Posts by Dr. Kelli Blank
Dr. Brunk is back!
As of January 2021, Dr. Mark Brunk has returned full-time to MidAmerica Dental! Dr. Brunk dedicated the past seven years of his life and dental practice serving deep Southern Illinois, where access to care for the underserved community was extremely limited. In 2013, he opened a small dental office off of Main Street in Metropolis, Illinois. It grew over the years from a modest, two treatment room office, to a high-tech, four treatment room facility. Dr. Brunk focused his treatment there on pediatric dentistry, along with extractions and fabrication of dentures.
“Many of the patients that we saw in Metropolis had never been to a dentist before, adults and kids alike. We treated those patients who other offices refused to see. The community in the greater Metropolis area was so welcoming and appreciative of our work. It was such a rewarding experience to help those in great need.” -Dr. Mark G. Brunk
In Spring of 2020, with the Covid-19 mandatory shutdown of dental offices in the state of Illinois, Dr. Brunk had time to sit back and think what he wanted the remainder of his years practicing to look like.
“The mandatory quarantine had me, like many others, take a step back and reprioritize. During the three months both of our offices were closed, I spent an enormous amount of time with my immediate family, and our labradoodle, Ivy, at our home in Brownstown. I now have five grandchildren! We go on side-by-side rides, camping at local state parks, take my Ford Model A to Dairy Queen runs, and enjoy family dinners and weekend brunches together. I guess you could say that I’m just really enjoying being a grandpa. I decided to dedicate my time and energy for the remainder of my career to the patients and families who have been with me since our start in 1984. It’s been great to be back full-time in Vandalia. Just a month in, I’ve seen so many faces that I hadn’t seen in seven years.” -Dr. Brunk
Dr. Brunk is happily welcoming his Metropolis patients to the Vandalia practice. Several patients have already made the two and a half hour drive to Vandalia from Metropolis to continue with their dental treatment.
Oral Disease and Your Body
Welcome to our Dental Wellness blog! As a Dental Wellness Center, our goal is not to just keep your mouth and teeth healthy, but educate our patients on how the condition of their mouth can affect their overall health and wellness. Over the past several years, even decades, research has proven that there are direct correlations between oral disease and other systemic diseases and medical conditions. This has commonly been referred to as the “oral-systemic connection”. What does this mean? Well, in a nutshell, if your teeth and gums are in bad shape, it can effect other bodyparts and organs. With 3 out of 4 Americans showing signs of mild to moderate periodontal disease or gingivitis, and with conditions such as diabetes and heart disease on the rise, it is critical for our patients to understand this intimate relationship between the mouth and the rest of the body.
Every few weeks, we will be blogging about the topic of the oral-systemic condition in layman terms, making it easy for anyone to understand the science behind it. We will break down the different body parts and show how the bacteria in your mouth do their damage. Also, we will be giving health and wellness tips on topics from exercising to nutrition, so you can be sure to be on top of your wellness game!
If you have any questions about our blog posts, please feel free to contact us through our Facebook webpage for a quick response.
Happy Smiling!
~Your MidAmerica Dental Team~
Picture courtesy of the British Dental Health Foundation