Every dentist wishes that their patients knew the dos and don’ts of effective teeth care, and yet so many patients don’t know much more than that they should brush twice a day. The problem is that there’s all too often a communication gap or a language barrier between professionals and patients, but that’s something we can address today.

To help close the gap, we’re going to address this article to dentists and patients at the same time. That way, the professionals can give some thought to how they are educating their patients, and the patients can get a deeper level of insight into what it is they need to be doing each and every day.

Brush twice daily

After breakfast and just before bed are the two most common times to brush your teeth, and for good reason. Leaving the house with a clean set of teeth will help wake you up in the morning and set the tone for a healthy day, while going to bed with a clean bill of health is perhaps even more important. Bacteria from food debris and sugar sit in the mouth and breed throughout the night, so we need to make sure we remove as much of it as possible before our head hits the pillow.

Use the correct mouthwash

This is where dental practice managers can come into their own. Dentists will tell patients to use mouthwash, and patients will either forget or buy something ineffective from the supermarket. By having a ready supply of the best mouthwash for each patient available at reception, dental practices can finally become the one-stop shops that their patients have been waiting for. Not only that, but proactive practice managers will be able to add lucrative new revenue streams to their businesses by following this approach.

Floss after eating

A dentist who tells their patients to floss is good, but a dentist who provides the correct size and type of floss is so much better. This point follows naturally from the last and shows how important practice managers are when it comes to closing the gap between advice from dentists and action from patients. Once flossing becomes a reflex action after every snack or bite to eat throughout the day, the oral health of the patient in question is only ever going to be trending in one direction.

Clean interdental gaps

Dental practice managers are able to consistently boost patient outcomes by offering a range of interdental brushes for sale at reception. These clever little brushes reach all of the places that a conventional toothbrush never can, thanks to their streamlined head sizes and unique bristle patterns. Ideal when you want to make sure that food debris never becomes a breeding ground for harmful bacteria or plaque that will eat its way right down to the sensitive tooth pulp.

Avoid hard-bristle brushes

Practices will offer a range of different bristle hardnesses, but sensitive teeth are best cared for with a very soft bristle. The same is true if a patient has delicate gums that are prone to bleeding or are currently receding. There is a school of thought among some that the harder the bristles, the better when it comes to removing stains — particularly those due to smoking — but this often turns out not to be the case. Dentists who have a variety of bristle types they can recommend will be the ones who make the biggest difference to the positive outcomes their patients enjoy.

Be kind to the gumline

Softer bristles will always be much more forgiving when they nick the gumline, especially in the case of a patient with receding gums or someone who is suffering from gingivitis. Practice managers have a key role to play here because they are the ones who will place the orders for different types of brushes. Having a range that can be used by people with various qualities of oral health would be one way of going about things. That way, patients can be easily directed to the right dental care products and brushes for their individual needs.

Don’t rinse straight after brushing

A practice that invests in educational materials will be able to highlight key details, such as the fact that rinsing straight after brushing strips the fluoride from toothpaste back off the teeth. Something as simple as posters and pictures in the practice waiting room could be all it takes to make sure that the next batch of patients pick up this key piece of messaging.

The Dos and Don’ts of Effective Teeth Care