That's exactly how he described the situation. It was apparently the surgeon who set that requirement, not a dentist.
Respectful to the heart surgeon, but as a dentist, he's a great heart surgeon. . . don't trust him to do dentistry and the dentists won't do heart surgery. He's not qualified to make such a diagnosis. He doesn't have the education or the training to know what he is looking at. All he can see is that the gums may look really bad, but the teeth themselves. Some minor surgery on the gums with appropriate follow-up might save everything. The wounds from pulling the teeth will be just as bad as the bleeding gums and take just as long to heal.