Dental Hygiene
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August 10, 2023
Introduction
Aphthous ulcers, also known as canker sores, are a type of mouth ulcer many experience at some point in their lives. While they may seem harmless, these ulcers can cause significant pain and discomfort, making chewing, speech, and oral home care difficult. Despite their common occurrence, the exact cause of aphthous ulcers remains a mystery, and there is no known cure. This blog will delve into the unseen pain of aphthous ulcers, exploring their symptoms, potential causes, and available treatments. Understanding this condition can help provide much-needed relief and support for our patients.
What is an aphthous ulcer?
Oral aphthosis is a painful and recurring inflammatory process of the oral mucosa producing ulcers affecting 20-25% of the population worldwide.
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March 05, 2023A dental office reprocessing area must be organized in a one-way workflow to prevent cross-contamination. The one-way workflow is composed of stations that are linked in functionality to one another to finally achieve the end point of reprocessing; sterilization. Each station can only perform the duties of THAT station and can only host the contents of THAT station’s tasks. In ‘common practice’ vs ‘best practice’ reprocessing rooms ...
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March 05, 2023Our previous blog post discussed the Canadian dental labour shortage and identified some rationales as to why there is a labour shortage in dentistry. In the first post, we identified that Dentistry requires a high level of performance expectations from those working in the industry.
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February 24, 2023
For years, dentistry has had an oversaturation of dental professionals. There hasn’t been a dental labour shortage before now. Instead, job postings were few and far between and most jobs surfaced through word of mouth and were immediately filled. Currently, Canada is experiencing a significant labour shortage in dentistry. Dental professionals, where are you?
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August 26, 2022
Fluoride continues to be our number one defence in the prevention and progression of dental caries. For those patients who adamantly refuse to use fluoride in any form, we must be knowledgeable in guiding them to alternative methods to increase their resistance to and prevention of caries. Prevention of dental caries involves many aspects. Primary prevention involves the etiology of ...
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August 22, 2022Fluoride is an element found naturally in air, soil, and water. Tooth decay is one of the most common chronic diseases among children, especially those living below the federal poverty level. This disease can contribute to days of pain, interrupted school days, difficulty eating, concentrating, and lack of self-esteem. Tooth decay is preventable, and fluoridated water supply, fluoride-containing home care products, and professionally applied fluoride treatments can potentially prevent this chronic oral disease.
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June 30, 2022Finding instruments affected by an IPAC lapse requires a system that leaves no room for error. That translates to either missing notifying clients involved in the lapse and/or notifying by error clients not involved in the lapse. Both are HUGE risks that no office wants. Can this risk be mitigated? Good news, yes, and the answer is digital logging with barcodes that ensure accuracy with a system computer engineered with prompting screens loaded with the actual IPAC standards.
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May 30, 2022The AAP has graciously opened the door to start the tobacco cessation conversation during the A and D of ADPIE when staging and grading the client’s periodontal health. Your action plan revolves around five success measures that are simple to integrate, impactful to client care and all within the scope of practice of the dental professional. Here is how dental offices can start the tobacco cessation conversation ....
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May 20, 2022
Knowing more information about choosing the right protective gown hopefully solves any dilemma about selection and usage. The required dental PPE lineup is full and highly influenced by the task. Remember to ‘pick the mask for the task’ and ‘go to town with the right gown!'
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April 14, 2022
Managing dental fear in children can be challenging. In my about 30 years working in dentistry, I have picked up some tips to help alleviate dental fear in pediatric clients. Yes, there is a business management side to a dental office, but we cannot be so wrapped up with the tight schedules that we lose sight of the importance and value in the role we play as dental professionals to make dental visits fantastic for every child.
