Episode 12 - Complex Dental Procedures

Dr. Michelle discusses complex dental procedures and how treatments build on one another to reach healthy outcomes.

https://jacksonvillebeachdentist.com

Transcript

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Kevin (00:12):
We're going to take a little break from the music this morning at 11 minutes, a nine o'clock on a Friday to spend some time with our close friend, Dr. Michelle DeFelice Hucke proud owner of Jax Beaches Family Dentistry, and she joins us live here in the studio to talk about your gorgeous smile and how we can make it even more gorgeous, right? Maybe sort of, kind of. Absolutely. Yeah. Dr. Michelle has a pretty smile. Thank you. Yeah. So who's your dentist? I'm just kidding.

Dr. Michelle (00:40):
I have a lot of dentists in my life.

Kevin (00:42):
Go to Jacksonvillebeachdentist.com, Jacksonvillebeachdentist.com for more information today. I thought we would talk about many of you out there, either you personally or a loved one or family member, are dealing with a situation where people say, Hey, you have a variety of things going on with your dental health. You have a variety of things going on in your mouth. Some people may refer to it as bad teeth or teeth that are challenging in some way, and there's a detailed treatment plan. A lot of things that need to get done. Sometimes people I think just get intimidated by that and just throw up their hands and say, eh, I'm just going to put it off. And I think there's two reasons for that. One, fear over all the procedures, going to specialists, how long it's going to take, how arduous. That's our big word of the day, boys and girls. Arduous it might be. That's number one. Number two, how much it's going to cost.

Dr. Michelle (01:32):
Absolutely.

Kevin (01:33):
So put our minds at ease. If we're dealing with a variety of dental challenges and have been told by dentists over the years, Hey, we need to do this. We need to do this implant, we need to do this, that, and the other, and we all just, our eyes glaze over and go too much.

Dr. Michelle (01:47):
A lot of people just run screaming from the building.

Kevin (01:51):
Not literally, by the way, not a lot of

Dr. Michelle (01:53):
People. Not a lot of people.

Kevin (01:54):
And we do capture you on YouTube when you do that, by the way, not just kidding.

Dr. Michelle (01:58):
It is very common for people to get super overwhelmed and just do nothing, or at least just do nothing for a while. And then sometimes people will come to our office for a second opinion because they're hoping it's not true.

Kevin (02:14):
Give me some better news,

Dr. Michelle (02:16):
Give me some different

Kevin (02:17):
News. Well, we do that with cars. You ever notice that You'll take your car to raise tire? They'll say, well, you really need a whole new starter, blah, blah, blah. It's like, lemme go somewhere else. It seems if I get a battery,

Dr. Michelle (02:28):
I'll just keep going from one place to another until I hear what I want to hear. No, and sometimes when people come in for a second opinion, certainly, especially because I've been at this for a minute or two, I can give people different options because there is more of a one way to skin a cat, which is such a terrible phrase. Where did that come from? I dunno. I think I googled it the other day and I can't remember what.

Kevin (02:56):
I think it goes back to the Middle Ages actually, when they really did

Dr. Michelle (02:59):
Skin cast. I know. I mean, clearly that's what it was about. But yeah, there's generally more than one option. Often too, things are actually done in phases. So there is all different, there are all different, I dunno what the good English word is for that. There are different ways to phase things and to break them down and make it so that you can fit it into your lifestyle because there are all different things about dentistry that make it hard to fit into your lifestyle. There's obviously the financial part of it, which I think most dentists assume that's always what it is, but honestly, with how busy people are these days, it's also a time thing. It is overwhelming to people to figure out, excuse me,

Kevin (03:51):
You're fine, you're

Dr. Michelle (03:52):
Fine. It's overwhelming for people to figure out how they're going to take the time to do it, especially if it involves surgery and multiple specialists that are going to participate in the work. So then not only are they going to having to hang out with their regular dentist and they also have all these other dentists that they need to interact with and they're in different parts of town, and there's a whole separate group of team members at those offices that they have to interact with. So I will say one of the beauties, and I talk about this a lot when I'm interacting with other professionals of our office, is that we do have a specialist on our team. He's the one that places our implants and does our gum surgery. So we're blessed in that I have a lot of support when I have patients that need complex care, and that's more common these days too in dental offices for practices to be group practices. We deal with a lot of technology. I have a CT scan in my office. I also have a lot of other technology, and unless we come together as dentists, it's hard to make the technology affordable. So a lot more people are in group practice environments and that allows patients to get things done in a way that's less overwhelming, which is good because if you just get nothing done, then it's not good for your health, for dental infection, dental disease, periodontal issues to keep progressing

Kevin (05:26):
If you're just hopping in your vehicle. That's the voice of Dr. Michelle DeFelice Hucke, and of course she's the proud owner of Jack's Beach's Family Dentistry Learn more by going to jacksonville beach dentist.com, Jacksonville beach dentist.com. We're talking about complex dentistry. That was the term you used, which is much better than what I was stumbling around with. But all I was trying to describe was when people are told that they may need a series of implants, that they have various other gum health issues, and it just seems so daunting that they know they have to deal with it, but they just Right. And so we're trying to help 'em with that.

Dr. Michelle (05:59):
Yeah, it's like a lot of things in life, if something is too overwhelming, one of the options is just to not deal with it. We're finding out more and more, and we can't unknow what we know now about how impactful the health of your mouth is to the health of the rest of your body, especially if you have any other existing underlying health issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart issues, a history of dementia in your family. You really want to get your mouth as perfect as you can because the inflammation in your mouth, the bacteria that is in your mouth if you have gum disease, is just not good for those other issues that you may have now or could have in the future depending on your family history.

Kevin (06:44):
Tell you what, we're going to play a song or two. We're going to come back with Dr. Michelle. She's live here on the radio. In the meantime, you can always call Jack Speech's family Dentistry with any questions. Start out with that initial consultation, and then of course, Dr. Michelle and her team can map out a course of action that won't be so daunting.

Dr. Michelle (07:01):
One step at a

Kevin (07:02):
Time, they'll even make it fun. I'm a patient of Dr. Michelle's and I can tell you that they will develop a plan and then go about executing the plan and you'll even laugh a little while you're doing it. That's right. Yeah. There's a lot of laughter there at the process. There

Dr. Michelle (07:14):
Is

Kevin (07:14):
A lot. So most of it's directed laughing at me when I'm there, I guess. But no, there's a lot of laughter. Alright, we'll be back.

Dr. Michelle (07:48):
So for example, if you're having implant dentistry, there's a surgical phase generally that has to heal and then we restore it at a different point in time. So that type of dentistry is spread out over time, which can help make it more affordable just because of the nature of the treatment itself. And then there are obviously there's different ways to spread things out financially. Just like if your sewage system explodes or something.

Kevin (08:21):
That's a great example. Enjoy your breakfast.

Dr. Michelle (08:25):
You have to sometimes do an equity line of credit or in dentistry, we often use a product called CareCredit because they have different abilities to finance any kind of health stuff. Whether you have an issue with your dog needing surgery or your teeth or you want to have some aesthetic surgery done. So care credit's really helpful for health and wellness issues like dentistry, so helps you spread out the financial part of it so that you can go ahead and get the dentistry done in a timely fashion, which is always the best way to go if possible.

Kevin (09:03):
Yeah. What's interesting about that too is if you have a CareCredit account, if you end up needing to go to see a podiatrist or someone else, you have that account. New glasses. Yeah, you can use it for all those things.

Dr. Michelle (09:12):
No, I think opening a CareCredit account and having that on hand is a really good idea for everybody. Take a look at what you have accessible to you. You just never know when you're going to have a health issue. You end up having to maybe have something done medically that your insurance only covers a little part of. Not necessarily dentistry, but something else, say dermatology or, yeah. So yeah, CareCredit, it is a good thing for everybody to have. I have a card in my purse just in case.

Kevin (09:44):
Yeah, I do too. Dr. Michelle. Decrease Not in your

Dr. Michelle (09:48):
Purse though.

Kevin (09:49):
How do you know? I'm confident enough in my manhood. Remember when man purses were a thing? Yeah. Yeah. Not anymore. Dr. Michelle DeFelice Hucke is with us live. If you have any questions too, you can call 2 4 7 0 1 1 1. That number again, 9 0 4 2 4 7 0 1 1 1. Some people too will make use of their HSA for something like this,

Dr. Michelle (10:13):
Dentistry, chiropractic, dermatology. All of us can take HSA account money. That is an account that you put in a certain amount, say every pay period it rolls over from year to year. It's attached to a certain type of medical insurance that allows for that pre-tax money. And when you retire, if you haven't spent it, you can then spend it however you want to spend it.

Kevin (10:42):
Yeah. So there's that option. And then there's also the good old school option of the credit card. Yes, good old MasterCard and Visa,

Dr. Michelle (10:51):
But a lot of people also have relationships with bankers, so they'll sometimes use a home equity line of credit or all different things. Sometimes people have to get help from their parents and co-signing and all that. So it's really just a matter of having Frank Good conversations with a treatment coordinator and making sure that whatever we decide to do for your mouth works for you. Because the worst thing, there are lots of different things that can happen with people when they need complex care that are bad for their health. One of them is diving into something without a plan, and then people will spend a bunch of money on an individual tooth that they shouldn't have saved. They might've maybe should have sacrificed that so that they have had that money available to invest in the rest of their teeth. The other thing that happens with people with complex care, which also makes me super sad, is that people just get embarrassed. They're so embarrassed that they can't even face going in the first place. Or they go and they feel like they were being humiliated or the experience didn't go well, and then they just don't go back to anyone. So I will plead with people that are listening, if you're uncomfortable or you're embarrassed, try the next person because it is a very intimate thing. It can be upsetting on a lot of different levels, and I encourage people out there to just keep trying to find a dental home that you're comfortable in.

Kevin (12:31):
Yeah, absolutely. And of course, the end result, I know you've been on the front lines of seeing this is overwhelming joy a lot of times.

Dr. Michelle (12:38):
Yeah. Tears, happy tears.

Kevin (12:40):
Yeah. So I know, I guess, right. Well, what do they say about all the difficult things? I mean, some of the best things in life are difficult,

Dr. Michelle (12:47):
Right? That's true. Yeah.

Kevin (12:49):
Go to jacksonville beach dentist.com. Don't put off these complex dental procedures any longer. You will get to a better place and Dr. Michelle and her team, they'll do that with compassion and they'll figure out a way to make it affordable for you as well. You can call this number to get started, 2 4 7 0 1 1 1 that's local here in our part of Northeast Florida, 9 0 4 2 4 7 0 1 1 1. Or go to the website, jacksonville beach dentist.com and follow us on Facebook too and follow them on Facebook. And if you didn't catch all of Dr. Michelle's appearance, you'll be able to catch it there. We're going to be back with Dr. Michelle to wrap things up. So hang in there with us.

(15:16):
Here on 1 0 3 9 WSOS, Dr. Michelle DeFelice Hucke is with us the great Dr. Michelle DeFelice Hucke. She's part of our community right here in St. John's County. She's also the proud owner of Jack Beach Family Dentistry, and she has helped countless people with their dental health needs and she practices with compassion and a smile on her face even when she's working on me. Right?

Dr. Michelle (15:41):
Absolutely.

Kevin (15:42):
Yeah. So Dr. Michelle has been my dentist now for, let's see, carry the one. I'm running out of toes for a long time, but one thing I've been relatively fortunate with, I have not personally me have had any complex dental procedures, right?

Dr. Michelle (15:59):
Not really. No.

Kevin (15:59):
No. But that could be something kind of describe to me a patient that you would define as having complex dental needs.

Dr. Michelle (16:10):
Well, a lot of times it starts with people that have chronic gum issues and then they end up with some tooth loss, and they maybe also had multiple large silver fillings done in their teenage years, and they're looking to get things stable. So gum health is the foundation of the health of our mouth, sort of like the foundation of your house. If you're going to renovate your house, you want to check the foundation first. We don't want to renovate a house or build a castle on a cracking foundation. So we always start with gum health, and then we want to stabilize all the existing teeth so we assess all the existing teeth. Sometimes they need to be refilled, sometimes they need crowns if they need support all the way around the tooth to keep it from fracturing. And then we finally, once all those things are stabilized and healthy, we'll look at different tooth replacement options. And these days, that's usually implants as long as there's enough bone. So that would be complex care. And again, it's done in phases, right? Because you want to get the gums healthy first. That takes a certain amount of time, energy, and money. And then same with stabilizing the existing teeth and then finally replacing 'em. And as that's done over time, it can be made to fit into people's lifestyle in terms of how busy they are or any financial concerns.

Kevin (17:39):
Well, it's all doable. And at Jacks Beaches, family dentistry, and not every practice is like this, but they have specialists in-house. So you're not going to get punted to, oh, you got to go schedule an at this office and then go to this office and then go back to another office, which as Dr. Michelle pointed out earlier, and she's exactly right, even folks that are in retirement lead pretty darn busy lives.

Dr. Michelle (17:59):
Yeah, I mean, I talk about it. I grew up in Western New York and I was partners in my dad's dental practice in my hometown for 12 years. And we had some people that only lived in town part of the year and then came to Florida part of the year. But when I moved to Florida, the whole snowbird thing obviously is a constant part of everyday life when you live here. And it was really interesting to me how people are here for four or five months, but when they're here, they're also very busy from here. They're running back up north for grandkids, birthday parties and then coming back here, or they're going on a cruise or they're very active. So it's part of the reason why having all services under one roof is what became so important to me. Also, I don't do or surgery, so I've always had to have a surgeon on staff, but then also the same day, crown technology just to me became essential because patients that are as active as our communities are do not like to be stuck in a temporary crown because they don't want to be on a cruise and have the crown come off, or they don't want to be flying up north and have a crown come off or going to Orlando for the weekend or whatever they're doing.

(19:25):
So yeah, that's why the same day crown technology is so important to us too. Yeah.

Kevin (19:31):
Well, if you have any questions about complex dental procedures, obviously we highly recommend working with Dr. Michelle DeFelice Hucke her team at Jacksonville Beach Dentist. Go to jacksonville beach dentist.com, Jacksonville beach dentist.com. They'll work with you too on the financing issues and how this is all going to get paid for. That can be dealt with. And also they're going to make this happen in a manageable way over time. And at the end you will have a beautiful smile and you'll be able to eat what you want for the most part, right? That's right. Yeah. So explore it more. You can call this number nine zero four, local, obviously 9 0 4 2 4 7 0 1 1 1. That number again for Jack's Beaches, family Dentistry 2 4 7 0 1 1 1. Dr. Michelle, thanks for coming by. We learned a lot. Thanks.