Alex Rodriguez Urges Fans To See The Dentist After Recent Diagnosis

Alex Rodriguez, also known as A-Rod, is opening up about a recent diagnosis he received from his dentist.

The former New York Yankees baseball player said he recently visited his dentist, where he was informed he had early-stages of gum disease.

Alex Rodriguez, 47, when onto CBS News where he made the unexpected announcement, urging fans to see the dentist and to take care of themselves.

The hosts of the talk show commented on A-Rod's smile, to which the former baseball player said, "Looks can be deceiving."

"I just recently went to see my dentist and not thinking anything about any gum disease," Rodriguez said on the morning talk show. "And the dentist tells me the news, and then I come to find out over 65 million Americans have this gum disease."

Rodriguez went on to admit, although he loved to chew on sunflower seeds, he never chewed tobacco while playing in the MLB.

After his diagnosis, A-Rod partnered with the health products company OraPharma to help raise awareness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of U.S. adults 30 years and older have some form of gum disease.

The former Yankees baseball player then urged viewers to see the dentist regularly. "It's important for all the viewers watching, all Americans,” to take care of their teeth and dental hygiene, he said.

Alex Rodriguez has a new girlfriend, Jaclyn Cordeiro, following his relationship with pop star sensation, Jennifer Lopez. It seems the former baseball player does not keep girlfriends around for very long, which led Rodriguez’s former high school teammate and Yankees teammate Doug Mientkiewicz to say he will "die a lonely man".

Though, it was more than just his romantic relationships that Mientkiewicz was referring to. “I’ve always said he’s going to die a lonely man, because, you know what? This whole ‘father of the year’ stuff, God bless him with his daughters, because it’s got to come a long way,” Mientkiewicz said on the "Foul Territory" podcast. “But it’s like, ‘You’re just trying to get into heaven now.’ I’m still friends with my high school team. We still text often, not as often as we should, but we still text, group thread, constantly badgering each other. He’s just distant from it. I don’t care how good or how great you become and how far your career goes, you never forget your high school dudes.’”

Mientkiewicz then went on to discuss A-Rod's steroid scandal, admitting, “It’s painful. It’s like, wait a minute, do you (forget) you got suspended 200 games? It’s like, ‘Come on, man. Stop it. I get it.’ I played a power position and didn’t have any. Did it cross my mind? Of course. You thought about it. But I was like, ‘You know what, I want to be able to walk when I’m 50.”

After spending 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, including over a decade with the New York Yankees, Alex Rodriguez retired from MLB and is now a MLB analyst for Fox Sports and the CEO of A-Rod Corp.