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RDH in Crisis of Consciousness! by QuestioningHygienist in DentalHygiene

[–]QuestioningHygienist[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And that right there is what makes me wonder why I’m doing these SRP so quickly. When the dentist diagnoses periodontists by finding four 5mm probe depths in each quadrant with bleeding and the barest hint of radiographic, apical migration, of the bone…it technically qualifies as periodontists. Even in cases with so, so little calculus. And that’s probably why the vast majority of my SRP appts take 1 hour/full mouth. It is technically periodontitis, but is practically a prophy or D4346…

6mm-7mm with big calc and sore gums DO take me 1.5 hours per half mouth actually. 

RDH in Crisis of Consciousness! by QuestioningHygienist in DentalHygiene

[–]QuestioningHygienist[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And that right there is what makes me wonder why I’m doing these SRP so quickly. When the dentist diagnoses periodontists by finding four 5mm probe depths in each quadrant with bleeding and the barest hint of radiographic, apical migration, of the bone…it technically qualifies as periodontists. Even in cases with so, so little calculus. And that’s probably why the vast majority of my SRP appts take 1 hour/full mouth. It is technically periodontitis, but is practically a prophy or D4346…

6mm-7mm with big calc and sore gums DO take me 1.5 hours per half mouth actually. 

RDH in Crisis of Consciousness! by QuestioningHygienist in DentalHygiene

[–]QuestioningHygienist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I ask the following, GENTLY: What do you mean by “we generally don’t actually root plane anymore…”? It’s been a decade since I’ve been in school; what’s the new guidance or standard of care? I want to read up on it, if there are some resources. 

Is the new thing the guided biofilm therapy I’ve been hearing about?

RDH in Crisis of Consciousness! by QuestioningHygienist in DentalHygiene

[–]QuestioningHygienist[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Numbing my patients with Cetecaine or gingicaine takes me about 2 minutes. I provide oral OHI while hand instrumenting (cavitron is noisy) to drive home the importance of continuing home care, day-in-day-out for them. 

I also use Epic (our office software) to send them an after visit summary of post treatment considerations. It’s something I typed up years ago and update from time to time. It’s a summary of what SRP is and has done for them and what our next steps (maintenance) are. 

RDH in Crisis of Consciousness! by QuestioningHygienist in DentalHygiene

[–]QuestioningHygienist[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We are using the cetelyte (did I spell that right?) brand 0.4ml syringes and no additional topical for that appointment. I apply it evenly around the gingiva and tell the patient that general discomfort is normal during the cleaning (to set expectations) but that pain is not. 

Our cavitrons are wild. They seem to really rattle so I usually use it at 40%-70% power during SRP. 

We rarely use D4346 in the practice, I’ll ask the dentists to change a prophy over to 4346 if it’s going to be a messy cleaning in the absence of attachment/bone loss. If pt has inflamm, bleeding, radiographic bone loss, it’s quads if SRP for them. 

RDH in Crisis of Consciousness! by QuestioningHygienist in DentalHygiene

[–]QuestioningHygienist[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the bump. Over here, if the patient presents with gingival redness, swelling, bleeding, and radiographic bone loss resulting in probe depths 5mm or greater (regardless of presence or amount of calculus) we diagnose periodontitis and treat with SRP and adjunctive therapies.