The Perio Hygienist Podcast

I found an interesting original research article in the Journal of the American Dental Association December 2020 edition on the subject of dental short-term missions.  The authors believe the participation in activities like this improve the quality of dental and dental hygiene care we provide on a daily basis. The reason this is can be explained by looking at how it affects the six aspects of our...

How is your mood? Does this Christmas season have a little dark mood to it? If so, I hope you find this podcast therapeutic. We Need a Little Christmas   performed by Angela Lansbury  and from the musical Mame. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen performed by Pentatonix. Joy To The World (Live At The Helix In Dublin, Ireland/2013)

I discuss the research contribution of a periodontist honored by a tribute edition in the Journal of Periodontology October 2020 but the name of Steven Offenbacher. We get into some of the interesting research behind the links between periodontal disease and other medical diseases. 

Have a wonderful holiday season whether you are in the US and celebrate Thanksgiving or live elsewhere in the world. This is too good a holiday just to keep it to ourselves. Blessings to you and yours.

This is an overview on how to utilize a periodontist for the optimum benefit of your patients and comprehensive dental practice. This is also an alternative practice model to specialists who seek to lower complexity and work toward better efficiency with the comprehensive dentists near them.

Information at the intersection of periodontics and dental hygiene so patients can be managed well within comprehensive dental offices following active periodontal therapy by periodontists. In this episode I discuss benefits and disadvantages with chlorhexidine gluconate as well as talking about an alternative. For more information go to StellaLife.com.

My reflections on current events as they apply to patient care.

If you want to stay sane in dentistry write the following down and review it often: I have two jobs and the patient has two jobs. None of these jobs can be shared by the other. My two jobs are (1) to like patients and (2) to treat them well. Patients will benefit from doing their two jobs which are (1) daily homecare and (2) appointment management. Should they decide to take care of themselves, I...

Let's get into written entries -- how to think about them and ways to write them down. I get into legal matters as well as helpful ways to simplify the process.

The title says it all. Life and people are sometimes just annoying. How can we actually use our problems to improve our attitudes and what we have to bless the lives of others?

The work we are doing now will hopefully prepare us for a better patient care flow after this COVID way of living.  I give you a taste of my new podcast The Perio Patient Podcast with the hope you will subscribe and give 5 stars in order to make it visible to others.  https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/15534908 \  

Dentists and dental hygienists who are pursuing additional skills and training become, in my book, comprehensive practitioners. No longer are they simply about fillings and cleanings but have moved toward managing greater complexity. These are the practitioners I work for as a specialist.   Thanks for whoever gave the podcast five stars.

How to help patients use proxabrushes as part of their daily oral hygiene routine. 

The terminology we use professionally is useful in some ways but limiting in others because it locks us into our own Silos -- our own way of thinking about things. I explain the need to understand and breakdown language barriers when they are getting in the way. I give you some tips on how to do this.

This is my story getting into laser therapy with the Millennium Dental PerioLase MVP-7 NdYAG laser. Training was a year long and well worth it in spite of the expense. Clinical treatment and dental insurance challenges are discussed in detail. 

Even though we are all looking forward to returning to more normal times, some things within dentistry will be changing permanently.  Dental hygienists will be especially impacted by having to manage risks to aerosols due to the nature of their work.  

What is scaling? What is root planing? How is scaling and root planing a new patient different when compared to scaling and root planing a SPT patient? Is root planing a part of the routine performance of SPT? How do we assess the effectiveness of this procedure? 

This is the complete book in audio form. The book can be found on Amazon as a soft cover book or Kindle download.  

How long should feedback take at the end of Periodontal Maintenance or Supportive Periodontal Therapy? Why is feedback given at the end of the appointment? What steps taken at previous appointments simplify how patient feedback can be provided whether by the dentist, dental hygienist or periodontist? How can we be perceived by patients as being on their side even when we have to give them bad news...

The biggest problem in Supportive Periodontal Therapy is over-cleaning.

Will patients lose teeth if they have recession? What can we expect from soft tissue grafting procedures? How important is recession to patient aesthetic concerns? What instructions can we give patients to reduce risks of recession in the future?

How to record and discuss recession with patients. What's important and what isn't? Who gets recession and why?  When does recession become a problem and what are the treatment options?  When and why to refer.

Thinking about career changes? For the story of how I became a periodontist, click here .

How to explain periodontal problems to patients in ways that do not result in them becoming defensive or angry.   

Tips on how to make periodontal probing run smoothly while lowering your stress levels in the process. It's not as bad as you think.