Sarah Luetke, founder and CEO Sound Dental Care, joins Suzanne to talk about geriatric dental health. Sarah has worked in dentistry for over 20 years, for some time in Bainbridge, a very affluent community as a dental hygienist for a group practice dentist. Patients had the ability to pay for dental care that could keep up on their dental health. She has also had the opportunity to work in farm communities in Montana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota where people don't have the finances to do everything to restore their teeth. She saw patients being offered amazing dental care services. And in America, we are aging people with teeth. Previous generations had teeth pulled and maybe had dentures. Now we have much better technology, but it can be expensive.

If you're having tooth pain and you can't afford traditional dentistry, or you can't get into the dental office even if you have the money, it's a big problem. So as a hygienist, Sarah's goal has been advocating for health and educating her patients. 

Seniors may not necessarily do as good a job with their dental care. They're perhaps not eating as many crunchy items, things that can help break down things, and instead eating softer foods. For Alzheimer's patients, the action of chewing and masticating food actually helps the brain and function. 

In our next segment, Sarah and Suzanne talk about advances in geriatric dental health. Learn more at https://www.sounddentalcare.com/ or call 206-745-3808.

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