Well I have a couple dental questions. I have been working since January for this dentist. He is great. He is young and fresh from school. He did 3 yrs for corporate dentistry and now has owned his own practice for 1.5 years. He bought the practice from an amazing clinician. This dentist was a bit crazy and brought her dog to work every day. The dog would lick people while they were laying in the chair. Most patients loved the dog and loved the dentist. But her turn over rate was astronomical. She used to be a RDH and then became a DDS. I will admit that she did the most beautiful gold work I have ever seen. The margins are wonderful. Her inlays were perfection. I have never seen such consistently good dentistry hold up for so many years. I look in their charts and the restoration was placed 17 years ago and it looked like it was placed 2 years ago. Anyway, my dr is new and he is inexperienced but he is knowledgeable. He has also been taught by this retiring dentist. He has brought up a couple things I do not agree with and I am thinking my education is not up to par. I need some help.....I have 3 questions. Any insight you have would help.
Question #1 Vaseline dries you up. I use vaseline on patients lips each and every time. I use Vaseline lotion and it works fine. I dont know the chemical make up of petroleum jelly but....it seems kind of emollient to me.
Question #2 Arm & Hammer toothpaste (baking soda) is more abrasive than any other toothpaste out there including Pro Health. Ok so particle size pro health is the winner with the huge stannous fluoride ion and the large particles in the paste--you know what I am talking about. I thought baking soda was the smallest particle out there and that the toothpaste was least abrasive. My front office manager said it is like a nail file where the rough side gets a lot but the fine side really abrades your nail. So using that analogy I can see why baking soda is bad for you. But I have not seen any research stating that. I really thought it was good.
Question #3 Electric toothbrushes are bad. They are too abrasive and do more damage than good. What??? I love my Oral B. I tolerate my Sonicare. I think patients who have switched to electric toothbrushes have less plaque and better tissue health. I have seen this myself. I think it helps the average patient brush better, longer and more thoroughly.
Let me know your thoughts. I guess they are not questions per say but I do have questions about them. Thank you for your help!!!
7 comments:
First off...NO PICTURES!! Ok, maybe, I don't know.
1. I think Vaseline can dry your lips a little but I do use it on some of my pt whose lips are chapped. I don't want to make it worst.
2. I think some dentist or just people get a thought in their head and no matter what you do or say you aren’t going to change their thinking. I haven't come across anything supporting his theory. I like Arm & Hammer better that ProHealth. ProHealth makes me fill like I'm chewing on grit.
3. I can tell which pt's use electric and which don't. It makes a huge difference. But I'll tell you that some of my pt's who do use the ET don't use it properly and leave a lot of plaques behind.
I have an appt with Doug Watson to talk about the RN program next week….I’m JUST talking. I even sent in my paperwork to Buy Up my GI Bill, which allows me an extra 6,000 dollars for schooling.
Hm... Can't answer #1, I give it to patients w/ chapped lips too, I can't see it doing any bad. #2, I know bossenberger is a sales rep for arm & hammer {didn't know that til I went to ADHA in New Orleans, crazy secret life} Anyhow, I couldn't see her representing something that wasn't good. Now, #3 I can help you on. My dentist is always reading new articles and spouts statistics off to patients a lot, but about 1 yr ago, he read a study that said elec. tb can remove up to 10x more plaque than a manual tb. Depending on the quality, but regardless, even the crest spin brushes remove more plaque than a manual tb w/ the correct habits {brushing 2 min, technique etc.}. Like Emily, I too can see which patients have an elec tb and which ones don't. I had a periomaint pt come in the other day who has been using and elec tb in the past, but her pockets had deepened a bit since her last appt. I asked her if she had changed anything {she's really quite diligent in her homecare} and she said the only thing was that she wasn't using her elec tb. We got her right back on it, and I'm sure we'll see some results. It's seriously like a night and day difference how much more it removes. Anyhow, best of luck w/ that situation.
I've fallen a little behind on reading thru your blog...so first of all you look so pretty in that pic you took at Stonehenge! Who knew there was a Stonehenge here in the states? It looks like Dan had a fantastic b-day...Happy Belated! SueSue gets married today! And as far as the dental questions...you'll have to post the answers you find out b/c now I'm curious!
Hmm...I don't believe that Vaseline is drying. Carmex, however, is. I have told Melissa repeatedly to stop using it because it contains salycylic acid which causes tissue exfoliation.
I was under the impression that baking soda is very abrasive. I avoid it whenever possible. I don't recommend patients go out and buy toothpaste with baking soda unless they are already using one and they love it. If they start to show enamel wear I make them switch.
Electric toothbrushes are great! I only recommend sonic toothbrushes though. The Crest Spin Brush is worthless.
You know how weird dentists are. I worked for a dentist who hated Sonicares and wouldn't recommend them. Why? Because they tickled. Stick to your guns. If you know something is right don't be afraid to defend yourself. Just because he has DDS after his name doesn't make him omnipotent.
Yesterday I tooK Ty and Shay to the dentist. He was impressed how clean their teeth were. Thanks for cleaning them! Ty's xrays were good and no cavities. He cleaned them and did floride. Shay he just counted. He did not say that Tys jaw was small or anything and i forgot to ask. I will when i go to get my stitches out. Hey question. the tooth in front of the hole is bugging me. the inside front corner seems to hit my toung when i talk and it feels like the space for my toung is smaller. am i just crazy(i am related to you) or could it have moved during the hour and a half tooth pulling? Read my blog again I told jo to mail my cd. I will mail you something soon.
Only a few comments from my pea-brain! I use vaseline if my pts lips are dry...it seems to do the trick while they're in my chair. I've never heard of it being drying?!?!
Baking soda tpaste is abrasive, I would tell pts to avoid it if they're sensitive, along with whitening and tartar control tpastes
Love electric tb pts! I think as long as we teach them proper use and not to "scrub" while the tbrush is already doing the work, it's amazing! Otherwise, i think they can do damage esp if they are already a pt that has lots of recession and still in their scrubbing habit as they us the el.tb.
Hmmmm. Vaseline is great (so is carmex!) Electric TB's are great, and don't know about baking soda toothpaste. I think your dentist is a little koo-koo. Sorry for the unintelligent comment. Having a kid kinda melts your brain. I did work for yesterday for the first time in 8 months and it went really good! It's just like riding a bike, i guess. I worked for my bishop so that was kinda awkward, but it was fun to get back to hygiene!
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