Your Last Meal or Every Meal?
What would you pick for your last meal?
Not THAT last meal; the last meal before having oral surgery!
Dr. Toler recommends hydrating your body starting the day before surgery by drinking ½ your body weight in ounces of H2O. So, if you weigh 150 pounds, she suggests drinking 75 ounces of water prior to surgery. And, it’s ok to have a meal prior to your appointment, advising that eating whole fruits and vegetables is always recommended.
Now, if you interpreted the instructions as “I need to treat myself big-time since I’ll be eating more gingerly over the next few days” you’re wrong, and your dental team will be able to tell! When we draw your blood and spin the test tube separating the platelets from the red blood cells, we can see if there is a high amount of fat in your blood. This can be from that “last meal” or evidence of a chronically poor diet.
A cloudy, opaque appearance of the platelet layer in the test tube are from lipid (fat) particles in the blood. This is an indication of high triglyceride levels or triglyceridemia. Elevated triglycerides may contribute to pancreatitis and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) increasing your risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke. There is also an association with high triglyceride levels and insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
655,000 people die in the US every year from heart disease. That’s one person every 36 seconds! If we see evidence of high triglycerides in your PRP test tube, whether it was from one meal or most meals, we will have some information on what you can do to reduce your risk of having a cardiovascular event in the future. Both Dr. Toler and our hygienist Kristen are certified Bale Doneen Method providers. Drs. Bradley Bale and Amy Doneen provide an evidence-based, precision-medicine approach that can halt, stabilize or even reverse CVD, helping patients avoid heart attacks or strokes, even if they’ve already suffered one or more of these events.