Why Menopause Is Aging Your Teeth, Gums & Sleep (Dentist Explains) | Dr Carlos Melendez | #144

**Dr. Vonda Wright** (0:00)
One in four women during menopause will lose a tooth, unexpected. But that's not all. It's also about our sleep. Sleep-disordered breathing rises sharply after menopause.

**Dr. Carlos Melendez** (0:12)
When you fall asleep, the muscle tone relaxes, jaw falls back, the tongue falls back, and that start narrowing the awake. Let's do a test. Try to make the snoring sound.

**Dr. Vonda Wright** (0:21)
Oh, I can make it.

**Dr. Carlos Melendez** (0:23)
Now move your jaw forward and try to do it.

**Dr. Vonda Wright** (0:25)
Oh, you can't do it.

**Dr. Carlos Melendez** (0:26)
You can do it. There's two ways of test for sleep apnea. The husband is one of them, right? Because that will tell you, you're snoring.

**Dr. Vonda Wright** (0:33)
You're snoring for the first time in your life. If we knew the language of our oral cavity, we would be able to say, oh my God, something's happening. Let's go find an expert.

**Dr. Carlos Melendez** (0:42)
You have to check your sleep because if you have fragmented sleep and you don't go through deep sleep, that is the recovery stage, then you start affecting your system. And what happens is that...

**Dr. Vonda Wright** (0:55)
Hey everybody, I have some really shocking data that I only came to know recently. You know, I've been on this deep dive becoming an expert in midlife and perimenopause and menopause. But one of the last things that I learned were some of these statistics. Postmenopausal women are significantly more likely to develop periodontal disease. Up to 50% more compared to premenopausal. Guess what that's from? Up to 60% of menopausal women report zero stoma or dry mouth. And it's not just being nervous, right? Women with osteoporosis, we talk about osteoporosis all the time, are likely to experience tooth loss. What? In fact, as I did a deeper dive, one in four women during menopause will lose a tooth, unexpected. But that's not all, right? Because it's not only about our teeth and our smile and our chewing, it's also about our sleep, right? And so these are shocking. Sleep disordered breathing, including sleep apnea, rises sharply after menopause. And to top it all off, chronic gum inflammation is associated with all the other systemic inflammation that we experience. I mean, somehow chronic gum inflammation is associated with the frozen shoulders you come into me with through the link of inflammation. So I was thinking about all this. And then I was laying in my dentist chair, because I do go relatively every six months to get these teeth taken care of. And so I'm laying there thinking, oh my god, I've got to ask Dr Melendez about this. So today, on HOT for Your Health, I have my own dentist, Dr Carlos Melendez, who is the owner of Nona's Smiles. If you've never been, you need to go, because it's like the most posh luxury dental experience I've ever had. In fact, I sent my daughter, who's now 18, and she can come see you now to your office for the first time versus her pediatric dentist, and she's like, Mom, Mom, there was a menu. I could get a blanket and I could get an eye. It really, so thank you for making what can be a terrifying experience, right? Because most people are nervous to go to the dentist. Really calm and luxurious.
But, Dr. Melendez, I want to jump right in and first start with helping people understand, when we talk about dental health, I think the first thing that pops into our heads are things like cavities or root canals or...

**Dr. Carlos Melendez** (3:52)
Or deep cleanings.

**Dr. Vonda Wright** (3:53)
Deep cleanings that hurt.

**Dr. Carlos Melendez** (3:55)
Everybody talks about deep cleanings, yes.

**Dr. Vonda Wright** (3:56)
But the reality is, oral health is much bigger than that.

**Dr. Carlos Melendez** (4:00)
Yes.

**Dr. Vonda Wright** (4:01)
Especially for midlife women.

**Dr. Carlos Melendez** (4:03)
Correct.

**Dr. Vonda Wright** (4:03)
Can you go down that pathway for us?

**Dr. Carlos Melendez** (4:05)
Absolutely. First of all, part of my slogan at the office is like, we don't treat people's teeth. We treat people with teeth. So it's like the whole thing. And listening to you talking about the reality of like sleep breathing disorders, gum disease, and not recovering properly, it's all together. It's all tied up together. So when it comes first to oral health, yes, you have to go to your dentist every six months. Why? Because we have to make sure that we don't have any plaque accumulation or build up with lees to just gum disease. But now we have to start putting together what comes first. And when you have your menopause or perimenopause patients, there's some signs and things that you should start noticing that should raise a flag and probably to just go to the dentist. Let's talk about different things first.