It's Time To Get Better Instruments
Next time you need new instruments try out the XP Sharpen-Free Technology from American Eagle Instruments. Learn all about them in our latest video below.
Some Things You Don't Learn In a Text Book
If you are a dental nerd like me you love all things dentistry. Even after school there are so many interesting things to learn and implement. I do keep a few trusty old books close by in the operatory for reference, as you can see in my photo, but one thing school books don’t train you on is your chairside manner. I remember struggling as a new grad to find my stride on educating patients on treatment plans and providing the best customer service. I ordered book after book on the best practices to become an amazing hygienist, and how to build a hygiene department. There are so many great resources we have in dental hygiene to guide us on this path.
Here at Hygiene Edge we have a subscription to Speareducation.com. They have helped me to become a better dental hygienist through their helpful videos. Lately, I especially like the ones on restorative dentistry so I can better help patients understand their treatment needs. There are a lot of offices that invest in their team and get an office subscription. You can watch these and learn techniques together during staff meetings or during down time. Learning is always informational with their unique site.
What are some of your favorite resources that have helped you on your path as a hygienist?
Hygiene Round Up- July
With summer in full swing, it's time to brush up on your skin cancer knowledge for extra oral exams.
Are you a dental hygiene student? We'd love your help with a survey all about dental hygiene clinical instructors.
Loving this new print for a scrub top.
A great perspective on being part of the American Dental Hygienists' Association.
Pretty interesting that some monkeys have better hygiene habits than many of our patients.
2018 Student Essay Contest
It's time again for our Annual Student Essay Contest!
This year, we've decided to look into ADHA and being part of your student chapter. We'd love to know how being part of it as helped you learn and grow as a person and as a dental hygienist. Any fun activities you've done? Any great events or volunteer opportunities that your classmates have been involved in? What have you learned from being part of the events and a dental hygiene community? We want to know!
Winner will be chosen and given $100, a prize package from our shop, and be published on Hygiene Edge. Email your submissions by August 1 to hygieneedge@gmail.com.
We're so excited to hear what you've been up to with the ADHA and SADHA!
Fine print: You must be a current dental hygiene student OR have graduated dental hygiene school in the last 6 months. Entries are due August 1, 2018 and should be emailed to hygieneedge@gmail.com. All writing must be original work. Entry must been less than 1000 words long. Photos can be included, but must be copyright free.
What, No Toothpaste?!?
Before you have a heart attack, you can add toothpaste, just not in the way we were taught in hygiene school.
Am I the only one that squirms when a patient asks about toothpaste ingredients? The patient starts rambling off ingredients that you're pretty sure you recognize from hygiene school, but the recall is not there. Thank heavens we are "able" (required) to take Continuing Education classes.
Apparently its not only the ingredients we should be worried about but WHEN the patient brushes.
I recently took a course from Spear Education from one of my FAVORITE hygienist-Trisha O'heir. The course was called, "The Toothpaste Secret: Helping Patients Develop Effective Toothbrushing Habits." The course was short and it was fascinating. She shared that in the 70's before there were strict laws on recording people without their consent, researchers put up secret cameras to watch people brush their teeth.
As hygienist we already know what the research confirmed- patients brush sporadically-they start on the facials and barely touch the lingual side of their mouth, they don't brush very long and aren't very effective.
Her remedy was to have them brush WITHOUT toothpaste, starting on the lower right linguals for right-handed patients and lower left linguals for left-handed patients. This is called "dry brushing." When dry brushing is done the research shows that patients brush longer and more effectively!
Genius!! it makes perfect sense to have patients start brushing where they brush the least. And because toothpaste numbs senses, without toothpaste the patient can feel if his/her mouth is actually clean or not. After the patient's mouth feels clean, advise him/her to add toothpaste and brush again.
We still want our patients to use toothpaste but WHEN the patients uses it is very important.
As far as patient ingredients: O'Heir advises against any kinds of toothpaste containing microbeads. Proctor and Gamble has been working on getting the little pieces out of toothpaste but definitely look before you recommend any brand. Also, O'Heir strongly advises against Sodium-laurel sulfate (the ingredient that causes toothpaste to foam) because of its increased risk of aphthous ulcers.
Hygiene Edge Advice: If you have a patient with a lot of plaque- teach them how to dry brush (we included a handout for you below). Patients trust your opinion so be a detective and research toothpaste ingredients before you recommend a toothpaste.
Here is a handout for you to give to your patients all about dry brushing :)
What Patient's are Saying About: Crest Gum Detoxify
Gum Detoxify is Crest’s latest and greatest toothpaste on the market. And they’ve been heavy on the marketing for this new product. They even have a sponsored Buzzfeed video! Of course, with all this marketing of the paste, your patients will definitely ask about it. Here’s a little bit about it:
Ingredients
When you compare the ingredients from Crest Pro Health and the new Crest Gum Detoxify, they are surprisingly similar. The active ingredient is the same, stannous fluoride 0.454%, and most of the inactive are exactly the same. I talked to a few reps about the difference in products, and they mentioned that the new paste has a higher concentration of SLS which causes an increase of “bubbling” and a clean feeling, and the list of ingredients does have SLS higher in the list.
Subgingival Cleaning
One claim that Crest does make is that Gum Detoxify does clean subgingivally better than other pastes. There is a study posted on their website, however reading through it, the conclusion that they came to doesn’t say too much about how Gum Detoxify is better than any other toothpaste.
Different Packaging
Also, you’ll want to be aware that there are 3 “different” Gum Detoxify toothpastes out in stores. They are, however, all the same product but are marketed differently depending on the purchaser. Currently, there are Gentle Whitening, Sensitivity, and Deep Clean packeting at major retail stores like Target. They all have the same ingredients however. “Deep Clean” is currently the only one that is sold and marketed to dental professionals and to dental offices. If you request a sample, you’ll definitely be given that “Deep Clean” packaging.
My Experience
I personally have been using this paste for the last 2ish months to try it out and see. And honestly, I like it. Because of the extra foaming agent, it “feels” like it cleans better. I don’t know if that’s a great feature for the everyday patient who rarely brushes or only brushes the anterior teeth, but if it helps motivate then hey! Sign me up. The cost is another factor for both patients and me. Since it's a premium product, it costs $3-5 more than another toothpastes on the market.
Have you tried this new Crest toothpaste? What did you think?
What are your patient's asking about? Let us know!
Hygienist Spotlight: Whitney DiFoggio, RDH, BS
Name: Whitney DiFoggio RDH, BS (aka Teeth Talk Girl on YouTube).
Where/when did you graduate DH school? I graduated from dental hygiene school in 2015 from Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, IL. Before that, I graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology.
What are you doing now? I’m currently working in private practice at two offices part-time…the goal is to become a full-time YouTuber/Filmmaker one day, but like Jasmin Haley reminded me, as I was listening to her amazing podcast “Beyond The Prophy” today… I won’t quit my day job just yet. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love working in a clinical setting. I just love creating health videos on YouTube slightly more! If video creating ever becomes an actual hustle, I can’t even explain to you what my level of happiness would be…
Any funny stories from school or practice? I feel like everyday is a funny story. I used to be super involved in the acting scene, and each day when I’d show up at my office, my co-workers would notice glitter in my hair, or something like that …and they knew I was up to some acting gig the night before. They would always joke that I was living a double life. We’ve had some good laughs.
What is one reason you love being a hygienist? I know it may sound naive, but I truly enjoy helping people. I love going to sleep each night knowing I’ve done my ultimate best to help each person I’ve seen throughout the day, in one way or another. Whether it was scaling away tenacious calculus, or being a good listener when your patient needs to vent about a hardship in his or her life - it all counts.
What is one piece of advice you'd give a new dental hygiene grad? My best advice is to of course be professional, but never too professional. Just be genuine and be yourself. If you’re sincere and want to help others, then by doing your honest best, you will shine as an outstanding clinician and a kind & thoughtful human.
To check out Whitney online, check her out on social media!
YouTube: YouTube.com/TeethTalk
Website: teethtalkgirl.com
Instagram: @teethtalkgirl
Facebook: @teethtalkgirl
April Favorites Round Up
Spring is here! Also, convention season is in full swing! Which dental hygiene or dental conventions are you going to this year? What are your favorites to attend?
Another great research article shows a high correlation between gingival inflammation and preeclampsia. It highlights how important oral hygiene education is for pregnant woman.
Remembering the "Big Picture" of dental hygiene.
This print is perfect for a Waterpik enthusiast.
What are your patient's favorite flavor of prophy paste?
Dental Hygienist Spotlight- Ashley Nelson
Name: Ashley Nelson, BS, RDH
Where/When You Graduated from DH School: I graduated from Weber State University in Ogden, UT in 2011
What's one thing you love about dental hygiene? One thing I love about hygiene is the relationships that you build with your patients. You really learn to love them and their families. And maybe going after a large ledge of calculus with an ultrasonic and watching it fly! Haha!
What do you do now? I recently went from working full-time in private practice to being at home. I started an online community called Elevated Hygiene that focuses on helping dental professionals "step up their hygiene game" by making small changes to their current routine to ensure that their hygiene department is thriving. I'm really passionate about setting up protocols so that patients get the treatment they deserve. I was inspired to start Elevated Hygiene after years of being stuck in the prophy trap. I was having a difficult time translating all I had learned in school into "real life." After years of feeling like I wasn't performing at my highest potential as a Hygienist and having low periodontal therapy case acceptance, I started researching how to change that and came up with my own flowcharts and checklists to help me improve my perio percentages. Right as I felt like I was starting to "get it" life threw a curve ball at me. After returning to work after my second baby, my body was not able to handle the physical strain of the job and I had to stop clinical hygiene. I was devastated and if truth be told, a bit peeved. Right when I was onto something, I felt like my body failed me. But I was determined to keep going and that's how Elevated Hygiene was born. I want to equip others with tools so that they don't end up in the same prophy trap that I was in.
Any funny stories from practice? This was before hygiene school, but I passed out HARD (like hit the floor without even trying to catch myself) when I was job shadowing and watching my first oral surgery. It was an apicoectomy and I had never seen anything like that before! I don't even know how I got past the assistant, but I ended up falling flat on my face in the hallway right outside the op. We still get a pretty good laugh when we reminisce about that day!
Advice for a new dental hygiene grad: My advice would be to really mind your ergonomics! Your body definitely will thank you!
We love spotlight amazing hygienists! If you or someone you know would like to be highlighted here on Hygiene Edge, email us at hygieneedge@gmail.com.
Dental Injection Guide
So I've recently started to work clinically again which has been so fun! However, I get a little nervous each time I have a free second, since I know the dentist will ask me to jump in and help with injections. I love a good injection and I feel confident in my injections for perio debridement. Dental procedures on the other hand, not so much. So I'll be printing off our latest free download, a dental injection guide for the dental hygienist, and sticking it in my OHE kit to have on hand as a reference. Hopefully now, no more sweating will be involved when someone asked to help on the doctor's side!
Other fun facts about using local anesthetic on dental patients:
1. Do not give less than what is recommended, even if the patient is under sedation. The patient is still conscious, could still feel the procedure, and will move when they feel pain.
2. Many dental schools teach to only use lidocaine on all injections. Some teach septocaine on everything except the IA block.
3. Checking blood pressure is always recommended before treatments with local anesthetic to see how much can epi can be used.
Note: This is a guide. This injection protocol is taught at most dental schools, but your dentist may have a different school of though when it comes to what local anesthetic is needed or which injections should be utilized. If you ever have questions on their preferences, just ask! They'd prefer you to double check instead of not having the patient fully numb.
Do you regularly give injections for the dentist's procedures? How often?