Headline or Hoax? with Dr Jennifer and Marcus Saputo

Wild medical stories travel faster than careful medical advice, and that’s exactly why games like “Headline or Hoax” are such a useful antidote to health misinformation. When you hear a claim that sounds unbelievable, your brain wants to decide instantly: true or fake. This episode leans into that impulse on purpose, then slows it down with humor and basic medical reasoning. Along the way, we highlight a key media literacy skill for anyone scrolling social feeds: plausibility is not proof, and “natural remedy” phrasing can make weak claims feel legitimate even when the evidence is thin.

The first headline is the kind that stops you cold: surgeons remove 232 teeth from a teen’s jaw. It sounds impossible until you remember that dentistry and oral surgery sometimes deal with rare conditions like supernumerary teeth, odontomas, or complex cysts that can pack the jaw with tooth-like structures. Even if most people have 32 adult teeth, biology does not always follow the average. The conversation uses the shock value to make a serious point: rare medical cases do happen, and the right way to respond is curiosity plus verification, not instant dismissal.

Then we contrast that with a classic viral wellness promise: drinking lemon juice reverses gray hair in 90 days. It’s simple, cheap, and feels empowering, which is exactly why “gray hair reversal” myths spread. But hair graying is usually driven by genetics, aging, and pigment cell changes, not a quick nutritional hack. Lemon juice has vitamin C and acidity, yet that doesn’t translate to restoring melanin production. This is a good moment to practice consumer skepticism: look for credible sources, realistic mechanisms, and outcomes that aren’t suspiciously guaranteed or timed like a marketing funnel.

Then we lighten it up with a “Buzz Battle” surgery segment using the classic Operation game, complete with the basics of real-world surgical culture like the timeout that helps prevent wrong-site mistakes. The laughs keep coming, but the lesson sticks: even when medicine is fun to talk about, safety systems and clear thinking matter.

We close with a fake sponsor ad that unexpectedly turns into a useful anatomy mini lesson: what the spleen does, where it lives under your left ribs, why mono can make it a problem, and how hard hits in contact sports can turn spleen injury into an emergency. Plus, we answer a boxing question about kidney shots and the nerve overload that can put you down fast.

If you like funny medical trivia, skeptical thinking, and practical health nuggets, subscribe, share this with a friend who loves weird headlines, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

THANKS TO OUR GUESTS:

Dr Jennifer: Internal Medicine, Hospitalist

Marcus Saputo: IG/TT/YT/FB @marcussaputo https://marcussaputo.com/

Subscribe wherever you listen, share this with a friend and leave a review so more people can find honest conversations about healthcare and a little comedy along the way.

This episode was produced by Angie Debelak with post-production editing by Ben Hill Sound.

Thanks for listening to Dr Ben and Friends.  Laughter is the best medicine...unless you're treating bowel or bladder incontinence.  See you next time!

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Transcript

Headline Or Hoax Begins

unknown 0:05

Dr. Ben.

Dr Ben 0:10

All right, folks, Dr. Ben here. Now it's time for that segment you love called Headline or Hoax. Now I'm gonna read two headlines. One is an actual medical headline and one is a hoax. We're gonna have Dr. Jennifer and hilarious Marcus Saputo, comedian, try to find out which one's the headline. And so my email is flooded with these bizarre headlines that actually happen. And so some of them I don't even believe, but I fact check in their actual real headlines. Um so there's plenty of material in these uh headlines, but uh let's read our two headlines, and we're gonna have Dr. Jennifer and Marcus uh determine which one is real. Now, in previous episodes, some have both guessed the correct one, some have both guessed the incorrect one, and they've split, and so we're gonna have some good discussion here on uh these headlines. Alright, uh listener, you play along too, let us know which one you think is the headline. Headline number one is surgeons remove two hundred and thirty-two teeth from teen's jaw. Surgeons remove two hundred and two thirty-two teeth from teen's jaw. That's our first headline. We're gonna see if that's real or a hoax. Alright, headline number two. Drinking lemon juice reverses gray hair in ninety days. Drinking lemon juice reverses gray hair in ninety days. Alright, the guests here are gonna guess which one is real and which one is a hoax. And listener, you'd be thinking which one's real, which one's a hoax. Alright. Alright, and then let's see, what

Teeth Math And Lemon Juice Logic

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 2:00

what are you guys kinda thinking preliminarily here about what do you think sounds like I don't even know how many teeth we have as it is. So probably about I don't know, 32 or so, I think. Maybe sixteen in each, top and bottom, something like that. I'm not a dentist, but yeah, I'm not either. So um that's a lot of teeth, dude, right there for one job. This dude's I mean like part shark, maybe he sounds like a beluga whale or something. I don't even know. Yeah, that's a that can't be.

Dr Jennifer 2:35

That's a lot of teeth but I feel like the lemon juice thing if that were real nobody would have gray hair. That's right. Yeah.

Dr Ben 2:37

But maybe they just don't like the lemon juice. They'd rather have gray hair.

Dr Jennifer 2:39

Maybe so. Maybe so.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 2:40

Maybe I mean maybe it's like you gotta drink, you know, a whole glass of straight lemon, like an unbearable amount. Right. Right? So and maybe like bathe in it. Yeah.

Marcus Saputo 2:51

Yeah.

Dr Ben 2:52

Uh-huh. All right. Well, you ready for the big reveal? Uh let's see. If you guys can point your answers to the camera, which one did you pick?

Dr Jennifer 3:02

I picked number one.

Dr Ben 3:03

So the 232 teeth.

Dr Jennifer 3:05

Yes.

Marcus Saputo 3:06

Yeah, I I have a feeling it's number one, but I picked number two because I'm a believer somewhat.

Dr Ben 3:11

I'm hoping that in like you don't have to worry about it.

Marcus Saputo 3:14

I don't I don't want the nightmares of 200 teeth in my head.

Dr Jennifer 3:18

Yes.

Marcus Saputo 3:18

So I'm praying for lemon juice.

Marcus Saputo, Dr Jennifer, Dr Ben 3:21

All right. Well, listener, drum roll, please. Sound effect person. I need a foley actor on the show. I can do some sound effects. All right. You've heard of Foley actors, right? They do the sound effects. Oh, yeah. We use different folies in our line of work, but foley catheters.

Marcus Saputo 3:38

Oh, yeah.

The Real Headline Revealed

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 3:41

All right, folks. The actual real headline. Dr. Jennifer is right. Surgeon removes 232 teeth. That's a tongue twister. From a teen's jaw. That was an actual headline back in 2014. So is he alright?

Marcus Saputo, Dr Jennifer, Dr Ben 3:58

I think he's did they put dentures in? Hopefully they left some in there. Yeah, what left a few behind. Sounds like he's got no jaw left. Yeah, it's me, bro.

Dr Ben 4:07

Um I wonder if they gave him uh a little plaque, that uh surgeon for taking out all those teeth.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 4:13

They might have, yeah. Did he get to keep the teeth? Is what I'm wondering. He's like, you want to see like tooth fairy? Yeah. He's like, hey, you ever seen 150 teeth before? I'd be showing it. I'd carry it around in my pocket. I'm like, you want to see 150 teeth? Check these out. Make a necklace or something. That's right.

Dr Ben 4:31

Do you think he like for the tooth fairy? Do you put them all under your pillow at once or just one at a time for the next 232 days?

Dr Jennifer 4:37

For a big payout, I think. Yeah, I go all at once.

Marcus Saputo and Dr Jennifer 4:39

All at once? Comes and gives you like five grand. What if you took it like 20 bucks? Like I should have done one a day.

Marcus Saputo 4:45

Yeah, yeah, I would have done that. I would track him down and shake him down for more. I say, this is impressive how many teeth I got.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 4:53

You pay me more. That's right. I love it. Okay. Yeah, I think they give that surgeon a little crown, maybe.

Dr Jennifer 4:59

Yes.

Dr Ben 4:59

Taking out all those teeth. That's nice. All right, folks. All right, folks. Now, Dr. Ben here. We have Dr. Jennifer, a hospitalist, and we have Marcus Saputo, comedian and construction worker. Now, I will have to say, kind of on a job spectrum, I'm closer to Bob the Builder than House MD. So I'm kind of more related with our power tools and fixing things. Um Dr. Jennifer's the probably what the listener thinks of as um when they think of a doctor. They don't think of a uh someone swinging power tools and hammers and and that. So they think of uh someone smart figuring out their medical problems. So all right. Well, folks,

Turning A Comedian Into A Surgeon

Dr Ben 5:50

are you ready for the Dr. Ben Buzz Battle? Ben Buzz Battle. It's like vitamin B3. We're serious all day long, and uh here with Dr. Ben and Friends, we need to decompress. And in this segment, we have the comedian become the surgeon. So we have Dr. Marcus Saputo here, who uh Dr. Jennifer will help him put on some uh gloves and a hat for surgery here.

Dr Jennifer 6:23

Yes. So we have the the gown on already to help keep us nice and sterile. You have two different hats you can choose from the buffant and then the typical surgeon's cap.

Marcus Saputo 6:33

I want the surgeon's cap.

Dr Ben 6:35

All right.

Dr Jennifer 6:35

Perfect.

Dr Ben 6:36

We don't want your uh hair getting into the uh surgical field here.

Dr Ben and Dr Jennifer 6:40

That's right, that's what I'm saying. Oh, yeah. Oh, looking good. Yes, that's perfect.

Marcus Saputo 6:44

I want it to sit on the very top.

Dr Ben 6:46

Yes, like this. Almost like a pope.

Dr Jennifer 6:49

Yes.

Marcus Saputo 6:50

If I look like the pope, that's what I'm going for. That's wonderful.

Dr Jennifer 7:01

Next you'll have some gloves. The gloves definitely need to be on so we can stay sterile and not get anything foreign in our patient.

Dr Ben 7:03

Yes.

Marcus Saputo 7:03

Hopefully the putting it on with the rings.

Marcus Saputo, Dr Jennifer, Dr Ben 7:06

All right. If the glove don't fit, hey you must quit. That's right. Have you ever thought of being a surgeon or not? Not a single time. Okay.

Marcus Saputo 7:18

Uh, Dr. Ben, if you haven't noticed, I'm in the trades, and guys in the trades usually uh don't have formal education. So I'm not going to school for 45 years. You're too smart, so I'm not sure the school for that.

Dr Jennifer 7:35

And then our last step is our mask to make sure we keep any germs in our mouth out of our patient.

Marcus Saputo, Dr Jennifer, Dr Ben 7:41

Who is that masked man, they say? All right. All right, we're getting Dr. Marcus all suited up for surgery. And then we have uh the classic Hasbro game here, where Dr. Marcus is gonna cure our patient Tony of twelve different ailments here. And so before we begin, we must uh perform a timeout. Now, listener, a timeout is performed before every surgery. If you go into surgery, to make sure we have the correct patient, the correct uh surgeon, correct operative site, what we're doing. And so we we uh uh don't like uh wrong site surgeries or anything. So we're gonna time out. Everybody, listen up. This is uh Tony with the red nose from the land of Hasbro. He has 12 ailments that Dr. Marcus is gonna help him with. Now, Dr. Marcus will have 60 seconds to remove as many ailments as he can from uh Tony here. If you hear a buzz, Dr. Marcus, just move on to the next one and we'll see how many you get in 60 seconds. Are you ready, Dr. Marcus? Yeah, Tony's looking rough over here. Okay, Tony's. You're gonna help him with Tony's in the best hands. He's in good hands. Dr. Allstate here. All right, I'm gonna start the timer, and you'll have 60 seconds to remove as many ailments. If it buzzes and his nose lights up, then uh

Operation Game Under Pressure

Dr Ben 8:58

we'll move on to the next one. All right. All right, ready, Dr. Marcus.

Dr Jennifer 9:04

All right.

Dr Ben and Dr Jennifer 9:05

Here we go. All right, Dr. Marcus. He's looking for a lot of different ailments here. Oh, oh, that's okay. He's now trying to remove his heart. Wow, look at that uh the precision of a surgeon.

Dr Ben 9:17

Yes, remove the heart. Wow, look at Dr. Marcus Go.

Marcus Saputo 9:22

Oh, you got a duck in your hands.

Speaker 2 9:25

That would be a good thing.

Dr Jennifer 9:26

You gotta watch out for those pesky ducks.

Marcus Saputo, Dr Jennifer, Dr Ben 9:28

Oh, butterflies in the stomach. Marcus probably has butterflies in the stomach when he is performing stand-up. That's okay. Dr. Marcus, you're doing great. Don't worry. Comedy is much easier than surgery. That's right. Can we get him a microphone? Okay. Look at Dr. Marcus. Don't be rattled, Dr. Marcus. You got this. Got a little performance. Oh, oh, I have good feelings about this, Dr. Marcus. Wow, look at Dr. Okay, Dr. Marcus.

Dr Jennifer 10:06

You got the most important one and that was the broken heart you have resolved.

Dr Ben 10:07

Right.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 10:08

Fix the cards. I resolved broken hearts. What can I say? I uh I I really like my cardiologist, actually. He's a man after my own heart.

Dr Jennifer 10:17

That's right. That's right.

Dr Ben 10:20

Never never lie to your cardiologist, listener. They uh they can spot a fib from a mile away.

Dr Jennifer 10:26

That's right.

Dr Ben 10:27

Yeah, they can spot a fib. All right, good job, Dr. Marcus.

Marcus Saputo 10:30

Yes, thank you.

Dr Ben 10:31

All right, listener. If you have access to this game, listener, I want to see how many ailments you can get. Can you beat Dr. Marcus in 60 seconds? All right, let us know in the comments.

Fake Ad Then Real Spleen Talk

Dr Ben 10:45

All right, folks, Dr. Marcus did a such a fine job in surgery. Right out of surgery, we have Dr. Marcus with us, so he's gonna read our next ad. It's a common sense healthcare ad we wish existed, actually, from Dr. Ben and Friends, because real sponsors still don't know our awesome podcast exists yet.

Marcus Saputo 11:05

Yes, this episode of the Dr. Ben and Friends podcast is brought to you by the Super Spleen Strengthener Serum guy. Boost your spleen performance by 300%. Perfect for those who know what a spleen does, because I don't, and want it to be the best, which sounds good. Warning may cause your organs to form a union and demand better working conditions. Union 42, give us more money, guy. Dr.

Dr Ben 11:39

Jennifer, what is the spleen?

Dr Jennifer 11:42

Yeah, so it's an organ that plays vital roles in the body uh with the immune system, platelet production and things like that. Yeah.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 11:49

Marcus, where do you think the spleen is on your body? Yeah, well, you point to your head, you think I think it's in my head. I don't know what you think. Where do you think it's in your neck? No. Yeah, is that no? I think the spleen, what does the spleen do? Platelet reduction, I mean production has something to do with it. It's something to do with the body, you know. It's something uh your spleen, is it in your kind of towards your back?

Dr Jennifer 12:20

It's more in the left upper part right here. Okay, in the front side of your abdomen, just underneath the ribs on the left side.

Marcus Saputo 12:27

Yeah, I knew that, you know. I was just making sure you're brushed up on your education after you're 45 years of schooling.

Dr Ben 12:35

That's right. Sometimes people have to have their spleen removed. Yes. So you don't need it to survive, but it is a it is vital.

Dr Jennifer 12:42

And it can also be um uh you hear it a lot with mono. Uh people get their spleen to be enlarged, and if you have like abdominal trauma, it can actually cause it to rupture, uh, which is surgical emergency, has to be removed.

Kidney Shots And Protecting Your Organs

Marcus Saputo 12:55

So I actually have a question. So I box, and when you get hit in the kidney, it will put you down. I was sparring last week and kid hit me in the kidney, I had to take a knee.

Dr Jennifer 13:06

Yes.

Marcus Saputo 13:06

What does what is that reaction from? Like what's happening when that happens?

Dr Jennifer 13:12

It's basically a a nerve overload. Uh when you when they hit that kind of shocks the nerve and then it kind of incapacitates you.

Dr Ben and Marcus Saputo 13:20

Yeah, okay. Good to know. Sometimes contact sports like football, you could rupture a spleen too if you get hit hard enough, and that's kind of a medical emergency. Guard your spleen and your jaw.

Marcus Saputo 13:32

Yeah, yeah, it's a good, yeah. I would recommend it for most.

Dr Ben 13:38

All right.