the ESR test.

4:57 Speaker 1 I think if you remind me, the ring was like from from one to twenty or something, and it had to be for females, it had to be below a certain number in males like fifteen.

5:10 Speaker 2 Yes, yeah, yeah, zero to twenty is the average for both male and female. When you come back and you get a ESR of seventy six, then you you start looking for things like rheumatoid arthritis, myalga’s, other inflammatory bowel conditions, and now, of course you know, gum disease is also a problem. I had a root canal that failed and

5:32 they couldn’t figure out why my SEE reactive protein was elevated, and then I had to have that root canal redone and repaired, and then my SE reactive protein went back to normal because I hadn’t a cult. A cult means hidden a hidden inflammation somewhere in the body. So this is a marker. That’s a good blood test when you

5:49 go to a doctor and they do check, that’s a good inflammatory test to do as well. That’s often times not ordered, but we always remind people to order that, and also things like the heavy metal screen like you and I both have had and found out we had elevated mercury.

6:06 Speaker 1 Yes exactly. I mean I always tell my doctor make sure we do an ESR test to see the level of an inflammation because that will show you about other problems. And also the other thing that we meaning you discussed over dinner is to make sure if we were eating the wrong fish, our mercury count was going up, and

6:25 if I was drinking the wrong water, they had too much arsenic in it, and I want to mention the brand. I stopped drinking that water and my arsenic count went down. So lead wassenic and mercury tests we should always be done, like at least once a year.

6:43 Speaker 2 Yeah. Absolutely, you asked for what’s called a heavy metal screen, which encompasses all three of those tests because we want to keep our audience healthy and alive and keep listening to WABC for more health tips to keep everyone alive and healthy and to live to be one hundred well.

6:59 Speaker 1 Doctor Peter me, Hello, thank you so much for keeping our audience so longer. No more, no wonder our ratings are up so highway. Our our audience is living longer by listening to w ABC. Thank you so much.

7:12 Speaker 2 Absolutely, our audience will outlive all the other audiences because you get the truth out every week on the Cats Round Table.

7:20 Speaker 1 God bless you, and thank you for what you do to help. In that thank you,