Academics:
Faculty, USC School of Dentistry
Graduate, USC School of Dentistry
Reviewer, Journal of Periodontology
Special Qualifications:
Master,
Academy of General Dentistry
Fellow, International College of
Cranio- Mandibular Orthopaedics
Fellow, International Academy of
Mini Dental Implants
Fellow, International Congress of
Oral Implantologists
Fellow, Institute for Advanced
Laser Dentistry
Permit, Conscious Sedation
Dental Board of California
Professional Associations:
Member, American Dental Association
Member, California Dental Association
Associate Member, American
Academy of Periodontology
Member, American Academy of
Dental Sleep Medicine
Member, American Academy of
Implant Dentistry
Member, American Dental Society
of Anesthesiology
Member, American Academy of
Pain Management
Member, American Academy of
Sleep Medicine
Member, Academy of Microscope
Enhanced Dentistry
Member, Special Care Dentistry
Association
Lectures & Presentations:
San Gabriel Valley Dental Society
San Gabriel Valley Dental
Assistants Society
San Fernando Valley Dental Society
Western Dental Society
Indian Dental Society
Chinese Dental Society
Punjabi Dental Society
Academy for Excellence in Dentistry
University of Texas -
Department of Periodontics
Academy of Laser Dentistry
Everest College
Community Service:
SMILE TALK
Radio Talk Show Host
KFWB, 980 AM
KSPA, 1510 AM
KFSD, 1450 AM
Columnist, Around Alhambra
Columnist, Cascades
Senior Expo
Operation Gratitude
Honors & Recognition:
Doctor of Divinity, Chinese for
Christ Theological Seminary
Lifetime Achievement Award
American Dental Association
California Dental Association
USC Friends of Dentistry
Presidential Level
USC Associates
Recognition for Outstanding
Service, USC School of Dentistry
Radio Transcription
Ep 5 (KFWB): Catering to Patients with a high fear of the Dentist "Chickens." Painless Novocain shots, Fillings, Dental Hygenist Training
Salvador Gaytan: It's time! SmileTalk is on the air, featuring the latest news and developments in dentistry, as well as other fascinating topics that make people smile. I'm Salvador Gaytan, and I'm here with?
Dr. John Chao: Dr. John Chao. If you're a chicken, stay tuned. We've got good news for you.
Salvador Gaytan: Darn right we do. In fact, we'll get to that little spot later about the chickens, and how you got into catering to people that do have a high fear of the dentist, and what you do for them.
Dr. John Chao: Well, that's one of the reasons that we're into dentistry, is to be able to help people, and I've always had this desire to be able to do things for people that perhaps they can't do for themselves or other people cannot do for them, and so dentistry became a very good fit.
Fortunately, at USC dental school at the time, there was a good program that taught how to take care of anxious patients, and I was particularly blessed with a couple of mentors who taught me their painless techniques.
And eventually I adopted their techniques and what I learned later into my own, and I was able to then give painless injections, and from there it more and more developed into part of my technique and how to take care of very, very anxious patients.
Salvador Gaytan: We've had quite a few anxious patients, scared, outright scared patients that we've actually had on the show interviewed, and I'm also a patient of yours.
Dr. John Chao: Yes, and you recently had an experience.
Salvador Gaytan: Yes I did.
Dr. John Chao: With me.
Salvador Gaytan: That is correct. I have to admit, I had a cavity in one of the back molars, and we were going to talk about that in the last show, but let's get to it now Dr. John. As I mentioned, I had the appointment, and I knew I had to do it, and I haven't had very many cavities, I've been very fortunate.
But the day before, I was on the golf course, and it was late in the day and I was practicing, and all I could think about, "Oh, I got to go tomorrow, I got to go." I did not want to go to -- I said well, you know, not because I knew it was going to be painful, I just didn't want to do it. It's not something you look forward to.
Salvador Gaytan: But I knew I was in good hands. I drive down from Orange County, which is a good 55-60 miles.
Dr. John Chao: Tustin, right?
Salvador Gaytan: Tustin, right, to see you. So, but I was driving down there, I didn't want to do it, but I got there, and I knew I had to do it, I knew I was in great hands, and most of all though, I knew there was not going to be any pain, it was just going to be something that I had to do. So, I got in the chair, and like you said, I was a little subdued.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, you were not your generally razzing self, jumping up and down with energy and vibe.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right. But see, I knew I was going to be jumping up and down once it was done [laughter].
Dr. John Chao: Well, yeah, and you didn't expect to be jumping up and down while I was doing it, right? [Laughter]
Salvador Gaytan: No, no. But yeah, I haven't had a Novocain injection for quite a long time, and but my memory was always that there was nothing to it. So, you actually gave me three injections in different parts of the mouth, and it was like normal.
All I felt was a little tug, and nothing, and then you finally took out the injection; I felt it started to get numb. You gave me the three of them, and then over a course of a half hour or so, it numbed up, and then you did your work.
Dr. John Chao: Right. Actually those injections were pretty deep. They are called mandibular blocks. On the upper teeth, the bone is not very dense, so you can put Novocain right opposite the tooth, and the Novocain will go through the gum, go through the bone and then numb up the nerves to the teeth. However, on the lower teeth…
Salvador Gaytan: Which is where I had -- I had…
Dr. John Chao: For the lower teeth, yeah, the lower left first molar, you can't do that. The bone is too dense for that, so you cannot infiltrate, you cannot just put the anesthetic opposite of the tooth. You have to go way back there to the main trunk of the nerve before it enters the jaw bone. And you have to find it, and then you have to deposit the anesthetic right by the nerve, so it's quite a ways in. It's maybe an inch, actually longer than an inch.
Salvador Gaytan: Wow. Don't tell me this.
Dr. John Chao: But you're a bigger guy, so you're 6'1", 6'2"?
Salvador Gaytan: I'm 6'1", yeah.
Dr. John Chao: 6'1", I mean you've got big jaws. We had to go a lot deeper for you than other people. So, but that's what I do. You know I do a lot of those, and of course the fact that your mouth is so big, it made it a lot easier.
Salvador Gaytan: You're calling me a big mouth? I can't believe that.
Dr. John Chao: You're getting the drift of it now?
Salvador Gaytan: I can't believe that.
Dr. John Chao: No, no, you have a fair opening, you have a big opening, and it makes it easier. Well, you were not moving around.
Salvador Gaytan: No, I was dead still. I said I can't -- I'm not moving a muscle.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, and you did great. I knew it didn't bother you, because I didn't see your eyelids flip. I can always tell.
Salvador Gaytan: Oh really?
Dr. John Chao: I can always tell. If there's something, the eyelids will flip, and the little subtle signs here and there. So, I knew you had a totally 100% painless experience.
Salvador Gaytan: Yes it was.
Dr. John Chao: And I wasn't going to let you have any pain, and have you talk about it and razz me on the radio show. So, that was at stake, you see? It actually made me a little nervous.
[Laughter]
Salvador Gaytan: Well, because we talked about it before you did it. We said, "Hey, this is going to be on the show."
Dr. John Chao: Yeah.
Salvador Gaytan: Yeah. So, make it good.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, so that was your protection too [laughter].
Salvador Gaytan: That's right. And for anyone just tuning in, you're listening to SmileTalk. I'm Salvador Gaytan here with Dr. John Chao, spelled C-H-A-O. And if you need to contact Dr. John, see him for an appointment, you can go to his website, AlhambraDental.com or 626-308-9104.
And I'm telling you ladies and gentlemen, because I've been a patient for years, I've seen what he's done. If you have a wedding, a graduation, a reunion, you're back on the dating scene, you need your smile fixed, and you need it to look great now, call Dr. John Chao now. He's a near miracle worker.
Even if you think you have a hopeless case, you have loose teeth, call him for an opinion. He works miracles. You can also go to his website, and under "Non-surgical solutions", you can see before and after photos.
Dr. John Chao: Well, I just love to see people from my radio audience. I'm getting spoiled now.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, that's true.
Dr. John Chao: I'm getting spoiled. You're all so fantastic when you come and see me. We always have such a good time. So, call me and I'd love to meet you.
Salvador Gaytan: Absolutely, and it's been great. You've had a number of people that have come in to see you, and had work done, hearing about you from the radio show, your ads, and it's good to see.
I mean you're providing a public service announcement. People that even may have their own dentist that they're happy with, they're getting additional information. And you're getting people that do have a need, they need someone who is really good at handling the hopeless cases, and that is you, Dr. John Chao.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. And it's very satisfying to give the information to you. If you have your own dentist, great, and you can ask more and better, intelligent questions, and the information that I give you will help you to become a better patient.
If you have a good dentist, stick with your dentist, don't go around. Once in a while, I have a patient who comes in for not a second opinion, but fifth, sixth and seventh. It gets kind of crazy after that. But stick with your dentist if you're happy with him, but if there's something that I can do for you, I certainly would enjoy meeting you and helping you the best I can.
But if you have your own dentist, stick with your dentist. The main message of this show boils down to, "See your dentist regularly." The benefits come in droves in not only your dental health, your smile, but your quality of life and longevity.
Salvador Gaytan: Absolutely, it's a life changing experience when someone has good oral health, because they smile better, they sleep better. We've had some of your patients say they slept better after they had treatments done.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, complexion gets better, the energy level is better. Your mouth has a large surface area, and if that’s infected and you get rid of it, you're going to feel great.
Salvador Gaytan: Absolutely. We've got to take a break, you're listening to SmileTalk. You can contact Dr. John Chao at AlhambraDental.com.
Dr. John Chao: Love to see you.
[Commercial Break]
Salvador Gaytan: And we're back ladies and gentlemen. You're listening to SmileTalk. I'm Salvador Gaytan and I'm here with?
Dr. John Chao: Dr. John Chao. We're talking about injections that can actually be painless. Your injection doesn't have to hurt.
Salvador Gaytan: That is correct.
Dr. John Chao: Sal has just had his painless experience.
Salvador Gaytan: That is correct ladies and gentlemen. We were talking about, on the other side of the break, I had to see you. I haven't had to see -- well, I see you every three months, but I haven't had to see you for any type of a cavity for quite some years.
So, I wanted to share. We were talking about my experience with the Novocain shots, painless, we talked about that. The other aspect that was interesting was when you told me -- you actually told me three months prior when I was in -- they took some x-rays, you looked at them, you said, "Well, there could be a little spot there. We'll keep an eye on it when you come in next time."
Of course, I was thinking, "Thank God. I hope it's nothing." So, I came in the next time, three months later, looked at the x-rays again. I also took some new x-rays, and you said, "You know, there is a little decay that has gone through the enamel."
You showed me the spot on the x-ray, and I'm looking at the x-ray, and I'm looking at my other teeth, and I'm saying, "Well, how come I see kind of the similar spots on other teeth, but there's no cavities there, but there is a cavity there." See I wanted to believe that well, maybe he made a mistake.
Dr. John Chao: Well, you were resisting it.
Salvador Gaytan: I didn't want to accept it.
Dr. John Chao: You didn't want a cavity.
Salvador Gaytan: No.
Dr. John Chao: And you're going to look at that x-ray and say, "I don't see any difference."
Salvador Gaytan: That's right. I wanted you to show me, make me see it, so you -- then you showed me, you said, "Well, you can see where there's a lining of enamel on other teeth and it's sharp, sharp lines," and there's the line on the tooth that I had a problem with, it was slightly broken. Hard to see, but with a trained eye, you can see it. Then you also did something else, you colorized the…
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. The x-rays that we took for you were digital. It's not in a film. I think film x-rays are on its way out. Most doctors that I know are using digital x-rays, because you reduce radiation quite a bit.
And then -- because you put the x-ray on the screen, on the monitor, you can do different things with it. You can reverse it. You can have the black turn into white or you can actually put color on it. You can make it red; you can make it yellow, you can do whatever you want. You can enlarge it; you can focus in on the decay area.
So, you can do so many things now with digital x-rays. It's really, really powerful, and besides that, we can show the patients what we want them to see.
Salvador Gaytan: Because you know what, I'm like any patient. The patient wants to feel a 100% that they do have a problem, it has to be taken care of. They don't want to have something taken care of, that there is no problem.
Dr. John Chao: That's right. You don't want to misread. You don't want a false diagnosis, a false positive.
Salvador Gaytan: No. I mean who wants to have a cavity taken care of and think, "Well, actually it was nothing there."
Dr. John Chao: Actually I not only just went by the x-rays, we actually -- remember I actually put my intraoral camera right between the teeth.
Salvador Gaytan: That's correct. Yes.
Dr. John Chao: I had to see it for myself before I can actually say, "Well, that x-ray means this," and I was able to see it.
Salvador Gaytan: So, intraoral camera, I saw it, but explain to the audience what it is.
Dr. John Chao: Well, it's a micro camera, very, very small, that can take video pictures of the mouth and have it transmitted to the monitor, and you blow it up, blow whatever you're seeing by 40 times. So, you have a tooth on the screen and that's actually 40 times than the natural tooth.
Salvador Gaytan: So, you could look into the crevices, but it's hard to see.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. This camera has its own source of light, so you illuminate the area that you're trying to see. So, I was able to get it between the two teeth and I saw the discoloration, and I saw that little cavity. It told me that there's a cavity. How deep was what the x-rays told me, that it was quite extensive at that time.
Salvador Gaytan: Even then, I was -- kind of in my mind -- I accepted it, but in my mind I was thinking, "Maybe it's just really not there." But then what you did -- this was the proof positive, okay. I had the Novocain, then you went in there, and you started removing some of the tooth. Then, when you got to the decay, the decay -- when you see decay, which I realized now, it actually is like a black spot.
Dr. John Chao: Black or dark brown or light brown. It's different.
Salvador Gaytan: So, you took a picture with your -- what do you call it?
Dr. John Chao: Intraoral camera.
Salvador Gaytan: Intraoral camera; you took a picture of the decay after you had cut away some of the tooth, and so I actually saw. You actually found just a tiny second spot that didn't show up on the x-ray, but was developing.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, yeah, we found it as we were going along.
Salvador Gaytan: Right. And so, then I said "You know what, this man knows his stuff."
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. When we come back on our break, we're going to ask you why you have this blue rubber sheet over your teeth.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right, that's right, yeah, I forgot about that. So, ladies and gentlemen, we're coming to the last few seconds of our break, but I'm telling you, if you've been in an accident, you've had injuries, you have a situation where you feel like it's hopeless, don't give up. Call Dr. John Chao at AlhambraDental.com, that's his website, or 626-308-9104, and get a consultation before you give up.
Dr. John Chao: Well, you don't have to have special needs. I'd love to meet you anyway. So, if you can come, I'd love to see you.
Salvador Gaytan: We'll see you on the other side of the break.
[Commercial Break]
Dr. John Chao: Okay, well, this is going to be fun.
Salvador Gaytan: Absolutely. We're back ladies and gentlemen, you're listening to SmileTalk. I'm Salvador Gaytan and I'm here with Dr. John Chao, spelled C-H-A-O. If you have a wedding coming up, a graduation, a reunion and you need your teeth fixed, you need it now, you can go to Dr. John Chao's website, AlhambraDental.com or you can schedule an appointment, 626-308-9104.
We've had some of his previous patients on the shows, and I'm a patient, and he's just -- he's a modern miracle worker in my opinion.
Dr. John Chao: Well, that's very kind. You know what? If you just have ordinary needs -- because most of my patients have ordinary needs, just come and see me, love to meet you. I love to meet my audience. It's so enjoyable. So, don't hesitate. It doesn't matter what your needs are, if something special, love to see you. If it's something ordinary, that's fine too. We have wonderful hygienists by the way.
Salvador Gaytan: That's true.
Dr. John Chao: That's how you ended up over there.
Salvador Gaytan: That is true.
Dr. John Chao: How we discovered the cavity, because May, your hygienist, saw it and took the x-rays.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, while you're talking about that, I was going to make another point, but I'll skip to that. It is true. I do have my teeth cleaned regularly.
Dr. John Chao: Every…?
Salvador Gaytan: Three months.
Dr. John Chao: Three months.
Salvador Gaytan: Every three months, and with May, who's been there a long time with you and she is outstanding. And I will say, every time she looks at my teeth, she looks at whatever past x-rays I have, and if she sees something, she will say, "You know Dr. Chao, you might want to just take a second look at this here just to make sure," and you look. That's how it's done, so nothing slips through the cracks.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. So, there is a point I want to make here. Most patients know that the dental hygienist has some special training, but they don't really understand the difference in training and expertise between the dental assistant, which could be very, very competent and very experienced from the dental hygienist.
A dental hygienist is trained totally different from a dental assistant. It's a totally different program. The dental hygienist who may have been a dental assistant before that -- in fact, all four of my hygienists were involved in a dental office before.
One of them was at the front desk, and three were actually dental assistants, and they decided to take more training, and all four of them were chosen to go to USC School of Dentistry's hygiene program.
I don't know whether you know this or not, literally thousands of applicants apply for the 60 seats that are open every year at USC Dental School. It's one of the most prestigious dental hygiene programs in the nation.
In fact, it maybe number one. It has terrific, terrific professors over many, many years. So, the hygienist goes to two years of university training at the dental school as part of the dental school itself.
So, they learn a lot of dentistry, and especially their role in working with the dentist to take care of gum problems and to take care of ordinary problems that come up. This is how May became as knowledgeable as she is, and of course she could pursue her studies regularly, updating herself more than anybody I have ever met. She is really conscientious.
So, you have a person who's really well trained. Now, I do want to say that there are 24 dental hygiene schools in the State of California. Only four of them are affiliated with universities with a dental school. So, the other 20 are in two year colleges.
The four colleges, the four dental schools which have dental hygiene programs, do give their hygiene graduates a bachelor's in dental hygiene. So, May has one of those.
Salvador Gaytan: Excellent.
Dr. John Chao: So does Sarah, and so does Jemima, and all four -- Sarah and all four hygienists are similarly trained. In fact, I don't know whether you know this or not. All four of them were selected to be faculty members of the school of dentistry, teaching dental hygiene. So, they are extremely, extremely capable.
Salvador Gaytan: Fantastic. Well, they are the first line of defense in the dental office.
Dr. John Chao: First line of reception.
Salvador Gaytan: Reception, yeah.
Dr. John Chao: They show what the dentist can do. As you know, May and the other hygienists are very, very gentle, but very thorough, nothing gets missed.
Salvador Gaytan: That's true. I have a question for you. Getting back to my procedure with you and taking care of my cavity, I noticed after I got the Novocain shots, well, after I got numb and before you took to drilling out some of the bad tooth, I felt like I was being wrapped -- my mouth was being wrapped in a parachute, a bunch of plastic in there. What exactly was all that plastic in my mouth?
Dr. John Chao: You mean an intellectually inquisitive person like you didn't even ask why you had the rubber sheet over your tooth. {You were out of it}.
Salvador Gaytan: At the time, I didn't care. I just said whatever they got to do, they're going to do, right, but now I'm thinking back on it, it was a stretchy rubber stuff that was put in my mouth, all four corners, and I thought, "Well, okay whatever, maybe it's this, that." So, what exactly was all that, that stretchy rubber stuff that you had to put in my mouth?
Dr. John Chao: Okay. This is a favorite device of mine and many dentists use that regularly. It's called a rubber dam. It's a square sheet of rubber. Basically we punch holes in the sheet of rubber at intervals and size that reflects the teeth that we're working on.
So, on your teeth we punched the holes that would fit the lower left side of your mouth, those eight teeth over there. And then we fit the holes onto the teeth, and then we put a clamp over the tooth that will hold the rubber dam sheet down.
Then we fit it into all the teeth and then we stretched it out. Then we put a U shaped metal frame that would catch the edges of this rubber sheet. In doing that, we have stretched out the cheek, we have isolated those teeth, and that the rubber dam then also keeps your tongue away, and nothing will fall into the back of the throat.
Salvador Gaytan: You can't take a little nibble out of the tongue while you're drilling the tooth, right? Now, that wouldn't be good.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, well there are different ways to do it, but this is a sure way. You don't worry about where the tongue is. You don't have to worry about pulling your cheek away. So, everything is totally isolated, and that protects the patient as well as keeping things from getting inside.
Now, when I work on a deep cavity, I don't like that area to be contaminated, especially if there is a chance we actually have to enter the pop chamber where the nerve is. So, keeping the feel of the surgery, the feel of operation isolated, we can have control over the environment and we can literally keep it sterile with these infections and so on.
So, it makes it a lot easier to work. Now, let me ask you a question. How did I work on you? Did I just look at the tooth with my naked eye and start drilling on your tooth or did I use something else?
Salvador Gaytan: Actually you used a high powered microscope.
Dr. John Chao: That's right, not just magnifying glasses. For everything we do, that I can possibly do, I use the microscope.
Salvador Gaytan: Not all dentists have a high power microscope, do they?
Dr. John Chao: No, it's a small percentage of us who regularly use that. The dentists who use it most often were the -- the large numbers of them who use it, are the endodontists, the ones who do root canal treatment. Most of the endodontists have microscopes, general practitioners have microscopes, but they are not that many, and I've been using it for the last, what, 13 years. I drew everything with it.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, I would personally not go to a dentist that didn't have the high powered microscope, knowing what I know now. Because I kind of wondered, it's been so long since I've had -- and I'm thinking like, "How is he going to really see in there?" Then when you pulled down the microscope, I realized, okay.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. Well, the microscope, it's not only just a microscope that magnifies, but it has a source of powerful light. To look at the tooth, it's like looking at something under the bright sunshine at noon time.
It's very, very bright and it's magnified, and so I can see exactly where the decay is. I don't have to remove any tooth structure that I don't have to, and I can know how deep I'm going. It's so bright, I can see when I'm getting close to the nerve. I don't have to actually go there.
So, it's much more accurate, so it saves tooth structure, and I can refine the preparation of the tooth to such a degree that putting in the filling or the inlay and so on would be a lot easier, and we end up with a product that's precise and well fitted.
Salvador Gaytan: And for anyone just tuning in, you're listening to SmileTalk. I'm Salvador Gaytan here with Dr. John Chao, spelled C-H-A-O. If you'd like to visit Dr. Chao, if you have a wedding, a graduation, a reunion, if you have some situation that you need your teeth fixed now, in my opinion he's one of the best of the best.
Or like Dr. John Chao says, if you have just normal needs, you can call him for an appointment, 626-308-9104, or you can go to his website AlhambraDental.com. If you click on the link "Non-surgical solutions," you can also see incredible before and after photos of patients.
Dr. John Chao: I'd love to have you come in and meet you, but talking about the website, we put a lot of time and effort into the website. We have a lot of subject material there that you would enjoy perusing, a lot of interesting stuff in there. So, when you have a chance, go through it and see whether you like it or not, and then email us a comment or call us. We would love to hear from you.
Salvador Gaytan: Especially the photos is what I find -- I mean people love pictures. The before and the after photos of things you've done for people is unbelievable.
Dr. John Chao: And we're always changing it, so we're just constantly in a state of flux. It drives my staff crazy.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, you are someone who is in the pursuit of perfection and I like that.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, to make it interesting, which is why we put the rubber dam on. Then I don't have to worry about retracting your cheek away, keeping your tongue away. I can just look at the tooth and work on it.
Salvador Gaytan: Now, Dr. John, we have some questions that some people have emailed in, and we haven't had a chance to get to, but let's get to one.
Dr. John Chao: Okay, we'll come back to your case, because we're not finished with you yet.
Salvador Gaytan: Okay. Let's get to a question here, which I find interesting, this is from Reggie. He says, "Dr. John, why is it that when humans lose teeth and they don't grow back, yet when sharks lose teeth, their teeth do grow back?"
Dr. John Chao: Well, I think it depends on your philosophical background. Sharks, it's true, sharks do grow new teeth. That's a matter of survival for them, they have to do that. Why we cannot grow new teeth, I don't know. It could be evolutionary; it could be just that we were not created to have a second set. We can survive with only one set, whereas the sharks, if they don't have sharp teeth, they are in trouble.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, plus what I don't get too is, we have to floss, we have to take care of our gums, so why don't all the teeth in a shark just fall out, because their gums rot?
Dr. John Chao: Well, they live in a different environment, a salty watery environment. They're water-picking their teeth all day long with salt water.
Salvador Gaytan: I never thought about that.
Dr. John Chao: Okay? So, they don't have gum disease, and if they do, they just grow new teeth. Now, I do want to mention that it's not far into the future, dentists will be growing new teeth from stem cells.
There is research currently going on at USC School of Dentistry and maybe some other dental research centers, that are actually working on this problem, how we can grow new teeth, like sharks do. In fact, remember we talked to a researcher from USC Dental School, and we'll talk about that.
Salvador Gaytan: We'll talk a little bit more about that on the other side of the break. You've been listening to SmileTalk, and if you'd like to see Dr. John Chao, spelled C-H-A-O, you can go to his website AlhambraDental.com or 626-308-9104.
[Commercial Break]
Salvador Gaytan: And we're back! You've been listening to SmileTalk. I'm Salvador Gaytan, here with Dr. John Chao, spelled C-H-A-O. And on the other side of the break, we were talking about my personal treatment, and the things that Dr. John Chao had done for me.
Dr. John Chao: We were talking about sharks and you, you and sharks.
Salvador Gaytan: We were talking about sharks. I'm not a shark, but for our listeners, we hope this show has given you information that you can use, if you have a dentist that you're happy with, but if you're not or you have situations that you think is hopeless, maybe you've been in an accident, maybe you've just had years of not going to the dentist, because you've been afraid.
Dr. John Chao, he's the man to see if you have some fears or you have a situation that you find hopeless. I'm telling you, I don't care if you're 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes away from Alhambra, it's worth every minute of the drive, because he is in the business of changing lives. He's dedicated to doing that.
You can contact Dr. John Chao at 626-308-9104 or go to his website, AlhambraDental.com and you can see a lot of before and after photos, absolutely incredible. Okay, Dr. John, we were talking about my treatment and we're getting to the tail end. You've extracted the decay; I've had the Novocain shots.
Dr. John Chao: Let's not say extract, extract means pulling teeth.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right. You didn't extract, you just removed.
Dr. John Chao: Removed decay.
Salvador Gaytan: Gently removed. We talked about the plastic separators that you put.
Dr. John Chao: The rubber dam.
Salvador Gaytan: The rubber dam. And now we get to the point where…
Dr. John Chao: And we used a microscope.
Salvador Gaytan: You used a high powered microscope which was fantastic, and you actually took a photo, enlarged photo of the spot of decay and I saw it with my own eyes.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. Well, I took a picture of it, and I put it on the large screen.
Salvador Gaytan: Right in front of me.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. The screen is 31 inch. Is it a 31 inch or 30 inch monitor?
Salvador Gaytan: I think it's 31.
Dr. John Chao: 31. It's the biggest monitor you can get. So, your tooth was blown up on this 31 inch monitor with the cavities sitting in the middle of the screen. So, that convinced you that you got a cavity.
Salvador Gaytan: That convinced me. I knew that I did, because I completely trust you, but in my mind, I wanted to see it. I wanted to see that little sucker that gave me -- so, it was small little spot, and you got it out.
So, now we get to the second portion. I have obviously a space in the tooth, because you've removed some of it. So, then you had to fill it temporarily with something, because I'm not getting a filling, I'm getting an inlay.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. You're getting an inlay. Your cavity was on the side of the tooth, adjacent to the next tooth. It's between the teeth. We call that proximal caries or you have inter-proximal decay. So, you have something that's between the teeth.
In order to get to it, we have to go from the top down, and you have a filling also on the top surface of your lower tooth, so we had to include that. So, actually we ended up with an L shaped cavity preparation.
What you saw was that we actually had to drill your teeth into an L shaped cavity. Then the decision, before we did it was, are we going to do a plastic or composite filling, or are we going to do something hard that's longer lasting, such as a porcelain filling?
We could also have considered a gold filling, and gold filling actually would have been the best. But nobody likes gold and you didn't like gold. In fact, I remember I offered that to you.
Salvador Gaytan: That's correct.
Dr. John Chao: Actually I like gold. Gold will never break. Porcelain is more like enamel. If you're not careful, it can break. And composite fillings can break and breakdown. So, we have three choices. Why did we pick porcelain?
Now, composite filling is a plastic filling. It's filled in with some ceramics. It's pretty strong, but for larger cavities, such as what you had, especially between the teeth, it doesn't tend to work as well. It's hard to make it really, really seal well when it's between the teeth. We still do, but it does wear down, it does break down, because it's still basically plastic.
Now, gold, if we fit it well and do it well, then it's going to -- it's something for the long term. But because of the color of the metal, then we decided to use porcelain.
Now, porcelain then is a laboratory procedure. My technician has to make it for you, but he cannot make it in the mouth and put your mouth in the oven and bake porcelain, so we have to take an impression.
So, we took out the rubber dam, and then we took an impression of your teeth. Then once we've done that, then we went ahead and put a temporary filling onto the cavity.
Salvador Gaytan: Until the porcelain…
Dr. John Chao: Is done.
Salvador Gaytan: Is done, which then I -- in fact I'm going to be coming back in a couple of weeks, and then you take out the temporary filling and you put in the permanent porcelain.
Dr. John Chao: Right. Then the rubber dam goes back on, we isolate everything, we sterilize everything, clean everything, fit it well, and if there's any changes to be made, we actually make it right on the spot. I'll have my technician, who works only with me, make the changes.
Salvador Gaytan: Fantastic.
Dr. John Chao: And then we'll talk about that, how I work with my technician to get the job done for you.
Salvador Gaytan: And you're listening to SmileTalk, and you can contact Dr. John Chao, spelled C-H-A-O at AlhambraDental.com or 626-308-9104.
[Commercial Break]
Salvador Gaytan: And we're back. You've been listening to SmileTalk. I'm Salvador Gaytan here with Dr. John Chao, spelled C-H-A-O. We're going to get back to finishing up the last part of what my treatment is about, what happened.
I guess I was a little bit of a bad boy, I had a cavity. So, we're going to get to the final stage of that. But for anyone listening, if you have a difficult problem with your teeth, if you're feeling hopeless, you're not smiling as much as you would like to, and you think it's affecting you, maybe you're losing some sleep, like some of Dr. Chao's previous patients, come in and see him.
He has a solution for you. He is incredible at what he does, one of the absolute best of the best. You can contact Dr. John for an appointment at 626-308-9104 or go to AlhambraDental.com. You can click on different links, you can see before and after photos. I guess I'm so passionate about what Dr. Chao can do, because I'm a patient and I have no fears. I'm not a chicken Dr. John.
Dr. John Chao: No, you're not anymore.
Salvador Gaytan: I've had the shots. I've had a couple of cavities over my lifetime, and it's truthfully no big deal.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. Actually you mentioned that you are a bad boy. You haven't been a bad boy. You have very few cavities. You are very, very conscientious in taking care of your teeth, but anybody can get a cavity.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, it is true. I guess I just feel like I should have gotten every nook and cranny. Before we get to the last little segment, I'll tell you a little story about how good you've trained me, you and your staff. I took my niece and one of her friends to a Toby Keith concert recently here at Universal Studios a couple of weeks ago.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, I heard you went, yeah. Now, Toby Keith, he's a country music superstar, right?
Salvador Gaytan: Exactly. Big concert, so we went to -- we had dinner beforehand, and then we went to the concert. We sat down, there was a few opening acts beforehand. So, I went to the men's room. I had my toothbrush, my floss, my toothpaste in a little plastic baggy.
So, I brushed my teeth, and I was at the end flossing. This guy, right in the men's -- all kinds of people in there, and this guy is washing hands next to me, he is kind of looking, looking. I was feeling a little self conscious, but I said, "You know what. I fear having another cavity more than I do people looking at me."
So, I was flossing. He looked at me, he says, "Man, you know what, I have to commend you. I have never seen anybody flossing their teeth in a public restroom." I said, "Well, I'm psychotic." He says, "Well, you know what, there could be a lot worse things to be psychotic about."
Dr. John Chao: Did you ask him whether he's a dentist?
Salvador Gaytan: No, he's just a regular person. He was just like, "Man, that's good stuff."
Dr. John Chao: I expect if he was a dentist, he would make a good comment about you.
Salvador Gaytan: No, he's just a normal guy. So, I mean everyone's looking, but I tell you what, you've trained me, "Listen, you have to brush and floss, especially to get those food particles out." But anyway, we got to hustle. In fact, we might have to pick this up a little bit on our next show, but the last little bit I have on my procedure having this cavity fixed, I'm going to have an inlay done that you're going to have to put in, in a few weeks.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. I do all my work with two technicians. Dentures and so on, I do with one technician, and all the crown and bridge, everything else, veneers, inlays, I do with another technician, who is very, very well trained.
Technicians have to go to two years of school. Then this particular technician actually went another two years at UCLA. So, he does all my work, and so we don't send our work to commercial laboratories, where there's number of people working on the same thing.
We talked once about that before. So, this way, being -- I'm a dental control freak, I can control every element of what I do, from beginning to end, because this technician is under my supervision in doing the work. So, you will get a great piece of dental {work} made just for you.
Salvador Gaytan: I love it! That's why I drive an hour to see you, Dr. John. Well, we're coming to the last few seconds of our show, and if you're someone out there that has a problem, you think it's hopeless, call, see Dr. John, schedule an appointment. That's Dr. John Chao, C-H-A-O, 626-308-9104 or AlhambraDental.com.
Dr. John Chao: I would love to meet you in person.
Salvador Gaytan: See you next week.
Dr. John Chao: Bye.
[END OF AUDIO]
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