Your Filthy Mouth With Dr. Chuck

More than half of Americans don’t floss regularly, and 20 percent don’t floss at all. If you’re one of those people who don’t have the time or just don’t want to do it, Dr. Chuck and Suzanne offer some alternatives to flossing that are easier and work just as well or even better.

People are literally dying from diseases caused by mouth infections. That's why Dr. Chuck and Suzanne are so passionate about oral health. Help us spread the message that what happens in your mouth affects the rest of your body. Watch more videos and read articles and medical studies at www.YourFilthyMouth.com.

Evidence is mounting that having a healthy mouth is a key to having a healthy body. In this episode, Dr. Chuck and Suzanne discuss a recent article that points to 57 different diseases associated with oral bacteria, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, pregnancy complications and dozens of others.

October is National Dental Hygiene Month, an effort to celebrate the work dental hygienists do and to help raise awareness on the importance of good oral health. In this episode, Dr. Chuck and Suzanne spotlight the important role dental hygienists play on the front line of the health care industry.

When it comes to your mouth, the teeth and gums get most of the attention. But don't forget about the tongue! In this episode, Dr. Chuck and Suzanne talk about the tongue -- why it's important and the role it plays in your overall health.

In this episode, Dr. Chuck previews the theme of his upcoming TED Talk: “Think Again.” Think your mouth is only important for eating, talking and smiling? Think again! Think everything is fine because it doesn’t hurt? Think again!

A lack of pain doesn't mean everything is OK in your mouth. In this episode, Dr. Chuck and Suzanne Lynn discuss some of the early signs of dental problems.

Both Dr. Chuck and Suzanne Lynn have lost loved ones to cancer, so this episode is very personal to them. They discuss how chemotherapy affects the mouth and Dr. Chuck offers some tips on how to deal with the painful side effects.

Some people brush their teeth but still have cavities and other mouth-related health problems. Others spend time cleaning their mouths and have bright healthy smiles. Dr. Chuck explains the difference between brushing your teeth and cleaning your mouth while showing some products that can help.

Dr. Chuck and Suzanne are joined by Dr. Christine Cassidy, DVM, of Eustis Veterinary Hospital, to discuss how dental health is just as important for our pets as it is for us. She also shares some of the similarities and differences between human and animal mouths. To learn more about Dr. Cassidy, visit the Eustis Veterinary Hospital website at www.eustisvet.com.

Dr. Chuck and Suzanne talk about a recent study in the Journal of the American Heart Association that shows oral bacteria was found in 86 percent of the clots found in stroke patients? What does this mean? Infections in your mouth often cause blood clots, which can result in strokes. Click here to read the study: https://bit.ly/2MoOoHF

Dr. Chuck and Suzanne Lynn share the results of a recent study by the United Concordia Dental insurance company that shows how patients who take care of their teeth save thousands of dollars in annual medical costs and see a significant reduction in annual hospitalizations versus those who do not. Here is a link to the study. TRANSCRIPT: Dr.Chuck – Hi, I’m Dr. Chuck, welcome to Your Filthy Mouth. The dollars and sense of medical care. Insurance companies want you to stay healthy. Does anybody else? Stay tuned. Narrator – Your smile is beautiful and possibly deadly. Dr. Chuck is here to tell you how your mouth can hold the key to your overall health. Now, about that filthy mouth of yours. Suzanne – Hi, welcome to Your Filthy Mouth. I’m Suzanne Lynn with Dr. Chuck. And, Dr. Chuck, your intro really has my mind going here. First of all, why wouldn’t anybody want you to be healthy? Dr.Chuck – There’s a television commercial on right now from, I think Allstate has it. And there’s a gentleman sitting on a chair in the middle of the road and he says, “The facts are, all auto insurance companies “want you to drive safely, they don’t want accidents.” Well, why is that? The more premiums you pay and the less claims they have to pay, the more money they’re gonna make. Suzanne – Okay. Dr.Chuck – Makes good sense. Is the same thing true with medical insurance companies? Absolutely, medical insurance companies want you to stay healthy. In fact, one of the things we’ll be looking at today, this is from United Concordia Dental, the white paper’s called “The Mouth: The Missing Piece “to Overall Wellness and Lower Medical Costs.” Suzanne – Okay. Dr.Chuck – So do medical insurance wants you to be healthy? Absolutely, again, they’ll make more money. Suzanne – Well, you can’t get money, you can’t get premiums from dead people, right? Dr.Chuck – Well, yeah, and you’re gonna pay a lot less, you’re gonna make a lot less money as an insurance company if you’re paying out a lot of claims. Suzanne – I got you. Dr.Chuck – So the healthier you are, the more money they’re gonna save because you’re staying out of the hospital. Suzanne – Okay, that leads me to the question of who wouldn’t want you to be healthy, then? Dr.Chuck – Well, let’s see, who stands to make money if you stay unhealthy? And I know this is almost cynical on this thing. But when we start looking at it, do hospitals want you to be healthy? I think good hospitals want you to be healthy. I think caring doctors, we have a lot of caring doctors out there, we have caring hospitals, they want you to be healthy. And then we have others might have another motive on that. And when you think about it, our last episode that we talked about, why don’t hospitals have dentists? Because according to this study, there’s an awful lot of illness in the body that is caused from problems in the mouth. And these are problems that we can do something about. My thing is I can’t focus on things that we can’t do anything about. I don’t know how to do anything about pancreatic cancer. It’s horrible. 50,000 people a year die from pancreatic cancer. About 600,000 people a year die from heart attacks. And, according to the researchers, about 50% of those are caused by oral infections, we can do something about oral infections. And there’s something that the patient can do, there’s something the physician can do, and there’s something the dentist can do to really decrease oral infections in our population. Suzanne – So when you mentioned the hospital, unlike insurance, we’re not paying premiums to the hospital, they’re getting paid upon seeing people, fixing people, caring people, you know? Dr.Chuck – Well, that’s how they make money, you know? And they get their money mostly from the insurance companies, some from private pay, but the majority of hospital payments come from insurance companies. If you look at, this is again from United Concordia, the link with coronary artery disease. And by the...

Did you know dental disease causes children to miss more than 51 million school hours each year? With students in Central Florida and beyond preparing to head back to school this month, Dr. Chuck and Suzanne Lynn offer tips for how to help your kids start the school year with a smile. Here is a link to disclosing tablets and other dental care products Dr. Chuck discusses: https://yourfilthymouth.com/shop/

Ever wonder why you don't see dentists on the staff at most hospitals? Dr. Chuck asked why and got a surprising answer. He and Suzanne talk about it in an enlightening -- and possibly controversial -- episode of Your Filthy Mouth.

Did you know Dr. Chuck’s dental practice has more than 250 patients age 90 or older? He and Suzanne Lynn discuss some of the challenges involved in caring for a “mature” mouth, and they also talk about a study that says people who keep their teeth healthy live an average of 10 years longer than those who don’t.

Is your child having trouble sleeping at night? Dr. Chuck and Suzanne Lynn discuss how problems in his or her mouth could lead to sleep-disordered breathing, and what can be done to help solve the problem.

The demands of pregnancy can lead to dental problems in some women. Dr. Chuck explains why an expectant mother’s periodontal health is vital to the health of her baby, and how she can avoid the problems that sometimes arise during pregnancy.

Dr. Chuck and Suzanne answer some really good questions about tooth enamel from Your Filthy Mouth listener J.P. and discuss how to take care of it.

Dr. Chuck and Suzanne Lynn discuss a recently published medical study that uncovered a potential link between the bacteria associated with commonly known as gum disease and Alzheimer’s, and this Dr. Chuck answer's Lesley's question about how soon your baby should see the dentist.

Occasional bad breath is common, but what if you or someone you know suffers from chronic halitosis? What are the causes and what can you do about it? Dr. Chuck answers these questions in this episode.