One of the newest things that we have that the hygienists are utilizing to ensure that they’re setting our patients up for success from a gingival and periodontal health standpoint is we start out with our saliva testing. It really lets us know exactly where we are based on how long it’s been since the patient has had a cleaning. We also have a new system for our hygiene department that we’re super excited about and it’s a guided biofilm therapy and what that means is when the patient comes in we’re able to brush this dye on the patient’s teeth and show them exactly where the problem areas are and then go through a series of different instrumentation to make sure that we clean all that appropriately and then we show the patient exactly what we’ve done and it’s not the traditional hand scaling and it’s not the traditional rubber cup that goes on there with the bubble gum flavored gritty stuff and all that.
It’s a totally different piece of equipment. It utilizes warm water. It’s much more comfortable on the patient.
A lot of people have reported that it’s a pleasant experience. It’s not the white knuckle thing that they’re worried about when they come in. Utilizing those things and kind of showing and telling the patients exactly what’s going on from the biofilm that’s in their mouth, from the saliva testing and then also being able to show them how we remove that, that’s what we do from a hygiene standpoint to set up people for success and then really customizing on the treatment plan how frequently should they really have their teeth cleaned.
Maybe it’s every six months. Maybe it’s every three months. Some people decide they want to come once a month.
It just depends on what their problems are, what their expectations are and what they’re trying to accomplish.
