Type II Diabetic and Periodontal Disease

Posted on October 19, 2018May 20, 2021 by Debbie Bickford RDH

Challenge: A Type II Diabetic patient, who has been a long term client, has uncontrolled periodontal disease and a history of not responding to previous periodontal treatment. Background: This 73 year-old female with Type II Diabetes has been a patient in our periodontal maintenance program for years. She has had several courses of active periodontal therapy never achieving complete periodontal remission. In the past year, our team has been upping our game by studying under Dental Hygien...

Dental Hygiene Excellence: A Personalized Treatment Approach

Posted on October 12, 2018May 20, 2021 by Patti DeMatteis, RDH, AS

Personalized care for dental patients is more important today than ever! Oral inflammation has been established as the driver for many systemic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. Periodontal disease is one of the most prevalent inflammatory diseases and does not always respond well to “cookie cutter” treatment. We now know, treatment must target the bacteria that cause the patient’s infection, and every patient is different. Dental Hygiene Exc...

Interview with Adrian Fitts RDH & Gerald Smith DMD

Posted on September 28, 2018May 20, 2021 by Adrian Fitts RDH, BSDH

Dr. McGlennen: Tell me how you use OralDNA® salivary diagnostics. Adrian Fitts RDH & Dr. Gerald Smith: When we see a patient that isn’t “normal.” Many patients are routine with regard to their oral hygiene/plaque/calculus. The vast majority of patients respond to usual measures, debridement, and diligent oral hygiene. However, some patients don’t fit this. For example, we see a relatively “clean” mouth but we are finding increasing pocketing/bleeding. The OralDNA® tests are perfe...

Sick & Tired of Patients Being … Sick & Tired?

Posted on August 24, 2018May 19, 2021 by Machell Hudson RDH

Me too! Day after day, patients dismiss their oral health, writing it off as “My gums have always bled.” Inside, my head was exploding, but outside my heart was opened. I knew that I had a chance to educate my patients to a whole new level of health. One where their energy would be boosted, risk to coronary heart disease would be lowered, and the chance of them developing diabetes would be significantly reduced. I became a hygienist on a mission. I instinctively knew that if things were t...

JP Institute TRANSFORMED! — My New Life As A Hygienist

Posted on August 17, 2018May 19, 2021 by Liz Lundry RDH

I have been a clinical hygienist since 1979. When I earned my degree in Dental Hygiene, I was very happy, idealistic and excited about caring for patients. I felt I was on a mission to improve people’s lives through better oral health. Being young and starry-eyed , I was not prepared for the reality of working in a dental practice. I found, to my great surprise, that most of my patients were not interested in the education about their oral health that I had been trained to provide. They just...

Life & Death and a Saliva Test

Posted on August 10, 2018May 19, 2021 by Chris S Kammer DDS

Sometimes I get so frustrated with the profession of dentistry. Here is my case in point: Five oral originating pathogens have been identified as causative in the development of atherosclerosis by the BaleDoneen™ peer reviewed study published in the British Medical Journal. Wait a minute, so they concluded that these oral bacteria are causative of atherosclerosis? Seriously? Yes!! And in the last one hundred years, atherosclerosis has killed more Americans than any other disease. Atheroscler...

Patient with Dental Pain, Periodontal Disease & High Blood Pressure

Posted on August 3, 2018May 19, 2021 by Ashley Spooner DDS

Challenge: To address the dental concerns to resolve patient’s dental pain. To educate the patient on the connection between dental health and overall health. Background: The patient is a 37-year-old male who presented with a dental pain emergency. The home care is poor and patient has history of only seeking dental care for emergencies. Medically, the patient has hypothyroidism, hypertension, high cholesterol and significant difficulty breathing while asleep. The blood pressure reading o...

Interview with Dr. Lisa Marie Samaha

Posted on July 27, 2018May 19, 2021 by Lisa Marie Samaha, DDS

Dr. McGlennen: Tell me how you use OralDNA® salivary diagnostics. Dr. Samaha: OralDNA® testing has been a standard and integral part of our intake of all patients with periodontal disease since early 2007. Our practice is well known for our protocol of diagnosing and treating periodontal disease and increasing total health profiles. Although I am a general dentist, over 95% of our new patients have some form of periodontal disease, from gingivitis to advanced, aggressive levels and we do ...

An Uncontrolled Diabetic Patient – Referred by Physician

Posted on July 20, 2018May 19, 2021 by Mary Kay Carroll RDH

Background: The patient is a 41-year-old female who has not been seen by a dental professional since 2008 (10 years). The patient stated her chief concern as “My doctor said my uncontrolled diabetes could be caused by my mouth.” Other medical concerns are high blood pressure and acid reflux. The home care routine consisted of manual tooth brushing only. Following the periodontal assessment, the patient was diagnosed with active, localized, chronic periodontitis due to the present sub-gingiva...

Simple Strategies to Enhance Oral & Overall Health

Posted on July 13, 2018May 19, 2021 by Erika Spring RDH, MEd

As dental professionals, we all take the responsibility to present treatment cases to patients. Most often, the dental hygienist presents periodontal treatment plans to patients, but in reality, any team member could present this type of case. For example, if a new patient is seen on the doctor’s schedule and periodontal disease is the diagnosis, the dental assistant could have the opportunity to present the case. It is important that with any case presentation, the team is on the same page....