Dr. Megha Sata explains how oral health mirrors whole-body health, what dentists can spot during a routine exam, and simple prevention steps parents and adults can use to protect teeth and overall wellbeing. Learn why early visits (by 12 months), regular cleanings, daily brushing with fluoride, and addressing bad oral bacteria matter — for kids and adults.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Recording, three, two, one. Well, Dr. Sata, it’s so great to see you again. Thanks for joining us on the program this morning.
Thank you for having me. Well, you know, I like talking about health in general, and obviously you do a lot of things related to teeth, but let me ask you, how important is our oral health to our overall health?
Megha Sata, DDS, South Bay Children’s Health Center & American Dental Association
Yeah, so, you know, unfortunately, it’s not as intuitive to people, but your mouth is really the gateway to the rest of your body, in my opinion, and I may be a little bit biased because I’m a dentist, but, you know, like everything else, everything is linked. And I think that people underestimate how important it is to keep bacteria, for lack of a better way of explaining it, out of your mouth. And that bacteria that affects your mouth can and will affect the rest of your body.
And there’s plenty of research to show those different effects. Can I do that again?
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Sure, let me start over and do a three, two, one, and then we’ll welcome you back to the show. Here we go, three, two, one. Well, Dr. Sata, it’s so great to see you. Thanks for joining us in the program this morning. Thank you for having me. We love having you on the program, and, you know, obviously, dental health, oral health is important, but really, doctor, doesn’t oral health tie back to our overall health?
Megha Sata, DDS, South Bay Children’s Health Center & American Dental Association
Absolutely, it may not be as intuitive as other parts of your body and how it relates back to oral health, but it is absolutely important and linked to so many things that people don’t realize.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And, you know, in terms of, you know, I think a lot of people think about, you go to the dentist, you might have a proxal, you know, this woman may clean your teeth for you. The doctor comes in and scans, and I think sometimes they play with your lymph nodes and your glands to see if you’re okay, but you can detect a lot of different diseases and be the first, I guess, the first barrier to finding out if someone has a chronic disease. What type of diseases can you actually detect while doing an oral health screening?
Megha Sata, DDS, South Bay Children’s Health Center & American Dental Association
You can detect a lot. You know, a lot of times, people will see their hygienist and or their dentist more often than they see their physician. And, you know, so many things are linked to gingival inflammation, so your gums, if they’re bleeding, if they are swollen, you know, they can lead to other problems, but to your point, you can also diagnose other problems from the state of your mouth.
So if for, you know, for example, your gums are really pale, you know, just the other day, I had a child in my office. She was probably about 15 years old. And I told the mom, I said, I think she might be anemic.
And the mom said, how would you know that? And I said, her gums are really pale. Her tongue is pale.
And I said, has she been really tired lately? And she said, yes. And of course, girls at that age often have problems with anemia, but it was so great to be able to help her go back to her physician, get the blood work done, and she was anemic.
So there are lots of things you can detect just by a very good oral exam, including like mouth cancers and things like that.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, and, you know, it’s interesting. You brought up the example of the 15-year-old girl. You know, a lot of people would think it would be kind of us older folks that maybe would skew and you’d be able to detect, but really it cuts across probably all demographics and really highlights why you really need to take care of your teeth and brush often.
Megha Sata, DDS, South Bay Children’s Health Center & American Dental Association
Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, when we think of oral health and how it relates back to overall health, you can really simply think of bacteria, okay? There’s good bacteria and there’s bad bacteria.
And if you have too much of the bad bacteria in your mouth, it will affect the rest of your body. So that bacteria has been linked to problems with heart valves and cardiac issues. It’s now, there’s more research being done, but it’s been shown to be linked to dementia.
So there are lots of things coming out now about the bacteria. They may start in your oral cavity in your mouth that can be linked back to inflammation in the rest of your body. In fact, you know, I think we heard more about this during COVID, but when people are hospitalized, if the nurse or if they themselves are not brushing while they’re in the hospital, there’s lots of information to show that in some cases, there’s been a 30% increase in their chance of getting hospital-acquired pneumonia.
So, you know, it is really important to keep those bad bacteria levels down in the mouth and that that will improve, that will improve your oral health.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
It seems to me, you know, I’m a lay person, but you have to have a real holistic approach to your health. You know, part of it is going to your PCP, your primary care physician. Part of it’s going to someone like yourself, maybe even an ophthalmologist or an optometrist to look at the eyes.
But everything, every system is interrelated. I would imagine you have to work really well with your peers in those other disciplines.
Megha Sata, DDS, South Bay Children’s Health Center & American Dental Association
100%. You know, you think about something like audiology, right? You may not think of that as part of medicine, but if you can’t hear, it is going to affect your mental health, right?
And that in turn will affect your physical health. So everything is linked. And I think the best dentists are the ones that have those relationships where they can call a person’s physician, say, hey, have you noticed, you know, have you noticed this?
And have that dialogue with the patient, but also be open to talking to the person’s primary care provider. I know certainly in our office, I treat mostly kids, but we actually have a whole mental health department of our health center. And the amount of times I have to refer my patients to that center is amazing.
And to be able to have that dialogue and that resource, because many times a teen or a child will come in and I noticed that, you know, they may be anxious in the dental practice, which I don’t know why, but people get anxious with the dentist.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
It’s a little unnerving, doctor. You know, like this, it’s a little unnerving. But anyway, go ahead, I’m sorry.
Megha Sata, DDS, South Bay Children’s Health Center & American Dental Association
No, no, I can imagine. And I think that, you know, so we try to discern, okay, what sort of a normal level of anxiety, dental anxiety, versus, you know, is something going on with this kid? And have that dialogue with the parent in a very culturally and it’s a very sensitive way.
And then be able to say, hey, I noticed that all of a sudden in the last year, they’re not brushing, they have all these new cavities, is something going on? You know, and have that dialogue if the kid’s not comfortable with the parent, and then link them back to a provider that is an expert in that area. But I think, you know, with dentists, we often have this opportunity where we may have a different level of time and relationship with our patients, especially like the hygienist, they spend a lot of time with the patients.
And so they have to see themselves as overall healthcare providers, and not just in charge of cavities and teeth. And so I think there’s a big move towards that. I teach at a local hygiene school, and I’m trying to teach the students to really think of themselves as healthcare providers, and not just hygienists.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, look, I think, look, and I think dentists maybe get a bad rap, but I have been going to the dentist for over 50 years. I can tell you the technology has improved, and it’s a lot less painful than those big thick needles used to get. Sometimes I would get my cavities filled without Xylocaine or Novocaine.
So credit to the technology, credit to you as practitioners, things have come a long way. How do, as parents, I’m not a parent, but I’m a cat parent, they don’t necessarily brush their teeth, but how do you instill in a child? So let’s get people off to the right, on the right foot, so to speak, or the right tooth.
How do you get kids out of the gate to brush their teeth, to take their oral health, so make it a priority, and also to communicate some of the things that you’re talking about to your hygienist, to your parent, and to your, ultimately, your dentist?
Megha Sata, DDS, South Bay Children’s Health Center & American Dental Association
I think like everything else, it’s building that habit from a young age. So one thing people don’t realize, and I feel like we talked about this last time I was on your podcast, is the recommended age is 12 months. And, you know, that first visit is really about educating the parent.
And if you can start them off on the right foot, as far as the habits that they’re building, it can change the whole kid’s trajectory on their dental health. So, you know, cavities are completely preventable. So teaching them about giving up that bottle at a young age, and brushing with fluoride toothpaste, and getting all those preventative factors in at a young age really goes a long way.
And then I think to your point of it being linked to overall health, if you can teach them that, that, hey, you’re not just taking care of their kid’s teeth. This is actually gonna affect their whole trajectory of their overall health, their self-confidence, their self-esteem, all of that. It just encourages them to build those habits.
I feel like most people know about brushing and flossing. There’s lots of information out there. But teaching them about things that they can be using.
It gets confusing when you go to the drugstore and you see like a million toothpastes and brands, and it really is just simple stuff that makes the difference. So teaching them about that.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about, I know your practice really deals with children, adolescents, but what about us older folks? I mean, you’ve been brushing your teeth for 60, 70, 80 years. Maybe you develop some bad habits.
What about getting back on track because you wanna save your teeth, you don’t wanna get dentures, you don’t wanna be like George Washington and getting hippopotamus teeth, I think is what they were. But anyway, how do we correct ourselves if we’re on a bad trajectory as older adults?
Megha Sata, DDS, South Bay Children’s Health Center & American Dental Association
Yeah, and now we see so many adults who aren’t wearing dentures, who don’t lose their teeth. So you know it’s possible. I think when we were younger, it was like just kind of like everybody that ages loses teeth, right?
Wouldn’t be unusual to see grandparents’ teeth in a glass on the side of the nightstand, right? But now, my kids aren’t as exposed to that. They don’t see that as often.
They see older people with their natural teeth. And I think that, look, it’s never too late to change a habit. So first and foremost, going into a dentist for prevention, not just when something hurts is really important.
People don’t realize the plaque hardens and it becomes mineralized and that builds up what is known as tartar, right? If you have too much tartar on your teeth and the dentist or the hygienist doesn’t clean it off, you are going to lose bone around your teeth. And so even if you’ve never had a cavity in your life, you can lose a tooth because of the bone loss, right?
There’s just no support around your tooth to hold it in place. So going in, get your deep cleaning done. And now for my older patients, I say, just do whatever you need to, but get in every three months.
That’s gonna be a huge difference for them because- Yeah, right?
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Go ahead, I’m sorry.
Megha Sata, DDS, South Bay Children’s Health Center & American Dental Association
No, no, because you’re cleaning that tartar off the teeth. And then things like wearing a night guard, right? Over time, we wear out our teeth from stress, from eating.
So things like wearing a night guard to protect the teeth from those pressures make a difference.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, and I was gonna say, I mean, if you have even basic dental insurance, I’ve got to wrap, but even if you have basic dental insurance, two of your visits are covered and it’s not that terribly expensive to get a cleaning. I mean, I think you could probably find a provider for a reasonable fee, but it’s so important. Dr. Sata, we’re gonna have to leave it there, but guess what?
We’re gonna have to bring you back again so we can talk more about our pearly whites. Great to see you as always. Thanks for joining us.
And we look forward to having you back again very soon.
Megha Sata, DDS, South Bay Children’s Health Center & American Dental Association
Thank you so much. This was so much fun.
