Comments on: Challenging "The Great Dental Hoax: Why Twice a Year Cleanings Mean Nothing"

By: lolabees

lolabees — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 22:32:53 +0000

In reply to Heidi. Thanks, Heidi! You really are a revolutionary. You and Carrie both! ;)

By: lolabees

lolabees — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 22:32:02 +0000

In reply to Patricia.

I agree, Patricia. For that reason I struggled with the sentence that I wrote above, “the person who has such impeccable home care that they do the hygienist’s job for them on a daily basis,” because I really don’t see it as the hygienist’s job to keep the patient’s mouth clean. That is the patient’s job, and the work that the hygienist does should only compliment and enhance what the patient does at home. The question is how do we effectively teach those skills and values.

I never knew about that ad campaign, so I found it quite interesting and even a bit funny! My, how we can be easily manipulated. 😉

By: Patricia

Patricia — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 07:04:04 +0000

There are many good points in Carrie’s blog and the responses. I think the main point is good dental care starts at home with the individual and that is the essence of the situation. If the patient relies on professional dental cleaning whether it is one month, three months or six months it is all for nothing if home care is not adequate. Also, I have support the idea that the media is the message in the sense that I heard a program on the radio by Terry O’Reily who works in the field of advertisement and he mentioned exactly what Carrie said about how advertising effects our lives including how Pepsodent came up with the slogan to sell their product. This is a known fact or a little known fact depending on how you look at it. So fact or fiction, the final results are up to the individual, good care, good products and personal responsibility are very important.

By: lolabees

lolabees — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 21:27:14 +0000

In reply to misslaurel. That is definitely something I can stand behind. Very well said, misslaurel-- you convinced me! BTW- I think Carrie is on to something here, and I think it would be great to see dental offices team up with her. What a cool concept!

By: Heidi

Heidi — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 00:18:21 +0000

Hi Lolabees,
Love the blog as always and but I could not resist weighing in today!

You are spot on, we do need a standard of care or guideline to practice. Can you imagine the chaos without it? I also have experienced six month recalls work well for most healthy patients. Just as every three or four month recalls best serve periodontal patients. ( I have even “dared” to schedule one patient at ONE MONTH recalls! Gasp!! The horror! ha ha). Truth be told I have had patients on one year recalls too! Radical me; adjusting the standard to fit the patient! :}
However, misslaurel does make a good point about the lack of Oral Hygiene Instruction in many practices today.

By: misslaurel

misslaurel — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 21:14:19 +0000

That’s Carrie’s whole point – prevention is key. But that starts with HOME CARE, not just trips to the dentist. I think Carrie’s point is that the frequency of need for dental visits varies with each individual, and that education and technique are key, neither of which tend to be taught at the dentist’s office which is part of the “hoax”. Brush, floss & visit your dentist twice annually is a “hoax” in that it offers a blanket prescription where individual care is actually needed. Educating the patient to perform proper daily home care is Carrie’s focus, and along with that a person may need 1 or 2 cleanings annually, or once every 2 years. It depends on each case. The hoax comes in that “do this & you’ll be just fine” message from the wonderful world of advertising. She’s empowering the patient to know their mouth and be wiser.

By: lolabees

lolabees — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 18:15:10 +0000

In reply to Ingrid. It's nice to be able to share my opinions on this without having anything at stake. I can share some honest insight that can help others, and no one thinks I'm trying to sell them something! Thanks, Ingrid. I hope you do, and I hope you are enjoying your new life. I haven't caught up in a while. Just got back from traveling myself. :)

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 14:28:12 +0000

Enlightening. I’ve always wondered why the twice a year cleaning. You brought up some insightful info on the preventative aspects that I hadn’t considered. Guess I’ll be making that appointment 🙂

By: OyiaBrown

OyiaBrown — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 13:59:57 +0000

Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.