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- Hello everyone, and
thank you for tuning in

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to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.

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My name is Mariah Mohammed.

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I'm thrilled to be joined today by Dr.

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Timothy J Court, senior Vice President

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of Clinical Operation at Heartland Dental.

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Doctor, thank you so much
for joining us today.

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Let's jump right into
today's conversation.

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So, uh, could you please tell
me a bit more about your role

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as Senior Vice Presidents

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of clinical operations
at at Harland Dental?

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- Yeah, thanks Mariah.
Really appreciate it.

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Love being here. Love, uh, you know,

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going over all these different topics.

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It's always fun. Um, so again,

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like you said, my name is Tim Court.

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I'm a Senior Vice President at Heartland.

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I'm a dentist, uh,

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and actually affiliated with
Heartland Dental back in, uh,

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I think it's 2012, so it's
been about 12 years now.

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I had a variety of roles during this time.

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Uh, practiced throughout, uh, most of them

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and more recently, uh,
kind of, uh, put myself,

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got myself into this
situation of, of, of VP and,

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and with this role, uh,

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have some oversight
over our hygiene teams,

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our doctor mentoring
throughout the country, um,

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our specialty side of the business.

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And also, um, a program

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that we call Office Growth
Management, which just helps, uh,

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practices grow and, and
see additional providers

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and doctors and hygienists.

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'cause we all know right now

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it's real hard to get hygienists.

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So we've got some kind of cool things

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behind the scenes, uh, in the work.

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So anyway, there's a little
variety there, uh, Mariah,

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but the key thing is, is I
just wake up every day trying

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to connect our clinical and
our operations teams together.

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- Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Thank you so much

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for giving us that insight.

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And so what you really do,

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and to really begin
our conversation today,

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could you explain the concept
of oral systemic connection?

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- Yeah, no, and it, it's,
it's definitely a big subject.

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It's been around, I mean,
in terms of this term

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for quite a long time now,

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but I feel like it's,
it's getting even more.

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Um, I know just important.

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Uh, and if you're talking like
out there, if you're talking

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to a dentist, I think we
all kinda laugh a little bit

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because we all realize

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and understand that what
happens in the mouth also could

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have a potential systemic
connection and vice versa.

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You know, I, I, I think
there's some out there

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that don't know or don't feel
like there's a connection

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there, but in fact,
<laugh>, there are things

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that happen in the mouth that
can, that can in fact, uh,

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you know, affect other things.

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So, and research has shown
that conditions, you know,

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like one example, gum disease
can truly impact your systemic

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health, you know,

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and it can contribute to
issues like heart disease,

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diabetes, and even, uh,
pregnancy complications.

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So, and again, this is, it
just underscores the importance

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of viewing oral health as
integral to one's overall, uh,

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you know, health and wellbeing.

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- Yeah, absolutely. I think
even for myself, I didn't know

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that there was a connection
until maybe a couple years ago.

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Yeah. I think it definitely
needs to be, you know,

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talked about a bit more.

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- You're not the only one <laugh>. Yes,

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- Absolutely.

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Um, and could you explain why
it is important for patients

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to understand this link?

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- Yeah, no, again, you
know, kind of, sort of

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what I just said with that,
with the link itself, um,

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it can empower them to take
control of their health in,

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in a more holistic manner.

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What I mean by that is a
more, uh, rounded manner by,

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you know, recognizing that oral health

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influences systemic health.

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You know, it's can create some motivation

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and to kind of prioritize,
prioritize dental care

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and maintain good oral hygiene habits,

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which can positively impact their ob

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uh, their overall wellness.

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And, you know, I'd like to underscore too

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that dentists in general,
we see patients, uh, more,

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more often than they
actually see their, uh,

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their physicians, so their
primary care physicians.

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And, and that's why it's so
important that both sides,

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patient doctors, medical doctors

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and dentists, um, also understand
that, hey, we've got a,

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a big part in discussing
this, looking after patients

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and also having strong connections
with our medical friends.

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You know, as we see issues
that, um, you know, pop up,

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for example, taking blood pressures

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of patients that come in.

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Um, I can't tell you how many
times when I was practicing

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where there was a patient

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that had an incredibly
high blood pressure,

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was actually unaware
of it, uh, we got them

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to their physicians

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and, um, they thanked us
afterwards saying, you know,

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it's incredible now these
patients haven't come

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to see me in five, 10 years or,

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or whatever the, uh, the term is.

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But still, long story short, so important

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that everybody understands it

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because we see these patients a lot

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and there is a, a strong connection there.

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- Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

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And as we both kind of
stated, you know, not a lot

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of people are aware of this link.

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Um, what should, uh, clinicians
keep in mind with speaking

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with patients about
the oral systemic link?

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- Yeah, absolutely. And
it just, like I said, one

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of the big ones is showing
value to the patients.

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Meaning just like taking
blood pressures, like, hey,

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we wanna, we wanna do some
of these things for you.

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Obviously there's no
charge on things like that,

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but it's just a great thing for a patient.

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Uh, and it, like I said, there's just

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so many times when we go, oh, I gosh,

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that patient had no clue.

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Now, when speaking with
patients about this link,

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clinicians should also
emphasize, you know,

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that everything is so
connected that it's the oral

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and systemic health in a
clear and relatable manner.

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So it, it's, you know, we can
use visual cues, diagrams,

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animations, you know,

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we can help patients grasp
the cons more effectively in

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our practices.

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Additionally, clinicians
should encourage open dialogue

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and address any questions or concerns

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that those patients have.

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So now we've got this
great doctor to patient

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and I'm talking from a,
from a dental standpoint,

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and then I, you know, I'm
really highly encouraged the

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dentist to connect

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with their medical friends
in their community too.

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Um, and just, uh, really start to kind

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of educate each other on
what you could do for, uh,

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one another in order to get
this, um, connection stronger.

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- Yeah, yeah, definitely.

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And what can doctors do, um,
to be on the cutting edge

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of oral systemic healthcare

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and kind of incorporate these, uh,

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principles into their practice?

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- Yeah, uh, you know, one thing is you

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gotta really pick a topic.

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So for example, I really
would look strongly into

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periodontal disease and its
con connection with diabetes.

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Um, and so that's a big
one that we see quite often

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where if somebody is diabetic, um,

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and they typically will
have periodontal disease

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that's even more severe

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'cause they have a, a
little bit more difficult

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time, uh, healing.

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Um, so definitely taking courses,

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that's probably the biggest thing.

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Taking courses on nutrition,
uh, any of the latest research

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that's out there because there just seems

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to be almost every year more

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and more research that comes
out about the connection about,

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you know, with oral
and systemic connection

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and just trying to keep up with it.

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And then as you're taking those courses,

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bringing it back into
your own practices and,

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and educating your patients.

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It is one of the most important tools

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that we have when we're
working with patients is, uh,

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you know, not only the
technical as aspect of it,

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but also the education aspect.

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And sometimes I think we
might, uh, lose sight of that.

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And that's not just the
doctor, that's the whole team.

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Making sure everybody's, you
know, coming along on that

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and educating your team so
that they can also, um, kind

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of disseminate all
that, all that education

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and learnings to the patients.

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Uh, and then there's also
advanced kind of diagnostic tools.

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Um, so I know in some states

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and, uh, even the a DA many
years ago they started, um,

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putting codes in for, um, uh,

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diabetic testing, so blood sugar testing

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inside the practice.

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Um, and so that, you
know, that's another tool.

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Another thing be, and the
reason why they are facilitating

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that or, or suggesting that
from a dental side is again,

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the fact that patients come

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to dentists more often than
they go to their medical doctor.

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So from a diagnostic

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and almost screening side of things, um,

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can a dental practice help with that

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and facilitate, um, you
know, the screening of that

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and then being able to
send over to a specialist

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or back to their primary care?

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So, um, again, just keeping up with it

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and educating, I think are the
two, um, uh, biggest facets.

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- Yeah, yeah, that definitely makes sense.

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And how can hygienists
best educate patients about

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this essential connection?

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Do you have any tips for them?

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- Yeah, very similar. I
mean, just keep up with it.

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I would also discuss with
your, um, your doctors in, in

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that particular practice,
if they aren't doing some

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of these things such as
taking blood pressures.

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'cause any type of chairside
discussion you can have

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with a patient and education is awesome.

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Um, there's also, you know, uh,

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especially there's def courses
on personalized hygiene plans

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that you can actually,
um, create for patients.

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So for example, if you are a
patient that is diabetic, um,

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you also have a, let's say
a, a fairly severe form

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of periodontal disease.

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You might wanna ask those, uh, patients

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to come in more regularly
than you would somebody else

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or to go back to their primary care

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and see if they can get their
diabetes more under control.

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'cause they could be an
uncontrolled diabetic,

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which also makes things
much more difficult.

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Um, so your hygienists need

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to be up on the most current things.

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Um, if you're a hygienist
that's in an office

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that maybe isn't having
these type of discussions

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or, you know, is, um, on top
of what's going on with this,

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it's great to discuss with your doctor

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and see if you can take some CE courses

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that are directed to it.

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But it's gonna take all of us.

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And, and like I said,
it's a patient, dentist

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and medical doctor kind of triad there.

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They all have to be strong in
communicating in order for us

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to get the point across

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that there's a link between both of them.

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- Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

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Is there anything else
you would like to share,

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doctor, before I let you go?

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- You know, I, I just wanna
emphasize that the connection,

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again, I know we've
said it multiple times,

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but it really does promote
comprehensive health.

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And that's really the idea
of what we do for a living.

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It's help our patients to be
preventative and healthy and,

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and have wellness for
the rest of their lives.

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So if we can integrate some
of these approaches, um,

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either from a screening side

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or an education side, you know, I,

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I really think this will be great

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because it'll increase patient awareness

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and clinicians in general can
make just a huge impact on the

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overall health outcomes
of a whole population.

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You know, many dental
practices have thousands

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and thousands of patients,
so every little bit counts.

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And, and if we can get
through to patients that hey,

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continue to keep those
regular appointments not only

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with me, the dentist, but
also with your medical doctor,

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your primary care, that'll
just help you live a, you know,

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an even healthier life.

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And, uh, that's kind of the main reason.

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We just want people to be healthy.

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- Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

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Well, I wanna thank you so much, doctor,

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for sharing your time and
insights with us today, um, along

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with Heartland Dental for
sponsoring today's content.

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To our listeners, thank
you so much for joining us

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and please make sure to check
out other Becker's podcast.

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Um, thank you again Doctor,

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and we hope you have a rest,
wonderful rest of your day.

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- Thanks, Maria, I appreciate it.