Modern Hygienist - February 2009 - (Page 31)

KEEP YOUR JOB | career tion to their current periodontal condition and use them as a tool to recommend treatment. If you chart every patient and implement a periodontal program using full-mouth disinfection and locally applied antibiotics—such as OraPharma’s Arestin (arestin.com) or Tolmar’s Atridox (atridox.com)—you will see big improvements in your hourly production. Oral cancer screening. Many of us begin our hygiene visits with a thorough extraoral and intraoral examination. If you are not currently performing a thorough head and neck examination and oral screening it is time to start. The failure to perform these important exams is a huge disservice to the patient and a major legal problem for you and the dentist. Hopefully, we all learned these techniques in dental hygiene school, but if a refresher is needed there is great information on the Web; check out oralcancerfoundation.org. There also are more high-tech products available for oral cancer screening such as Zila Pharmaceutical’s ViziLite Plus(vizilite.com) and LED Dental’s VELscope (velscope.com). These screenings can increase profitability and will help ensure the best care for your patients. If you do identify an oral lesion, Oral CDX is an important and painless brush biopsy test that can be used to determine the need for a full biopsy on suspect atypical tissue. More information is available at sopreventable.com. Caries assessment. The third portion of a great dental hygiene visit is a caries assessment program. There are many resources available to learn more about implementing these programs into your practice; simply searching “CAMBRA” online yields not only definitions, but steps on how best to implement a CAMBRA protocol into your practice. Several companies—including Proctor & Gamble (dentalcare.com) and GC America (gcamerica.com) offer patient assessment forms online. An important part of caries risk assessment is saliva testing. GC America’s Saliva-Check offers a saliva flow and caries risk kit for testing a patient’s saliva and determining the best products to recommend to the patient. If you want to take it to the next level and identify a patient’s oral bacterial load (which has been proven to correlate with patients’ risk for decay), you should check out Oral BioTech’s CariScreen system (carifree.com). The important thing here is all dental practices should be familiar with—and hopefully practicing—the concept of minimally invasive dentistry. PRODUCTS MATTER As a dental hygienist it is imperative to become familiar with as many new trends and products as possible, especially the ones you could end up using in your operatory. Many companies offer incentives that will keep overhead expenses to a minimum and make your boss very happy. You can stay abreast of these offers by knowing your local sales reps and inquiring about upcoming promotions. Even more so than your employer, patients look to you for recommendations on products, from toothpaste to preventive care. For example, NovaMin is an active ingredient used in fluoride varnishes and prophy pastes formulas. NovaMin reacts with saliva, elevating the pH to the optimal range and releasing Calcium and Phosphourus ions to form a new HydroxyCarbonateApatite (HCA) layer, helping to remineralize teeth. Could you direct a patient in your chair today as to where to find products with this ingredient? Patients will appreciate your expertise in new technologies and your commitment to their health. Any good word they pass along to your employer is a bonus! Bottom line: If you’re not performing regular oral cancer screenings, you should be. The technology exists to make it quick, painless and profitable. Check out Zila Pharmaceutical’s ViziLite Plus at vizilite. com. You don’t have to do anything fancy—just give your patients great care. For those with periodontal disease, this can mean using a locally applied antibiotic such as OraPharma’s Arestin. Visit arestin.com for more information. DON’T WORRY…ACT! Rather than waste valuable time worrying, replace those negative thoughts with positive actions geared toward evaluating your current practice and implementing new ways to wow your boss and secure your place in the practice. You don’t know what the future holds, but feel confident knowing you are doing the best for you, your patients and your practice. mh Keverly Sugden, RDH, BASDH, is an author, speaker, educator and practicing dental hygienist. February 2009 | modern hygienist 31 http://www.carifree.com http://www.arestin.com http://www.atridox.com http://www.atridox.com http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org http://www.vizilite.com http://www.velscope.com http://www.sopreventable.com http://www.arestin.com http://www.dentalcare.com http://www.gcamerica.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Modern Hygienist - February 2009

Modern Hygienist - February 2009 Contents Editor's Letter Letters News Modern Solutions Caring for Kids The DNA Difference A Healthy Perspective The Economic Impact on You How Single Moms Make it Work Ad Index Classified Economy 101

Modern Hygienist - February 2009

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