The hygienist’s blog – mindfulness…toothbrushing – Dentistry Online

Claire Berry explores mindfulness toothbrushing and how it could just help keep patients on the straight and narrow for the long term.

Mindfulness…with toothbrushing? I know what you are thinking and no – lockdown hasn’t got me going crazy, read on!

We’ve all got a bit more time during lockdown, including our patients. So now is a great time as a collective to try and push positive oral health messages to as many people far and wide as we can. Now is also a period that many people are being more reflective on how they spend their time. I see endless posts about mindfulness and meditation. It got me thinking, employing mindfulness techniques into our daily toothbrushing practise. Even extending it to interdental cleaning could help our patients adopt better techniques for the long term too.

I hope I am winning you over a bit more here, bear with me!

How does it work?

Ok, it is not for everyone and I was sceptical about these sorts of ideas for a while. But lockdown eventually got me sitting outside with my eyes closed listening to birds and feeling the breeze on my face. I definitely feel like I’ve experienced my garden like I never had before. We define mindfulness as the ‘psychological process of purposefully bringing ones attention to experiences occurring in the present moment’. So, for those of you who are open to the concept – or have so much time that you’re willing to fill it in any which way – why not give this a go. I have explained below how it may work. Quick disclaimer – I am not a mindfulness expert but feel this is how we would apply it in order to improve oral health.

Before…