Why You Should Replace Pulled Teeth

Lyle Hurd: Welcome back, Dr. Stay. Flora Stay: Thank you. Lyle Hurd: When we were talking about some things that come from your book, Secret Gateway to Health, we got into the fact that there’s a connection between heart disease and missing teeth. I wonder if you would explain that and tell us what we could do if we are in a situation where we have four or five or six teeth that are missing to be able to replace those teeth in the best way. Flora Stay: Now actually, I want to correct you on one thing. Heart disease is connected to inflammation which is more related to gum disease. Lyle Hurd: Okay, go ahead. Flora Stay: But, very likely, if you have inflammation and gum disease, you’re going to lose teeth. So in a way, they are connected. Lyle Hurd: Okay, I was under the impression that there’s a 40% or 50% greater chance of a man having a stroke if in fact, he’s missing four or five teeth and… Flora Stay: Well, normally, I would think that’s because if he’s got missing teeth, Lyle Hurd: This is a gum disease… Flora Stay: There’s a gum disease, sure. Lyle Hurd: going on, on a regular basis in there, okay. Flora Stay: But there are other problems with having missing teeth. It’s a muscular–skeletal balance issue as well. Because… with a normal amount of teeth, our head and neck, the whole skeletal system is in balance. Now, once we have missing teeth, it’s like limping and walking on one shoe that doesn’t have a heel and walking on another one that does have a heel. Lyle Hurd: Oh really? Flora Stay: So this causes an imbalance and so there are individuals that have missing teeth and they may have back pain, shoulder pain, and they’ll go to a chiropractor. Chiropractor adjusts them; they may go to a physician and get pain medication, but nobody bothers to check their mouth. They come and see us, the dentist. Of course the dentist notices there are missing teeth. The way to deal with that is bring up that balance in the mouth by correcting the missing teeth, replacing them, then you’ve got equilibrium as far as chewing ability, because if you have missing teeth, the muscles of the head and neck are going to compensate in order to make the whole head and neck apparatus work, since those teeth are missing, they are going to compensate each other some kind of way, which means contract certain muscles unnaturally, in order to make it work. And that’s going to put overdue stress on certain muscles, which again, are going to pull, etcetera on other muscles, causing a whole domino effect. What we want to do is make sure that there’s balance in the mouth, equilibrium that you’re able to chew properly on both sides. And that means having a full set of teeth. Lyle Hurd: Are implants the answer to that? Flora Stay: Implants are one answer — not for everyone, even though nowadays, so many great implants are being developed where just about anybody can get them. In the old days, if you didn’t have strong bones, you couldn’t have implants. But nowadays, they’ve even come with bone-grafting or certain implants that don’t even, that aren’t even embedded in the jaw bone, they’re more on the surface so that they can be stable. So implants are a wonderful option. There are, what we call crown and bridge, which is — just think of a bridge, a missing piece, using two teeth on either side as an anchor, putting a false tooth in the middle. You can also get something that comes in and out of your mouth very simply. Lyle Hurd: Removable brace. Flora Stay: Removable partial denture, yes. Lyle Hurd: Is important then to be working with… 32 teeth all the time? Flora Stay: Well, that’s including wisdom teeth. If you don’t have your wisdom teeth, then you’re not going to have that many teeth. But as long as you have proper teeth to chew with, which are your molars, your back teeth, and you have proper teeth to cut with, which are your front and side teeth, and the side teeth which help support the chewing process. So it’s just like anything else, like I said, your legs need to be even, you know, if you have a short leg and a long leg, — you’re not going to be able to function. The same is true with the mouth. You want to have even teeth that function together properly. Lyle Hurd: You need to be a student and you need to talk to you dentist and you need to take an action. Flora Stay: Become partners with your dentist and do it. Lyle Hurd: Thank you. Flora Stay: You’re welcome.