Video summary
In this video, a dental hygienist shares her top product recommendations designed to enhance patient education and clinical efficiency in everyday practice. She begins by highlighting visual aids that are crucial for explaining oral health issues, such as picture books containing photos of gum inflammation, cavities, stains, and various restorative procedures like crowns and bridges. These tools allow practitioners to show patients the progression of dental problems before and after treatment, including examples of spacing in young children's teeth. She also recommends detailed tooth models that can demonstrate periodontal disease, plaque buildup, calculus, gum recession, bone loss, and different stages of occlusal wear. Additionally, she suggests using interactive healthy versus decayed tooth models with kids to engage them during examinations, often turning the visit into a playful learning opportunity where children can handle the props while discussing cavity prevention.
The hygienist then discusses specific chemical agents from Oral Science that have proven effective in her practice over many years. She praises Fluorimax fluoride varnish for its pleasant flavors and low stickiness, which allows patients to eat or drink immediately after application rather than waiting thirty minutes. This product offers excellent enamel uptake and remineralization properties essential for cavity protection. Similarly, she recommends Crystal Desensitizer as a highly effective solution for sensitive teeth that requires only one or two drops applied with a small microbrush without needing the area to be completely dry. She notes that patients often request frequent visits specifically for this treatment because of its significant impact on reducing sensitivity.
Beyond patient care products, the video covers cost-effective equipment and consumables available primarily through Amazon. The presenter showcases an affordable cordless intraoral camera that connects to smartphones or tablets, enabling practitioners to capture high-quality videos and images for charting and showing patients their oral conditions without needing expensive professional-grade zoom capabilities; she suggests manually moving closer if higher magnification is needed. She also endorses the Pro Freedom polisher from 2018 as a quiet, lightweight alternative to heavy slow-speed handpieces that children find ticklish rather than scary. Furthermore, she advocates for reusable dappen dishes to reduce waste and save money, with the specific exception of using disposable ones when applying silver diamine fluoride (SDF) to prevent staining during sterilization cycles.
Finally, the hygienist explains her strategic use of silver diamine fluoride as a method to arrest decay in its earliest stages before it spreads or requires invasive fillings. She emphasizes that while SDF stains the treated area black, this is acceptable for posterior teeth where cavities are already dark and helps patients avoid extractions or restorations; however, she strictly advises against using it on visible front teeth due to permanent staining. To round out her recommendations, she suggests simple yet effective items like selfie ring lights for better social media photography inside the mouth and small stickers as a fun reward system for children who visit regularly or celebrate birthdays without cavities. Throughout the video, she reinforces that while some products may be pricier than others found at dental supply companies, their ability to improve patient outcomes, reduce waste, and save time makes them worth every penny.
Read the full video transcript
[music]
>> In this video, I want to show you all
some of my favorite products as a dental
hygienist. And first up, number one is
this picture book where you can show
patients gum inflammation. There's
cavity photos, there's stain photos,
there's you know, when somebody's
getting a tooth removed. You can show
them all kinds of things, crowns,
amalgams, bridges, how things look
before and after. Showing them a
3-year-old's teeth with lots of spacing.
So, there's there's a variety in this
booklet. I love it. It's from Amazon. I
will link it down below for you.
Bacteria, talking about plaque. I love
this book. I always have it with me.
Another one of my favorite products are
tooth models, also from Amazon. I I will
leave the links for everything down
below. I was just looking at this. I'm
like, what is this? It looks like a
sticker kind of got stuck here. So, let
me just remove that.
But, tooth models, they're so helpful.
This one here is amazing for showing
periodontal disease, plaque, and
calculus. If you turn it behind, it's
showing the different gum and bone
levels. If you turn it to the occlusal
surface, which is a little hard to see
with my ring light, but it is showing
the different stages of occlusal wear
when you're talking about attrition or
things like that. So, a very helpful
model. Another one that I use all the
time, and kids actually quite like this.
When they see this in my cart, they
always want to play with it. So, then
that's a great opportunity for you to
say, "Well, let me first talk to you
about cavities." This is a healthy
tooth, and this is what happens when you
get a cavity. So, it's great to really
show that. There's even an abscess at
the bottom here if somebody didn't know
what that was.
Some of my other favorite products is
the Fluorimax by Oral Science. So, I
love their
um fluoride varnish because it's not
that sticky. I have used multiple
different ones and this one these ones
taste very good. I have an unscented.
I've gotten cotton candy. I believe they
have a mint. They don't taste that bad.
Some of them taste horrible and you just
need one to two drops depending on if
you're seeing a child or an adult, so
you're not wasting product. All you do
is brush it on with a microbrush. They
can eat or drink right away. So, clients
love this because they don't have to
wait 30 minutes to eat or to eat or
drink and the uptake with enamel is
excellent, really protecting their teeth
against cavities, offering that
remineralization, which we know is so
important.
Another one of my favorite products,
also by Oral Science, is the Crystal
Desensitizer.
This stuff works. I've tried many
different kinds when I used to work in a
dental office and some would work, some
wouldn't work. This is very, very easy.
It's typically just one or two drops,
again depending on how many areas of the
mouth you're doing. You just simply
brush it on with a tinier microbrush,
not the big one, but it is suggested,
somebody by Oral Science did tell me
this, to use the smaller microbrush
because it's kind of easy to get in
there. You don't need to dry the area
completely. It's good to even be a
little bit wet, which is fantastic
because that just makes it easier to
apply. My patients love this. Some of my
patients who have very sensitive teeth
in general, they want me to come every 3
months to just apply this because they
say it really makes a big, big
difference. So, if that doesn't sell it
to you, I don't know what will.
Another one of my favorite things is
going to be the intraoral camera from
Amazon. I will leave the link for you
down below. You can spend $2,000 on an
intraoral camera from a dental company
if you want to. This is going to do the
same thing and it's cordless. It's
fantastic. You just have to hook it up
to your cell phone, iPad, whatever and
it works. The only thing it doesn't do I
guess compared to a $2,000 intraoral
camera cuz I've used both is it doesn't
zoom in. But guess what? Do it the
old-fashioned way. Zoom in with your
hand. Move closer to the tooth if you
need to see it closer. But as you can
see from the pictures, it does an
amazing job. It can take pictures and
video. What I like to do is I take a
video for every single client at the
beginning of the appointment. I go
through quad one, quad two, quad three,
quad four. That's how I do my charting
so that I can double-check the chart
when I get back at home to really see
how things look. Plus, if I need to
point something out to a patient, I can
easily show them the video afterwards.
There's a magnifier at the end so I can
see it better than with my own eyes
inside the mouth first so there's no
surprises when I go to look in there
with my own eyes. So I love this.
Another one is my new pro freedom
polisher. I've had this since 2018. It
still works amazing. I have never gone
back to a slow speed handpiece. It's
just too heavy, makes too much noise.
This is quiet. Kids love it. They say it
tickles and adults love it too because
it's it's not loud. They feel It just
feels less intrusive and more
importantly, it does a great job. So I
highly recommend this. This is expensive
but worth every penny.
Another thing I really like to use are
my reusable dappen dishes. So you might
be thinking, well that's a funny thing
to point out, but I have disposable
dappen dishes and I have reusable ones.
I I love these ones cuz I can sterilize
them. I'm the type of person that really
doesn't like waste when I can help it.
So, I do love these and I pretty much
use it for everything. The only thing
that I'm going to use a disposable
dappen dish for is, which I'm going to
talk about next, is the silver diamine
fluoride because the silver diamine
fluoride is going to stain. You do not
want to use a reusable dappen dish cuz
it's probably going to stain. I've never
used it before, so the stain could come
off during sterilization or disinfection
and then sterilizing, I'm not sure, but
I like to use the disposable ones for my
silver diamine fluoride. Amazon,
cheaper.
Um same thing here. Amazon,
[clears throat] cheaper.
Um and I'm I'm I mean cheaper than a
dental company that's going to sell you
these things, but always do your
research, of course, to find the best
price. So, my next favorite product is,
as as I said, the silver diamine
fluoride. So many hygienists, so many
dentists, so many assistants don't know
about silver diamine fluoride. This is
meant to arrest decay in its earliest
form. So, if you have a watch area or an
incipient, even in your own mouth, put
this on with a tiny micro brush, rub it
in there, you're good to go. Hopefully,
it's going to arrest the cavity if it
hasn't had a chance to spread. It can't
hurt. Anytime I see something that I'm a
little bit suspicious of, even if the
client has a dental appointment the next
day to get their dental exam, I always
put this on because it can't hurt and
it's only going to help arrest decay so
it doesn't get bigger. It's expensive,
but again, worth every penny because a
client would prefer not to get a filling
if they can help it, right? But just
remember, don't put it on front teeth
because it's going to stain the area
black. A lot of people say, well,
what patient is going to like it in the
back teeth if it's going to stain the
area black? It doesn't stain the whole
tooth black, just that pinpointed area
where you're going to apply it. The
cavity is black anyway, so who cares?
Clients don't care if it's in the back
and it might help them prevent them from
getting a filling. I I use the same
stuff in my own mouth, but not the front
teeth that people can see because it
does stain black and the black stain
doesn't go away. It stains black if it's
decay.
Um but just be careful with this, again,
not the front teeth. I think, let's see.
Oh, just a couple more things.
A selfie ring light, they call it on
Amazon. I'll leave the link down below.
If you're taking pictures inside the
patient's mouth to use for social media,
taking other pictures, I will always
attach this to my cell phone. It's super
easy. It just makes the picture look
better. And last but not least for now,
you guys, is little stickers from
Amazon, you guys. Kids love it. This was
super cheap. They're nice and tiny and
something special to give them. I have a
toy box also, but let's say I happen to
see them on their birthday or they're a
new patient or they have no cavities,
I'm going to let them pick one or two
stickers. There's a lot of variety here
and trust me, kids love it. Just buy the
stickers, they will really appreciate
it. So, there's so many other things
that I love to use, but these were the
main ones to give you an idea. Amazon
has most of this. I'm going to to to
leave the links for you guys down below.
If you have any questions, let me know.
Thank you for watching and I'll see you
in the next one.