Last year I had the pleasure of attending the Voices of Dentistry Podcasting Summit, and was delighted to sit down and spend some time with the one and only Gary Takacs.

Gary is a seasoned podcaster, consultant, educator, and all around great guy! To date, he has consulted over 2,200 dental offices, and has interviewed over 250 guests on his podcast; I guess you can say he’s a someone who knows what successful dental professionals looks like!

I wanted to pick Gary’s brain about what questions a person should ask themselves when they are faced with choosing a dentist and dental office.  Needless to say, Gary sees enough dentists to know what it takes in making a good choice when looking for a dental home that fits your needs.

He recommends that you ask yourself the following questions after you visit the office for your initial exam:

1. Did the doctor ask what my interests and concerns were, and did the office listen to my wants and needs? Ask yourself, “are they interested in my goals for my oral health, or are they interested in their goals for my oral health”? It would be nice to hear the office gather information by asking something like “what brings you here today?”
2. Did you feel like you were getting the attention of the staff instead of a feeling like a number?
3. What was the interaction between the dentist and the other team members like? Does the staff seem gracious to be there, and are the team members supportive to one another? Do they seem to want to be around each other?  If you can feel the tension in the air, that may be a clue to keep looking.

We begin our conversation by talking about the importance of putting yourself (if you are a clinician) in a position of being fearful so that you can see from the mind/eyes of the patient.  And, with each new patient exam recognize the courage it took for that patient to simply come and visit your office.

He explains that fear is real.  It may be irrational, but it is real.  Gary shares a story of how his office Life Smiles helped a patient overcome fear in such a way that helped her get on the path of oral health.

We talk about oral-systemics, and how Gary interviewed Dr's Bradley Bale and Tom Larkin earlier that weekend at the Voices of Dentistry Podcasting Summit. Dr. Bale recently published findings in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) proving that periodontal disease is a contributing cause of cardiovascular disease.

He gives a great analogy to smoking in the 60’s. In the 60’s it was “thought” that smoking perhaps was linked to lung cancer, now we know that it’s a cause. Gary (like me), is a true believer in the Oral Systemic connection which is what makes him so excited about the profession of dentistry and how it has the ability to change lives!

He goes on to say you have to be an advocate for yourself and take action for yourself if you feel that you are not being taken care of.  It’s okay to say, I just don’t think that we are a good fit in order to find someone that fits your needs and wants.

Another good way to find a dentist is ask likeminded friends.

Make sure to ask them who they see and what they have learned from them? It’s not enough if their dentist is just a “nice guy”.

Look at the office website. Is content updated regularly? Do they have an active Facebook page? What is the interaction with patients, and what are the existing patients saying about the office?

What type of new technology do they have? Are they investing in tools that help you get and stay healthy? Are they helping you identify the link between the health of your gums and the rest of your body? Do they offer any testing to help you understand your risks?

These are the things you want to pay attention to if you are looking for an office to put your trust in when it comes to the oral health of yourself and your family.

Gary and I twist and turn through some very cool stories about dentistry and he talks about the dentist in a faraway land that get to listen to his podcast as a way of learning about becoming a better dentist. Prior to finding his podcast, he was travelling for 2 days to attend a continuing education course!

What a great way to make an impact on the world!!

Gary was gracious enough give some amazing insights about dentistry in general through his colorful story telling. A true master at his craft, Gary’s positivity and message made interviewing him a moment I won’t soon forget, and I hope you enjoy it too!

It’s not an episode that should be missed, and I hope it helps you find the dentist of your dreams and desires! Thank you, Gary, for taking the time to sit down with me, and thank you for helping empower our listeners in making a great decision when choosing a dental office to call home!

Links to topics discussed: Gary interviews Bradley Bale MD & Tom Larkin DDS on Integration of Medicine and Dentistry

Whoopy Goldberg talks gum disease she was suffering with that could have been prevented. 

Life Smiles Dental Care  - Phoenix, AZ, Scottsdale, AZ

Dr Kim Kutsch – managing cavities and genetics

Carifree

3D cone beam technology vs x-rays 

Connect with Gary:

Life Smiles Dental Care  - Phoenix, AZ, Scottsdale, AZ

Gary's website

The Thriving Dentist Podcast

Gary’s Favorite Quote:

“Change is difficult.

However, the alternative is absolute obsolescence.”

I had the pleasure of an in person interview with Ed Harrold at the Inaugural FACE Conference in Washington DC this year. FACE is an organization that helps bring health care providers together and teach the screening of airway disorders, and Ed was there to motivate the group and teach us how to better take care of ourselves so that we can continue to help others.

This is a great interview packed with tips on how to help stall aging, deal with stress, help our children’s health, get the most out of a workout and for our healthcare workers, tips on wearing a mask and having a clean nasal passage.

He explains how you can control your breath to conserve energy both physically and mentally.

Physically, when we control our breath, we can control our heart rate which then helps control blood pressure. Emotionally, when blood pressure is controlled, the brain can turn down the fear centers and turn up the learning centers

When the brain senses relaxation it helps to burn fat and save glucose. He helps us learn how to get more out of a workout with less time and less energy used.

Ed shares what happens to the body when someone mouth breathes during exercise. Pure mouth breathing burns sugars, taxes the immune system and your body has to work hard to get rid of the excess acid and bacteria that gets stirred up from over oxygenation during exercise (I didn’t even know that was a thing before this, but WOW)!!

Nose breathing during exercise will help strengthen the diaphragm which helps with good posture and amplifies the vagus nerve get most out of rest and digest.

He encourages us to use nasal breathing and exercise to help remove toxins and help with gut toxicity. He explains that exercise is inflammation reduction, but when you breathe too fast and too hard, your body increases inflammation. Taking in less than 12 breaths per minute helps keeps the body in fat burning mode

We talk about what type of workout is best and how to prepare for it not only with working out, but also with everyday life.

He shares about how to move through stress without becoming stressful and how to not get bogged down with things.

He shares how to transition from mouth breathing to nose breathing with things like breath retention in cycles which helps you shorten the amount of time it takes to recover normal breathing patterns.

I share my challenge with nasal breathing while cycling and the frustration of learning what to do with all of that extra fluid. Ed explains what toxins are being released from my body during that process and encourages me to keep going through training!

For professionals that wear masks, Ed shares some tips his tips for having a clear nasal passage.

• Neti pot xlear nasal flush am
• Alternate breathing exercise
• Eat big meal at lunch
• Lunch size serving at dinner
• Try not to eat after sun is down

Towards the end of the interview we jump back into nasal breathing at work and how it helps not only become happy and fulfilled, but also more in tune with emotional intelligence.

We talk about how how to help calm before a dental appointment (practice this at home multiple times before visiting the office)

• Have some quiet time before the appointment.
• Slowing down the breath on the inhale
• Exhale longer than the infale
• Pause at the end of the exhale

Towards the end of the interview we talk about how to help children through this type of breathing and how to help children. His book “Life With Breath: Iq + Eq = New You” is filled with tips and tricks to help calm and center our children and enjoy more family time together.

I wished this interview could have gone on forever, Ed has amazing insight, I hope we are able to get him on the podcast again soon!

Links discussed in the podcast

Ed’s Book Life With Breath: Iq + Eq = New You

http://amzn.to/2iNmJzn

Neti pot xlear nasal flush am

http://www.xlear.com/xlear-sinus-care/xylitol-products/adults/natural-netipot/

Julia Worrell is a Nurse whose personal experience has changed the way she looks at someone’s health and how it relates to what the body needs to do in order to stay healthy, pain-free and working properly.

Her journey through developing an underbite as a child that led jaw surgery which led to a cascade of health problems including snoring, weight gain and the inability to concentrate, put her on a personal quest to find answers for what she was struggling with.

Being an ER nurse she sees many patients in crisis, and it's seeing these patients which have caused her to deeply understand the medical issues that someone deals with when the breath is brought into the body through the mouth vs the nose.

No longer is this a cosmetic issue (mouth breathers faces grow long and narrow vs round and symmetrical), this is a life-saving quest for Julia as she now spends much of her day bringing professionals together to learn the importance of proper breathing?

Did you know that nose breathing supplies oxygen to specific nerves, and mouth breathing supplies different ones? You’ll have to listen in as she breaks down why it is so important to breathe through the nose, what happens when someone doesn't mouth breathe, and what parents of children can look for to determine if they are mouth breathing and early intervention by closing the lips and not using sippy cups and bottles.

Julia spends quite a bit of time introducing us to different doctors who teach on this topic and answers questions that parents can use to help determine if the person they are seeing is someone who is at the forefront of this branch of medicine that is changing and saving lives not by medication but by intervention!

This is an episode you won't want to miss if you have a mouth or take care of someone that does!! Trust me.

Takeaways:

Mouth breathing leads to many of the diseases that baby boomers are dealing with. If we want to help our generation and our children’s generation we need to look at this piece of the puzzle seriously.

Links to topics discussed:

• http://www.edharrold.com/
• https://www.sleepandsinuscenters.com/
• http://sleepandtmjtherapy.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/FACEMEDICINE.ORG/
• https://youtu.be/ivLEAlhBHPM
• Conference Link: https://www.eply.com/craniofacialinsights

Got Questions? Oral Health Coaching has answers! If you are looking for something or someone to help you through the confusing information behind what it takes to have a healthy mouth be sure to look at the system that helps you in the comfort of your own with the guidance of a professional trained in oral health. Visit  www.oralhealthcoaching.com for more info

 

Dani is like most moms I speak with. Someone who cares deeply for her children’s well-being, and feeling like a failure because her child has cavities that she cannot seem to control.

To make matters worse, she’s not getting any additional help from her dental office when she visits for her kids twice a year cleaning and exam!

“Just brush and floss and get fluoride treatments” were what she was instructed to do…but the problem is, she was ALREADY doing that.  MULTIPLE times a day!

Dani shares her story of what it was like to take her son to the dentist for many years only to be told that he had multiple cavities that needed sedation each time. Her dentist wasn’t a scam artist doing a lot of unnecessary treatment, her son legitimately had multiple cavities at each visit regardless of how much she brushed, flossed and used fluoride.

Listen in as Dani shares how we met (it wasn’t in a dental office!), and what she went through to help stop her son from getting any more cavities and needing any new dental work…not only did this work for her son, but for herself too!

It was working with Dani and her family many years ago that really helped open my eyes to the life-changing possibilities that oral health coaching can do for other people’s families! I knew what it did for mine, but working with her helped me see the grand scale of what I could help be part of.

4 years later her family is STILL healthy and going strong without any new cavities and gum issues. 4 years later, I have hundreds of families who I have helped coach into better dental visits and healthier mouths! I’m glad to know Dani is not a “supermom” – just a mom who decided to take matters into her own hands and take responsibility for the health of her children’s teeth!

When I question if all this hard work of finding people and explaining what I can do with them is worth it for me (I’m human and fall into entrepreneurial ruts), I think of life-changing stories like hers and it helps me push on.

Trust me, it would be much easier to be a hygienist in an office “cleaning teeth”, but I’ve found that oral health doesn’t happen for most people in a dental office, instead it’s through a process like our Oral Health Coaching Program where people get the help they need in small doses that allow them to make the changes they need to do in order to stop the infection process continuing over and over again.

Chances are you are already brushing, why not let me show you how to brush in a way with tools that work better and products you can use so that YOU get the results you want!

Small changes make big differences, and it’s likely you just need to be coached through a series of small changes so you get the results you are hoping for!

Takeaways:

Dentistry is needed when prevention fails. Prevention happens at home with the products, tools and techniques that you use, yet likely haven’t been taught how to use them effectively.  After seeing thousands of mouths and helping to heal them, I’ve come to this conclusion many times, and have seem many mouths heal over the years.

Intrigued?  Book me for a complimentary – no obligation call, and let’s see what we can do together!

• www.carrieibbetson.com/contact-us

I’d be honored if you allowed me to help you like I’ve helped Dani and her family.

Links to topics discussed:

• www.oralhealthcoaching.com
• www.carrieibbetson.com
• www.carrieibbetson.com/contact-us

Elijah and I meet up at for this interview at CDA (California Dental Association) annual conference. He catches us up on current affairs, and what behind the scenes looks like for him. He’s focusing on multiple businesses, but plans to focus primarily on Smiles at Sea soon.

Cancun July 7-9 Fri-Sun (fri pm classes, sat am classes) this will focus on “rising stars”. (Discount code in links below)

Elijah has gathered a new-found focus, we talk about the intention for that and how he is really looking at how he can mentor more people and raise them up and help get them to their next level.

Although Elijah doesn’t have a coach or a mentor - he has many mentors, but no one that he calls his “personal coach”. As a high schooler, he was a motivational speaker to kids – now he has found that he gets the same feeling working with his peers and keeps him going!

We talk about the bugs eye view vs. the bird’s eye view and how dental hygiene is a layered profession, that can bury you if you are at the bottom layer (think of a lasagna). Elijah’s partner calls him a pathological dreamer but he’d rather be an optimist than a pessimist because an optimist is 5x more successful than a realist.

He recaps his last CE cruise “Dentistry Meets Nursing” and says it was the best Smiles at Sea so far, however after the cruise he realizes that dentistry is much more interested in the overall health integration into medicine than nursing is. Comments on his ads from nurses were of frustration because mainly oral health topics were being offered.  Even on the cruise they showed disinterest in obtaining the information on how mouth health changes the dynamics of overall health.

We talk keto diet and personal training, how he feels, why he’s getting fit and spending time with his family.

Takeaways:

Help as many people as you can while you are in the rat race, focus on helping people as you go.  Mentor and when you fall talk about what caused you to fail and what you are doing different.

Links to topics discussed:

www.SmilesatSea.com Coupon code HMHL gets you $50 off any trip you choose.

The Jamaica Mission Elijah discusses (http://jamaicaoutreach.org/)

To Find Elijah:

Elijah Desmond Facebook Page

Trapped in an Op Facebook Page

Xylitol is one of the things I talk about with anyone who will listen!  It has so many uses and misconceptions.

People question the name and often confuse it with artificial sweeteners so they disregard it. But it isn’t a chemical artificial sweetener at all, it is a sugar that is found in birch trees and corn cobs...it also happens to be something that our body creates naturally, and supplementing with it in the mouth helps stop cavities SIGNIFICANTLY!

The magic of xylitol is best realized when you understand WHY it works, and to best explain that I brought in Shirley Gutkowski.

Shirley has been at the forefront of mouth transformations with xylitol, and she gets to the point instead of wasting your time with fluff! Whether you are a consumer looking for better outcomes at home or a dental provider, this episode is packed full of gems, and shouldn’t be missed!

Have a listen and enjoy, and thanks Shirley!

Links to products discussed:

• Ivoclar Chlorhexidine Varnish

Find Shirley at:

• Primal Air: primal air
• Email: [email protected]

If you’re looking for the low down on strep bacteria, here it is:

The bacteria streptococcus mutans is the one of the most significant bacteria in creating a cavity. Its purpose is to mainly pump out a sticky film that allows other bacteria to enter and create bigger problems (listen to the podcast for a detained breakdown). Not only is strep responsible for cavities and gum disease, but throat, ear and sinus infections as well. Xylitol works directly on the strep bacteria – starving it and not allowing it to create the sticky film. Without the sticky film, the cavities cannot happen. Thanks Shirley for all your knowledge and insights, we value you so much!

Shirley’s Bio:

Shirley is an envelope pusher and clinical agitator. After nearly 20 years of chairside dental hygiene practice in SSC, small group and large group practice she retired her scalers and became a full-time writer and speaker. Her topic in the past: caries management beyond floss and fluoride introducing practitioners to xylitol and biofilm management. Today her passion is reignited with the study of orofacial myofunctional therapy and its role in absolute health. She owns and operates Primal Air OMT and Breathing Retraining. By spotting the earliest signs of orofacial myofunctional disorders she coaches parents in simple exercises for their child (close their mouth) to providing full service myofunctional techniques to widen the palate offering space for the tongue to maintain the arch space and improve sinus volume.

Nothing works without air.

CAREERfusion is a collaborative effort she works on with her mentor Beth Thompson. CAREERfusion brings together opportunities for corporate partners and clinicians. Motivates everyone to be their best and puts them into an environment that stimulates positive actions for each person. It also is extremely self-directed so everyone leaves with something different, different goals, different paths to explore and individualized ways to achieve their desires. To learn more about how to implement xylitol and how to help stop the progression of gum disease and cavities visit Oral Health Coaching

Today’s episode has Angie Stone with us again, but this time it’s on location at CAREERfusion 2017 in Daytona Beach, FL!

I wanted to capture the moment of CAREERfusion, because as an out of the box thinking hygienist, I’ve been told for many years by many peers that “I just needed to be there”. It took me years to, and thanks to the DebbieZ Pay It Forward Fund, I was chosen this year as a scholarship recipient!

Angie and I spend time talking about what has helped her outside of the box career, where HyLife Oral Health Alliance is going, and what prompted her to write “Dying From Dirty Teeth” (Amazon Best Seller).

She believes CAREERfusion is unique because nowhere else will you find the people who have the ability to help move you in the direction you that you are built for. It also can propel your career in ways you’d never imagine. It’s like a specialized tribe for dental hygienists!

We get into the importance of pivoting when needed and investing in yourself

We give shout outs to:

Career Fusion – Angie’s message to hygienists thinking about it is "Do It"

Shirley Gutkowski and Primal Air

Xlear.com

Under One Roof

DebbieZ and the National Cancer Network

Angie gives us the update on HyLife Oral Health Alliance (HOHA)

and explains how hygienists can get involved with her company and mission. As a HyLife Oral Care Specialist, hygienists can see residents for brushing and in between the teeth cleaning (this is not dental hygiene)

With hygienists acting as caregivers and the care team administering xylitol not only is oral health improved, but life span and quality of life can be greatly enhanced! 30% of pneumonia is aspiration pneumonia. When mouth bacteria build up, it can be inhaled during coughing and choking.  When that bacteria hits the lungs, we’ve got issues!

Having an Oral Care Specialist on your team helps increase the value of life, impact the quality of life and enhance the client experience! Do it for the resident, the resident’s family and the care team!

Angie appeared in a previous podcast all about xylitol – listen here

Angie would love it if you:

Liked the HyLife Oral Health Alliance Facebook page

To learn more about HOHA, or to get involved as a hygienist, click here

Today I brought in my friend Dr. Bilal Saib, DDS (Pronounced Bill-Al) aka Dr. B to talk about what a “night guard” does, why a good fitting guard is so important, what to expect in the impression and placement process and what to look for in a dentist who is recommending one, when you decide it’s time to invest it’s important to know what can happen in the mouth if someone decides to wear a “night guard” (both good and bad).

Thankfully Dr. B walks us though the differences.

Protecting your teeth from the strong forces of grinding may be important if you are trying to avoid teeth that break, crack, become sensitive, prematurely yellow or gums that recede. Also, much of the pain and destruction in the muscles of the head, neck and jaw joints can change when wearing a properly fitted guard, but can be worse if the guard isn’t properly fitted to your mouth, and adjusted as the muscles relax and begin to change.

Dr. B and I spend a lot of time talking about this!

As a travelling hygienist, I’ve had the opportunity to work in hundreds of offices, which means I’ve seen thousands of people that have night guards, yet they don’t wear them due to discomfort or even feeling like it makes them grind more. Fortunately, I’ve also worked in offices where I have seen correctly fitting guards change people’s lives and provide comfort from pain and destruction of the mouth.

That’s what drew me to Dr. B. He’s one of those dentists who “get it”, and I am so thankful that he sat down today to give us some insight about why not all night guards are created equally.

The ones I’ve seen work most often are like the ones Dr. B provides his patients and advocates for.

These guards are meticulously created and adjusted for the patient as their muscles relax, and their bite changes. They often are more expensive, but by the end of today’s episode I hope you will have a better understanding as to why, and you’ll be wanting to seek out a dentist that thinks this way too for yourself.

When Dr. B isn’t being interviewed for podcasts, he’s busy interviewing people for his own podcast “The Passionate Dentist”, or changing lives and smiles in his dental practice Chapel Hill Advanced Dentistry in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Guards are called by many names. Occlusal guard, night guard, mouth guard for teeth grinding, dental guard, nocturnal bite plate and bite splint are the most common terms used. There are many different reasons that someone may be needing a guard, but the bottom line is you want to make sure that the person performing the service is someone that is looking at all the pieces to the puzzle of why you need one.

Thanks Dr. B for your insight, we appreciate you!

You can learn more about Dr. Bilal Saib at:

Chapel Hill Advanced Dentistry

The Passionate Dentist