Dental Assisting

As a dental assistant you have the opportunity to generate revenue for your practice, and provide the personalized care every patient wants.  There are many diagnostic screening procedures and education opportunities for the dental assistant to provide to patients in order to prepare them for their time with their doctor or dental hygienist.  Often times patients connect best with and look to their dental assistant for answers to their problems or to explain what their dentist may not have had time to thoroughly explain.  Therefore, a complete understanding of the caries infection and current diagnostic and treatment options is imperative.

The latest research on the caries infection has now identified a few key concepts:

• This infection is not pathogen specific, it is a biofilm disease and there are now 23 identified strains of bacteria, any combination of which may contribute in an individual.
• pH is the strongest “selection pressure” that determines whether these cariogenic strains are present at pathogenic levels.
• There are some key risk factors that can determine our patients’ susceptibility to this infection.
  

 

Solutions for Your Practice

• Help your practice to determine a simple protocol for risk assessment so you know how to best treat each patient.
• You are already identifying your patients who are susceptible to the disease, ie. the ones who have cavities, determine what recommendations you can make, in addition to restorative work, to treat their infection.
• Take a look at what products you are currently recommending to identify if they work to treat the infection or just repair/remineralize the damage.
• Consider the pH of the dental products you choose, understanding that alkaline products give you the opportunity to neutralize the oral environment and promote healthy bacterial growth.