At a recent meeting of our Hygiene department we discussed being more proactive in our patient care approach. Perhaps we can help our patients do a better job preventing cavities, and reduce our need for searching for them later. Probably the most important conversation we have in our office with people is about home care. We work with our patients, and help them find things they can do regularly to maintain the health of the mouth. We try to set attainable goals with them so that both our patients and ourselves won’t be disappointed, and hopefully this will help with their compliance.
Most people brush regularly (or so they say), so if we can use this behavior, and modify it to a more powerful tool, it is a win/win situation. We try to make Brushing and Flossing more effective by adding in adjunctive therapies, such as: Prescription strength toothpastes in various modalities (for dry mouth, sensitivity, and enamel protection), Chlorhexidine Gluconate Oral Rinse 0.12%, topical paste with bio-available calcium and phosphate, and many others.
Effectiveness of these products comes from proper introduction and expectations of the products along with patient compliance. Throwing too many items at once at a patient won’t make them use all these items, but introduced in a slow methodical and comprehensive approach has been observed by us to be effective. Baby steps before running. These simple steps have us believing the perhaps we can help prevent dental decay, thus reducing the amount of routine restorative procedures and the frequency need of radiographs.
We are working towards a cavity free society; we just need our patients to help us in this journey. We only see a person a few times a year, and we have a limited time to get our message across, so we need to be effective and informative in explaining why and what we are suggesting for them. After all, the other 360ish days their teeth are their own responsibility. We just want to help. Just Sayin'.
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