hygienists

Five game changers: will they alter the course of dental hygiene treatment?

Source: www.rdhmag.com Author: Karen Davis, RDH, BSDH With the beginning of a new year, clinicians may be wondering what new technologies or services they should consider. As I reflected on this, it led me to consider what has the potential to become game changers for dental hygienists. I immediately considered the integration of laser technology, sharpen-free instruments, ergonomic operator chairs, CAMBRA, adjunctive devices for caries detection, and oral cancer screenings. Within minutes, I had a list of about 25 technologies and services that have completely altered how I practice dental hygiene from the day I started in 1979. So I decided to feature a few technologies I believe are underutilized or, in a few cases, even unknown by clinicians who have the potential to substantially alter patient care. Automated and unassisted periodontal charting In the world of dental hygiene, having another person enter data into the computer or record periodontal data is either a luxury or is uncommon. Dental hygienists everywhere seem caught in the time trap of laboriously entering the data or, in many cases, settling for spot probing and incomplete data collection. But automated technologies to collect and enter the data unassisted have been available to dental hygienists for decades, and when integrated, have the potential to help diagnose periodontal diseases in the earliest possible stages. Dental R.A.T. (Remote Assisted Technology) is a foot-operated device that enables the clinician to enter periodontal data unassisted using hand-eye-foot coordination. It integrates to major software programs, automatically entering the data into [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-01-17T12:05:34-07:00January, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

A fighting partner

Source: RDH Magazine Author: Donna Marie Grzegorek Dentists and hygienists should be teaming up to be the first line of defense against oral cancer. In the United States this year, more than 35,310 new cases of oral and pharyngeal cancer will be diagnosed, with an estimated 7,590 people who will die. Sadly, survival rates for oral cancer have not changed significantly in 40 years, and embarrassingly, dental professionals are alone among health professionals who screen for cancer with their hands and eyes. Under the watchful eye of the dental practitioner, 70% of the lesions found during visual and palpation exams are detected in Stage III and Stage IV, and one–half of those patients (58%) will survive less than five years. It gets worse ... a survey conducted by the American Dental Association revealed that only 15% of patients reported having an oral cancer examination during a routine dental appointment. And noteworthy, failure to diagnose oral cancer is the number two cause of dental malpractice in the United States. Oral cancer claims constitute the most expensive malpractice suits and the most difficult to defend, with awards typically exceeding $1 million. If these statistics are not compelling enough, take note that the face of oral cancer is changing. No longer should we look at the older male patient with a chronic history of tobacco and alcohol abuse as the only high–risk patient. Twenty–seven percent of all new oral cancers are occurring in young adults with no associated risk factors. So I ask [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-24T17:48:40-07:00March, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|