5 Tips to Prevent Heart Attack | Dr. Gina Pritchard

Heart attacks are optional. You can take control of your heart health. I'm Dr Gina Pritchard, founder and director of The Prevent Clinic, specializing in cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment. Here are tips that can help lead you to a heart healthy life.

00:18 The Importance of Early Screening
Number one. Two in three women over the age of forty-five have cardiovascular disease and many don't know it until it's too late. Ask for heart disease screening tests early before the age of forty-five.

00:33 Oral Health and Heart Disease
Number two. 50% of heart attacks occur from an oral health issue. Your dental hygienist may very well save your life. Maintaining good oral hygiene is not just about a killer smile. It's also about keeping your heart happy.

00:49 The Power of Vitamins K2 and D3
Number three. Vitamin K2 and D3 combined, whether in food or taken as a supplement or some of both, decreases your risk of cardiovascular disease. Vitamin K2 is found in fatty meat, fermented food, and high-fat cheeses.

019 Breathing Technique for Heart Health
Number four. High-quality oxygen. Breathe through your nose rather than your mouth. If you can't breathe well through your nose, consider using nasal strips which you wear outside of your nose. This helps widen the nasal passages.

01:25 Protein: The Building Block of Heart Health
Number five. Eat more protein. Protein and the amino acids in protein are essential to build and maintain muscle. The heart is a muscle that also needs plenty of protein for strength. I recommend eating one gram of protein per pound of your ideal body weight per day. Get your protein from real food, such as meat, eggs, fish, and maybe dairy if you tolerate dairy well.

01:52 Taking Control of Your Heart Health
You have the power to take full control of your heart health, and possibly even reverse heart disease.

For more information, resources, and support on your heart health journey, visit Let's embark on this journey together

Heart Month: Urgent Wake-Up Call to Women | Dr. Gina Pritchard

February is American Heart Month. This is an urgent wake up call to women.

0: 02 The Silent Threat of Heart Disease
In the chaotic rhythm of our daily lives, we need to urgently draw our attention to a critical matter that can unfold during what should be just another ordinary day. We go through our usual morning routine of juggling family duties and work responsibilities while desperately reaching for that first cup of coffee.
And then you start to feel a bit out of sorts. Dismissing it as just another hectic day, you continue with your routine tasks, sitting down for a moment to catch your breath. However, what seems like a fleeting episode can turn into a shocking revelation. What is initially dismissed as indigestion or gas can turn out to be a heart attack.

0:51 Leading Cause of Death for Women
This is an urgent reminder that heart disease is the leading cause of death among American women. It's time to recognize the signs, prioritize your heart, and implore the women you care about to do the same.
Heart disease often presents subtle signs such as nausea, jaw tightness, dizziness, shortness of breath, muscle pain, achiness, and pressure in the chest. You need to pay immediate attention to these signals and seek medical help promptly.

1:23 Taking Action for Heart Health
Your heart's health demands your immediate attention and awareness is the first crucial step towards prevention. Act now by recognizing the signs of heart disease and taking immediate, proactive steps.

For critical information on prioritizing heart health, visit today.

The Spit Test: Protecting Your Heart | Dr. Gina Pritchard

00: 00 Importance of the Spit Test
00:16 The Five High-Risk Bacteria
01:14 How Bacteria Enters the Bloodstream
01:57 Link Between Bacteria and Heart Attacks
02:37 Preventing Heart Diseases by Eliminating Bacteria
03:22 The Need for The Spit Test

AA = Aggregatibacter Actinomycetemcomitans
PG = Porphyromonas Gingivalis
TF = Tannerella Forsythia
TD = Treponema Denticola
FN = Fusobacterium Nucleatum

For more information, resources, and support on your heart health journey, visit Let's embark on this journey together and prioritize our heart health for a vibrant and longer life.

If you want to avoid future diseases and future health problems, you need the spit test. You need to know if you have any of the five high-risk bacteria, germs, or pathogens living in your mouth. These five bacteria are AA, PG, TF, TD, and FN. We'll have the full names in the description below. These five bacteria specifically have been linked and contribute to heart attack, stroke, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, inflammatory diseases, bone loss, certainly dental implant failures and periodontal disease locally, and other systemic problems. They've even been tied to childbearing related issues.

So, even if you're younger, meaning of childbearing age and you're male or female, potential mother or father, you want to make sure you're tested for these bacteria and that you lower or even eliminate all five of these bacteria.

So, the bacteria get into the bloodstream. They live primarily in the mouth, up under the gums. We can collect them, as I said, in the saliva or in your spit, but there's at least five ways that they then travel to various parts of the body. For one, the mouth has a lot of blood vessels in it, and they can easily get into the blood stream, even if your teeth and gums and mouth are healthy, even if you don't have any bleeding or gum disease.

These bacteria can also get into the bloodstream because we swallow our spit or our saliva, and these bacteria get into our GI tract and then into the bloodstream. There's a variety of waves. Once it's in the bloodstream, studies have identified that they're active and alive, for example, at the site of a heart attack. Where the heart attack originates in the heart, these bacteria have been identified.

In fact, Dr Pesci and his research team identified these bacteria at the site of the heart attack back in before 2013. The American Heart Association came out with a paper in 2013 saying there's enough evidence that these pathogens are contributable to at least 50% of heart attacks.

So you want to have these bacteria tested, certainly if you're a child-bearing age, and most certainly if you're concerned at any age, but 40 or 45 and older and have a family history of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, all of those diseases are listed in the beginning, for prevention purposes, you want to know if these bacteria are in your mouth now because now, they can easily be eliminated by your dental team, the dentist, the dental hygienist, and working collaboratively with your nurse practitioner, your doctor, your MD, your DO. These teams can easily ensure that these pathogens are treated appropriately and don't come back.
This may be a test that you haven't had done: The Spit Test. Learn more today.

Heart Month: Urgent Call for Heart Disease Awareness | Dr. Gina Pritchard

February is American Heart Month. This is an urgent call for heart disease awareness.

0: 07 Experience with Heart Disease
The day kicked off just like any other day filled with the usual hustle and bustle. Looking back, I can recall feeling a bit more sweaty than usual, and there was definitely a lingering soreness. At the time, it was easy to dismiss.
Little did I know, these physical cues were signs of a heart attack. It's shocking how our bodies can send signals that we might overlook in the whirlwind of our daily routine. This seemingly ordinary discomfort turned out to be an urgent wake up call.

0:40 The Silent Threat of Heart Disease in Women
Heart disease is the number one cause of death for American women. I urge all women to pay heeded to the signals their bodies are sending.

0:56 The Power of Lifestyle Changes and Awareness
It's the small changes in our daily habits, regular checkups, and awareness of risk factors that can make a big difference. Commitment to a heart healthy lifestyle can be transformative.

18 Call to Action for Women's Heart Health
This is not just my story. It's a shared narrative among women from all walks of life. It's a rallying cry to confront the stark reality of heart disease and to empower women to make informed choices that saves lives.

For more information, resources, and support on your heart health journey, visit Let's embark on this journey together and prioritize our heart health for a vibrant and longer life.

Day 5 Recording.
Day 5 Recording

Day 4 Recording.
Day 4 Recording.

Day 3
Day 3 Recording.

February is American Heart Month | Dr. Gina Pritchard

The Importance of Heart Health
The American Heart Association's Essential Eight
Understanding Heart Disease in Women
Deep Dive into the Essential Eight
The Power of Personalized Testing
Protecting Our Hearts

For more information, resources, and support on your heart health journey, visit Let's embark on this journey together and prioritize our heart health for a vibrant and longer life.

It's February! Hooray! February is one of my favorite months, and one of the reasons it's one of my favorite months is because it's Heart Month. The American Heart Association designated February as American Heart Month.

And guess what? Heart disease is still the top killer. In fact, most years it's increased in the number of heart attacks and strokes and the number of deaths. Certainly, there's way more heart attacks, strokes, and deaths today than there were back in 1934 when The American Heart Association first designated February as Heart Month.

So, you know I tell you all the time that heart disease is preventable, that heart attacks and strokes are avoidable, they're optional, so to speak. Meaning there's so much we can do to protect ourselves. And I'm going to review that again today, and it is true. And we'll talk about why heart attack is still the top killer.

If we have a month dedicated to it and we know what to do, we'll talk more about that later. But I want to say that I wore my red heart earrings for today. I'll probably wear them a lot this month and I'll wear red a lot this month to increase our awareness of heart disease. And every time you see a red heart or you think about Valentine's, and you think about those you love, I want to think about your physical heart.

The American Heart Association has designated eight essential things, eight essential areas that if we focused on the data shows us we can reduce our risk of heart attack and stroke both by 80%.

First of all, it's to eat better. We know that. Secondly is to move more, be more active. Thirdly is to quit smoking, of course. Fourthly is to manage our weight. Fifthly is to manage blood sugar. Sixth is to manage blood pressure. And seventh is to control cholesterol. You know that I believe that's too broad of a focus. We can't ignore cholesterol, but I have a lot to say about that. It's one of the essential eight though according to The American Heart Association. Yes, it cannot be ignored. It's not the topic for today's video. Then number eight, and that's a new one actually. They, added the eighth one, I believe, two years ago. Before that, it was seven topics. And finally, The American Heart Association has rightfully added high quality sleep to the essential eight. We know that we need not only an adequate quantity or amount or length of time that we're asleep, we also need ideal oxygenation all night long. It means we need to breathe nice and slow and deep through our nose, inhaling high quality oxygen all night long. That's another topic for another day.

But I want to get back to the point that if we did these eight, we would prevent 80% of heart attacks and strokes, or reduce our risk by 80%. So, why is it that so many people still have heart attacks and still have strokes? And why is it that the number of heart attacks and strokes keep going up every year, and the number of deaths keep increasing?

It's because number one, we're not understanding the nuances about each of these eight, and we're not individualizing it for ourselves. And I believe that percentage, in fact, I know it's true, because I see it in my practice and in my patients. That 80% could go much higher to 90%, 95% and greater if these last few things that I'm going to talk about were implemented in everyone's life as well.

The American Heart Association also brings to our awareness that heart disease is a women's disease as well as a man's disease. Both men and women equally die of heart disease. Women often have problems with heart disease or a heart attack or stroke about five to ten years later in life than men.

The average heart attack occurs for a man at 55 and women at 65. But women, did you know this, are more likely to die from their first heart attack than men are. More often, men will live long enough to have a second one. Maybe even a third one. But nonetheless, women are affected by heart disease as much as men. It's incredibly common.

So, what are we to do about it? So, number one. Of course, these essential eight in more in depth and a better understanding about yourself.

So remember, every time you see a Valentine's this February, every time you see a red heart and you think about your loved ones, I want you to think about your actual beating heart and the beating heart of your loved ones.

Root Causes: The Overlooked Key to Heart Health | Dr. Gina Pritchard

The Problem of Patients Coming Back
Leaving Vascular Disease Untreated
Focusing on The Wrong Thing
Stop Mowing The Lawn
Looking at Nuances

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I discovered after many years of this was that first of all, a typical patient that comes in with a heart attack and then goes to the cath lab, which is a picture of what we're seeing here, the cath lab team, heart catheterization team trying to open up a blocked blood vessel in the heart arteries.

That's the way we save lives and we have the best technology, the best health care teams in the United States. So if someone is having a heart attack, that's exactly what you need. But then what I discovered is I would be sending patients home, discharging them from the hospital and seeing them back in the clinic after a procedure like this, after saving their life from a heart attack, and tell them, "we took care of that blockage that was 99% or 100% or 85%. Don't worry. It's wide open now. You've got a stint in there. You're on maximal medical management or some people call it optimal medical management now. And so things are fine. We're going to work on your diet. You call me if you have chest pain."

So, the reason that patients keep coming back is because we leave all of this vascular disease untreated. We're led down this path of the lie that mild blockages or small amounts of vascular disease are not dangerous. We took care of the bad one. But now, you know, don't worry about the little ones. "You're on optimal medical management."

So have you ever felt like- this is what I began to feel like as I was rounding on people in the hospital, seeing them in the clinic, realizing this wasn't really the truth. If I reassured them things were fine because that blockage was open, knowing there was other areas of smaller amounts of plaque throughout their vascular system.

But we would just focus on the wrong thing: meds. "Are you having chest pain? How's your diet? Are you exercising?" In a very cursory way, not in depth at all. So after months of this and finding out that there are more powerful prevention techniques, which requires collaboration, like we're talking about today.

I felt like I was focusing on mowing the lawn, for example, while the house is on fire behind me. When patients would come to the office, I would feel like it's just a glorified medication check. "How are you doing on that medication? No side effects? Okay. Your blood pressure is pretty good. Your heart rate's pretty good. Yeah. Your lipids are pretty good. Call me if you have chest pain."

So, I discovered I was focusing on the wrong thing. It was inaccurate, what I was taught to focus on.

Here's some examples. If we stop mowing the lawn and focus on identifying and eradicating root causes, inspecting the coronary wall, the wall of the artery where plaque lives, looking at things like are there airway issues? Saliva testing? Is there bacterial pathogens lurking? Blood work? Where the fire is lurking, meaning that's how we can find out if inflammation and infection is actually happening, then cardiovascular disease would not be the top killer, periodontal disease would not be prevalent.

And we do now have better measures to understand these things. Everything we were taught is wrong. We need to use these new measures. We need to use collaboration to truly save lives. So we, rather than accepting this is how I would practice in the clinic, that a fasting blood sugar above 95 is okay, and a non-fasting above 200, okay. From now, in time to time, you're going to see that blood pressure of 140 or over 90 or even higher. I can't count the times I would say, "okay, keep track of it at home. We're going to check it again next time. And maybe we need to go up on your blood pressure medications."

Do you know there's many other things we can do to reduce blood pressure besides going up on the medications? And even if we have to go up on the medications for a little while, blood pressures at 140 over 90 or anything above 118 over 80 is causing damage to the brain, to the heart, to our organs every day.

So, we need to get away from focusing on these high-level metrics we have and look at the nuances. I'd look at cholesterol numbers and say, "that's pretty good."

We kept just putting in stints. "If you have another problem, if you have more chest pain, we'll just put in another stint and send you home on the same meds, more meds," and we would watch year after year, mild to moderate AHI scores. And we now know that's killing people, to just monitor a mild to moderate AHI and not really seek out the root cause. Can we do better?