On the Beat 4/22/20 - Golden Triangle Periodontal Center

Dr. John Starr joins Troy to discuss the advancements and benefits of dental implants.

Troy: welcome back to on the beat, everyone.

I'm over here with dr. johns starr from golden triangle periodontal center.

Welcome back to the show, my friend.

Dr. starr: thank you.

Troy: we have been talking all about gum disease and what you can do to fix it.

Well, let's move onto implants.

Okay?

Now there is a lot of changes that are going on out in the market with implants.

There's been a huge shift.

Dr. starr: yep.

Troy: okay.

Let's talk about what services you provide when it comes to implants because are we still using titanium or is there porcelain now?

Dr. starr: now they are some porcelains out there, but the jury's still out on that, so we prefer to use titanium implants that are coated with hydroxyapatite, which is same makeup as your bone.

Troy: okay.

Can you just explain why you prefer to use that as a professional?

Dr. starr: because the body actually grows to the implant and becomes one with the implant.

And the top of it's a screw.

We put all kindkinds of attachments.

And so in the place it's numb, you put the implant in and then when the numbness wears off, the body doesn't notice anything has happened.

So it doesn't ache.

Troy: okay.

Well, i don't know whether you remember our parents or our grandparents would have full dentures.

Okay.

Are they still happening?

Is that still around?

Because you see these ads on come on tv doing full plates.

Dr. starr: absolutely.

We do lots of cases where we can take an edentulous mouth, no teeth, and put in a four to five implants per arch with a u shape set of teeth bolted in place or we can make some that snap in place.

But the point is they don't slip, they don't move.

They function like natural teeth.

Troy: and that's what we want people to understand.

It's come so far now, hasn't it?

There are so many options.

Let's just quickly talk about the different options when it comes to.

You were saying that you can put in a whole plate, you can do two or three at a time.

Correct?

Dr. starr: well, you could do conventional crown and bridge on top of implants.

If you're missing say three teeth, you take two implants, replace three to four teeth with conventional crown and bridge on top.

Or you could take all the teeth out and put the implants with a titanium bar.

Now all this is milled with computer technology.

This is all very precision.

Troy: high tech.

Dr. starr: yes, very high tech.

And you could literally come, do a procedure, have a lab guy there, walk out of there with teeth that day.

Now they're- troy: go away.

Dr. starr: yep.

You can just do it that day, be temporaries.

Then you can come back on three months and have the final prosthesis put in place.

But you can imagine somebody with a horrific gag reflex, for example.

How are they going to have a chunk of plastic in the roof of their mouth?

They can't.

Troy: i was thinking the same because i've got dreadful gag reflexes.

Dr. starr: yeah, well, you're not a denture candidate.

Troy: i'm not a candidate.

Okay.

Are they still lasting as longer than they used to?

Because how often do we have to have an implant changed?

Dr. starr: you know, we say a fixed bridge, which is crown and natural teeth, the average life is 10 years.

Certainly there are some that'll last way longer.

We say the average life of the implant is 20 plus years.

You don't have decay issues, you don't have root nerve issues for root canals.

It's all in the supported structures.

Troy: all right.

Let's just break it down.

We do the implant, then we go back and have the crown?

Dr. starr: that is correct.

Troy: is that correct?

Dr. starr: that's correct.

You could put a crown on top or you could put attachments, which snap like a male female.

They would snap on a u shaped set of teeth or you could have it where it literally has four screws, holds a whole arch of teeth in place.

The size of an eyeglass screw.

Troy: very quickly.

Do most insurances cover a portion of this process?

Dr. starr: most dental insurances will participate in the process these days.

And that's part of our job is to figure out what it will do and won't do.

And we plan all that out for you before you get it.

Troy: oh, so as the customer, i come in and you do all that behind the scenes for us so we know what we're up for?

Dr. starr: yeah.

Before you ever tell us pull the trigger, we have it all lined out for you, what you want- troy: what a great service you offer.

Dr. starr: thank you.

Troy: thank you so much, dr. starr.

If you want to find out more information, it's all up on the screen for you right now.

Golden triangle periodontal center.

They're going to give you all the information.

As we were saying, the technology has come so far when it comes to dental hygiene, gum disease.

We can determine so much.

Have those x-rays, have your regular checkups.

We appreciate you coming back, sir.

Dr. starr: thank you.

Troy: back