{"id":2216,"date":"2021-09-09T17:14:56","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T17:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/?p=2216"},"modified":"2024-08-29T23:01:53","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T23:01:53","slug":"never-assume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/dental-professionals\/never-assume\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Assume"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You never know what a patient\u2019s dental care routine is until you ask them!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Just because your patient is an educated, well-to-do person\u2026 that doesn\u2019t mean they are taking proper care of their teeth!!!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It\u2019s important to set a realistic goal for improving their hygiene before the next appointment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Today, when I asked my 3-month perio maintenance patient what his home care tools looked like and his response was\u2026.\u201d I use mouthwash a couple of times a day. I should probably brush my teeth but I just rinse and go\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<p>I was never so thankful I had to wear a mask all the time !!!! I was really proud of how well I kept my composure. I listened and then went into a chat about what it means to be on Perio maintenance and the importance of mechanical removal of plaque and how brushing would really improve the overall outlook of having his teeth for his whole life.<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<p>Now, let me back up\u2026 This patient is a 33-year-old male with, clear medical history, and fit as a fiddle.. like working out at the gym kind of fit. Extremely intelligent!! As in, literally, a Nuclear Engineer!!<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<p>After processing through all of this, I took a look inside his mouth. Took intraoral photos and proceeded to Co-Diagnose with him. Including my patient in the overview of what his teeth and gums actually look like and reinforced the importance of mechanical removal of plaque.<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<p>I asked him if would commit to a singular goal of buying and using a power toothbrush before his next appointment. He responded, \u201cYes, I can do that!\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<p>A few things passed through my mind after he left the appointment. Was he struggling with a mental health issue? How does he not brush his teeth!! Then I moved into more strategic thinking\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<p>Is it possible no one ever discussed brushing????<br>Perhaps he is having a mental health issue AND we never taught this gentleman about brushing his teeth. At some point, we provided scaling and root planning on this patient and he has still been returning like clockwork; coming every 3 months for his maintenance. Hmmmmm<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<p>As a leader In my practice, I am always looking for the takeaway. The teachable moments. His intraoral photos made the cut for my next training slide show. Let\u2019s not forget to review home care with our patients else they all come in with \u201cmagic shell\u201d like deposits on their teeth. It\u2019s ok to keep stating the obvious and get our patients to make commitments to change. Asking this gentleman to participate in completing a goal for our next hygiene appointment was a strategic play to have him take action and feel accountable. We can not assume our patients are solid on the basics of home care.<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<p>Jennifer Kender, 30-Year RDH<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, when I asked my 3-month perio maintenance patient what his home care tools looked like and his response was\u2026.\u201d I use mouthwash a couple of times a day. I should probably brush my teeth but I just rinse and go\u201d. I was never so thankful I had to wear a mask all the time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[50,82],"class_list":["post-2216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dental-professionals","tag-blog","tag-tips-and-advice"],"acf":[],"card":{"rendered":"\t\t<div class=\"col archive__col\">\n\t\t<div id=\"blog-post-2216\" class=\"blog-post card post-2216 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-dental-professionals tag-blog tag-tips-and-advice\" data-mobile=\"swiper-slide\">\n\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/gotu.com\/dental-professionals\/never-assume\/\" class=\"card-img-wrapper\">\n\n\t\t<img width=\"600\" height=\"350\" src=\"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/rdh-never-assume-600x350.jpg\" class=\"card-img-top card-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"RDH Never Assume\" decoding=\"async\" \/>\n\t<\/a>\n\n\t<div class=\"card-body\">\n\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"card-subtitle blog-card__catgeory\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-tax\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/gotu.com\/types\/blog\/\">Blog<\/a><span> \u2022 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gotu.com\/types\/tips-and-advice\/\">Tips and Advice<\/a><span> \u2022 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gotu.com\/topics\/dental-professionals\/\">Dental Professionals<\/a><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<a class=\"card-more btn btn-tertiary\" href=\"https:\/\/gotu.com\/dental-professionals\/never-assume\/\">\n\t\t\tRead Article\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t<h2 class=\"card-title blog-card__title\">\n\n\t\t\tNever Assume\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"card-text blog-card__excerpt\">\n\n\t\t\tToday, when I asked my 3-month perio maintenance patient what his home care tools looked like and his response was\u2026.\u201d I use mouthwash a couple of times a day. I should probably brush my teeth but I just rinse and go\u201d. I was never so thankful I had to wear a mask all the time [&hellip;]\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9462,"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions\/9462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}