My New Dentist…

My newest dentist is my third dentist and of course he is…an Osteopathic Dentist.  What?, I never heard of that kind of a dentist, you say.  I knew about him but never had occasion.  I generally don’t drink soda, don’t eat sweets, brush and floss twice daily.  As with medicine, for my dental health I am a minimalist.  If you make generally healthy decisions, you, too, do not need to be a consumer.  In my last post, I warned you to stay away from all of us.  Do not trust anyone who has a vested interest in doing something to you.  Now come on, vision check once per year?  Dental cleaning twice yearly?  Xrays yearly? With every new dentist?

When I first met my husband, he told my that a he had a bridge.  My first reaction was, “What’s a (dental) bridge?  Isn’t that for old people?”   He got it when he was a teenager, when his parents paid for it.  Since then, he has been a very good and compliant patient.  Subsequently, he had another procedure called ‘root planing.’  What???  I think my husband is too nice, too trusting.  One of his good friends became a dental hygienist and checked him and sadly informed him that he had an unnecessary procedure.  I love my in-laws and now I have a sneaking suspicion that they too are too trusting.

Here is my dental issue.  I have a back molar that has been hollowed out  and filled with ceramic filling.  Originally, I had an amalgam filling.  As a younger adult, a disreputable dentist convinced me to replace it.  To remove it, she had to carve out more, so now it has been described as a coconut.  My first dentist uncovered this fact because one day I was chewing and I grated on something, it was parts of the ceramic filling.  Three years prior this dentist removed all of my wisdom teeth.  One had a hooked root and it took him extra work to get it out.  All that work threw off the balance of my jaw and tightened up the muscles on that side.  So for  three whole years the pressures of my bite on that side slowly wore it down.  Recheck this post in another month or two, I hope to have my jaw photos before and after.  So this dentist wanted to do a crown.  My first response is “What’s a crown?  Isn’t that for old people?” Fortunately, I was pregnant at the time and he repaired the filling thinking I was okay with his plan to do something preemptively after I delivered.  Found my second dentist and he wanted to do the same thing.  This is a cash procedure.  Why can’t I wait until the coconut cracks and then deal with it?   Some really honest people/dentist would say, well, we can preserve the tooth and save you a whole lot of pain, infection and rotting if we put in a gold crown  in the future.  I say, I’m a DO I already have figured out what my face, jaw and clenching pressures are and the cause.  I have treated the cause.  If the temporary filling is strong and intact, then why not wait until it crumbles?

So I make an appointment for my third dentist, whom I am hoping will agree with me.  At this point I have become a ‘dentist shopper.’  I admit it.  I find Dr. Workman in Arcadia.  Honest.  Honest.  Honest.  He does somethings the others did not do.  He wanted an xray.  I was pregnant and we agreed NO.  He agrees and says it is okay to wait on the crown.  I have a few very small cavities, which I should eventually do, but no rush.  Then when I thought he was going to farm me out to a hygienist, he doesn’t and does the it himself! 

People, with this little story, I hope to share with you my minimalist thought process.  Stay away from all of us as much as possible.  Doctors, dentists, podiatrists, chiropractors…But then you protest, “Dr. Hoang, what are we to do if our children have small mouths and teeth are crowded, what are we to do?  What if my husband wakes up with pain in his feet and can barely walk.  How does he work?”  True.  By this time it is a little too late.  The time for prevention is long past.  The best teeth can be formed when a palate is expanded when a child is breastfed and fed a diet of foods free of processing.  Painful feet and ‘plantar fasciitis’ is always a  distal manifestation of a proximal problem.  Should have been treated by a traditional osteopathic physician, read my prior post Plantar Fasciitis is Not Plantar Fasciitis.  You will know if we can be trusted because, you should see sustained lasting results so that as you get better, you will need us less.  With what other professional will you ever see this?

Do We Really Need…?

Arch supports, orthotics, night guards?  the answer is No.  We need to ask why a person should need an external appliances to live, to function.  The answer is that a mechanically strained biological system will manifest some sort of pain.  The only problem is that the CMS, read my prior post conventional medical system, will address that pain with biochemistry, yes, pills.  No medical system, no medical professional outside of the traditional osteopaths offers direct reduction of physical traumatically acquired strains.  Going back to Our Most Natural State, there should be very little that we need.

From my prior posts like Do We Really Need Probiotics?, Whatever You Do, Don’t Do This!, Massage for Infants and Children,  Cracking is Bad, Ligamentous Laxity, and Psuedotumor, we can see a common thread…I wrote these posts to warn people…Do not trust your health to people who have a vested interest in doing something to you, especially if you will be irreparably altered/scarred.  Always get a second opinion.  A second opinion from another physician, perhaps a either an MD or DO will help you decide.  Stay away from doctors, podiatrists, chiropractors, massage therapists. 

Another aspect and common thread of my posts is that minimalists spartan immigrant make do with what you are given, using common sense, just because it can be done, doesn’t mean that it should be done mentality.  You can be self reliant.  Trust your instincts.  What is offered to you, does it seem natural and will it help you or your child return to Our Most Natural State?

Another Spectacular Knee Case

This is Ron.  He has had 5 knee surgeries – this first one was for a torn ACL, the subsequents surgeries for “scraping” of inflammation.  Pretty good job if I do say so myself.  Note the improvement of the swelling occurred within 1 hour in the first set of photos.  In the second set, Ron had problems straightening the leg.  In the after photo, the back of the knee actually touches down into my hand.  I must say the knee was fairly easy.  His herniated and degenerated disc is another problem.  We will continue to address his disc issue in the next 2-3 visits.

Medicine Juice

My two year old has been on a sippy cup since 10months of age.  Most of the time it is filled with water.  Once when she was constipated, I did fill it up with diluted apple juice.   This was what was taught to me by my pediatric attending physicians at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital.  Somehow, looking at it, it seemed wrong.  My frugal spartan 3rd world vietnamese immigrant instinctual struggle to survive mentality would end up usurping and superseding the first world educated doctor .   If I gave this to my little girl, she would soon think that this was going to be the normal.  So I came up a super brilliant idea…I would give her whole apple juice in a medicine cup.  I call it Medicine Juice which is exactly what it is.  This way when she is not constipated  and I want to treat her or distract her I offer her juice.  Guess what?  She automatically thinks that 5ml or 1 teaspoon of  juice is normal!  When we go shopping at Trader Joe’s she thinks it is such a treat. She gets 2 teaspoons of juice!  She eyes that little paper cup of juice and she is absolutely gleeful that momma is gonna let her have all that juice…Hee-hee-hee.  I think that if mommies are creative there are so many ways to figure things out for children.  What they don’t know, they will never miss.  Right?

Mommies, be intuitive.  Listen to your instincts.  If whatever you do removes you and your family from Our Most Natural State then it might not be right.  Ask yourself if you and your child would survive out in the wild.  Would you be able to hunt, gather and evade predators?  That leads me back to my prior post Massages for Infants and Children and in a future post/rant on Signing, Pacifiers and other observations.

Milk…Does It a Body Good?

When I was training for pediatrics, I was just told the party line according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 12 to 16 oz of whole cow’s milk after weaning breastmilk or formula at 1 year of age.  For a long time, I too thought that it was good.  I have started to change my mind…

It all started somewhere in early 2002.  I was working for another doctor.  He worked me like a dog and had me seeing about 40-60 patients a day.  One day, as busy and rushed as I was, I saw a kid that was wheezing.  The mother said that once he started coughing, she stopped the milk immediately.  Say what?  Come again?  Why?  Oh, the mother noticed that her whole family of asthmatics whenever they got that cough, she would stop dairy.  What? Didn’t I as a physician know that?  No.  It was never taught to me.  I never read it anywhere.  The mother seemed coherent, sincere and credible.  What was the truth?  I returned to my books and did some literature search.  Few astute pediatricians did suspect some problems with milk.  Most just towed the party line and did not think for themselves.

This seemed a lifetime ago.  Since then I have tried many different alternatives to cow’s milk.  I’v been there and done that.  Goat’s milk, soy milk, rice milk and almond milk.  Organic cow’s milk and, yes, raw cow’s milk.  If you are confused about all these options for you, your family and your child, welcome, my people.  Come in and I will share with you how I arrived at my current understanding of milk…does it a body good?

I have reached several conclusions…cow’s milk casein is a horribly allergenic protein.  In all my patients from families with allergy, asthma or eczema I eliminate dairy completely.  It is responsible for a lot of problems.  We were never meant to ingest the milk of another mammal.  It is wrong.  This does not occur in nature.  We Homo sapiens are mammals. We have boobies to feed our young.  The only animal that should be ingesting cow’s milk is a baby cow.  Species should not intermingle.  As for soy and nut milk, let me just say that  we were never designed to ingest liquid protein.  Why else do we have canines?  We need to return to our most natural state, hunting and gathering, ruminating on vegetables, killing an occasional animal and drinking water.

My Bunion and Foot Update

I need to tell you what has been going on with my foot, the one with the big fat bunion.  All these years, I never put it together.  I thought the right foot was smaller, and I never noticed it before, I attributed it to being the shorter leg from a smaller pelvis secondary to my scoliosis.  Since the last update about my Big Fat Bunion, I was amazed and suprised myself by how great the whole foot felt.  These last 2 weeks has been very busy.  I’ve been on my feet running around.  Every night now for the last 3-4 days, at the end of the day, the whole right foot feels bigger.  I think that the foot size is actually changing.  You skeptics out there may exclaim, “you dingbat. everybody’s feet feel swollen and bigger at the end of the day.”  No, you don’t understand.   It is just the right foot.  The left foot feels relatively fine.   They whole leg and right hip feel different.  This is what happens when an old, old, old strain is removed.  Changes happen in the body and people feel the difference even way later.  My problem seems to be the exact thing going on with Kris…at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LflCpFLXeCA

What is Wrong with this Picture of Paris Hilton?

By now I have an itchy trigger finger on my camera.  I guess any unusual patient walking in I should snap.  Let me tell you, I have quite a collection.  A couple of years ago, I was so excited when I first purchased this little camera.  I had accumulated enough head photos to comprise a talk about cranial osteopathic manipulative treatments in infants and children.  I was invited by the new program director at my alma mater, Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital to show my before and after photos and talk about cranial OMT.  It did not go well.  I was in a room full of  sharks, all MDs.  One skeptical MD actually accused me of ‘doctoring’ the photos.  This was a dreadful but necessary experience (someday, I will blog all about it).  I will no longer try to convince anyone, moms, MDs who are not willing to listen.  It was after this talk that I decided that I would show my collection and share it with  people who are interested.  I thought hmmm…maybe I should do a powerpoint presentation with celebrity photos.  Everyone can recognized celebrities.  My husband suggested that I shouldn’t do this because these women in the industry tend to have low self esteem to begin with, I would just be loading up, focusing on and identifying an area for them to obsess on and then attempt to ‘fix.’

Haven’t you ever wondered why celebrities, mostly the women,  pose with a preference for one side?  Well that is because they have some form of facial asymmetry caused by cranial strains.  See this…I hate to pick on this poor girl but…she is a classic example of a cranial strain we call a sidebending rotation.  See the eye?  I know you people are there, those of you who have thought and even said aloud, “What is wrong with Paris Hilton’s left eye.  People and yes, even you Paris, this can be treated.

Welcome My People!

The other day a new couple came in and wanted to meet with me and chat.  They wanted to see if we would be what they were looking for in a pediatrician.  Mom was still nursing her child at 18months.  Yeah! Good for you mom!  Her child had already received shots and they now want to slow it down.  I said OK.  They mentioned a couple of other words and were waiting expectantly to see my response.  Breastfeeding. Homeopathy.  Delaying vaccines.  Raw milk.  Goats milk.  Grass fed beef.  We don’t like soy. etc.  I guess they were expecting me to roll my eyeballs and tell them to move on.  I started talking about traditional foods and western versus eastern foods. Diet and lifestyle.  They are trying to do everything right and still the child has some issues with a rash.  That is where I come in.  There are a few facts they miss.  The clinical experience of a pediatrician is something they lack.

To them, this I say, ‘Welcome, my people.”

Why Do We Need Probiotics?

The answer is that we don’t.  We shouldn’t.  A probiotic is an oral supplement that helps replenish the intestinal balance of bacteria (as opposed to an antibiotic which kills off infections elsewhere in your body as well as the good bacteria in your gut).  As a fetus, floating in the sterile environment of the amniotic sac, our gut has neither air nor bacteria.  Within minutes of a vaginal delivery, the infant aerates the gut and ingests and acquire maternal flora. 

Natural gut flora has billions and billions of different species of bacteria, very much like different species of coral on a reef.  You want variety and balance.  It does not make sense to me why we should take antiobiotics that kill off our naturally occuring flora, and then take billions of the same species in a pill form.  Alright people.  The next time to go to Whole Paycheck and shell out good money please read the label..most of the time there is only one species of Lactobacillus.  Hello!  Guess what?  You’ve been had.  Lactobacillus is so common, mostly in…yougurt.  They have done a Martha Stewart on you.  Repackaged, renamed and sold for a hoity-toity price.  “So, Dr. Hoang,” you say, “is there an even more natural way to balance your gut after antiobiotics or a stomach flu?”  Yes, of course.  There is always a cheaper, more natural, more traditional way of doing things… 

Whenever I come across Asian patients, kids, who were chronically sick most of the time, they had become “Americanized” and easily adapted to the western diet.  I would prohibit dairy, which is very western.  I would admonish parents to return  “to the foods of the your people.’  Grandparents really love me whenever I say stuff like this.  Most Asian cultures primarily drink water.  We do not consume a good portion of our daily protein and calories in a drink form.  All Asian cultures and most other cultures have some sort of pickled vegetable.  The vietnamese, we have pickled radishes, eggplant, soy sauce, fish sauce, lots of pickled and fermented shrimp paste, etc.  These foods are foul to and offends the Western nostrils, but I love them.  I think the traditionally high rates of vaginal deliveries and our fermented foods keeps vietnamese children healthy.  We should not need the rotavirus vaccine.   If you can’t find a vietnamese store, the next time you need to replenish your gut, don’t even bother with yougurt (too simple!).  Try something more complex.  I love the varieties of Korean kimchi, or pickled cabbage.

Eureka!

There’s gold in them thar hills!  I think I discovered it!  What? What? you say, all three of you who are following this…I am so excited.  I am so close to answer for both migraine causes and…scoliosis cure.  I don’t know for sure so I don’t think I should say too much…the next few months should bear out my thinking and I will be able to post.  Hold on to your seats…