Supporting your patient’s oral hygiene, and recommending a remineralising toothpaste like Biomin F, gives them the best result and leads to recommendations, says orthodontist Ariane Sampson.
‘There’s no point in embarking on orthodontic treatment if we leave the teeth in a less healthy state than when we began.’ This was the view of orthodontist Dr Ariane Sampson, speaking at the Biomin Expert Panel session at Dentistry’s Oral Health Summit.
The theme of the session was to explore ‘the smart way to provide preventative oral care for a profitable practice’.
Dr Sampson maintained that good oral hygiene during orthodontic treatment was key to achieving healthy and aesthetically beautiful teeth, a happy patient – and a successful practice.
The COVID pandemic has upset treatment recalls and caused longer intervals without supervision between orthodontic visits, she says. This makes the maintenance of good oral hygiene even more important than usual.
Biomin toothpaste
‘It’s essential for me to hammer home the importance of oral health routines. Like three times daily brushing,’ she says. Noting that many patients, especially children, did not brush for anything like the recommended two minutes.
‘I regularly go through specific parts of the brace,’ she says. Especially focusing on the gingival margins and the space between them and the wire, which a lot of people miss.
‘There’s a risk otherwise that the patient could end up with beautiful straight teeth but areas of demineralisation at the margins,’ she warned.
‘I recommend Biomin F to give my patients extra protection.
‘By promoting a toothpaste like Biomin F, which is really good for reducing the risk of white spot lesions, we finish up with a nicer result after debonding the braces. And we don’t have to take the braces off early due to poor oral hygiene.
‘Using a toothpaste that’s remineralising, like Biomin, is really useful for us to make sure that we provide the best quality results in the healthiest possible way. It’s important to have this tool in your toolbox’.
She stressed: ‘Orthodontic treatment is often an aesthetically-driven treatment. So we want to leave the teeth in a straighter way, but also in a healthy way.
‘There’s no point in embarking on orthodontic treatment if we are going to leave the teeth in a less healthy way than when we began. Biomin really helps with that.’
Creating a healthy smile
She also appreciated the mild taste of Biomin F. She has noticed that young patients often found adult toothpastes too spicy. They were reluctant to transition to them from children’s pastes.
This particularly applied to patients with autism, who were extremely sensitive to taste. ‘Biomin helps a lot with this,’ she said.
Since returning to practice after the lockdown, she and her colleagues are reinforcing brushing techniques again. They reassess where some patients have developed areas of demineralisation having lost their oral hygiene routine. And then provide additional advice to reinstate the importance of oral health.
‘Biomin helps a lot with that as we recommend it to improve the appearance of demineralisation and to prevent it developing in children who may struggle with oral hygiene,’ she said.
She was convinced that optimising good oral health was good for business as well as patients.
‘If the patient has maintained good oral health and has been supported with this there are many benefits: the gums are less inflamed; there’s less risk of demineralisation; the visits for orthodontic adjustment are more comfortable; and there is less pain after adjustment.
‘After the treatment is complete you are left with a beautiful smile. Not just with straight teeth but with healthy teeth.
‘A well supported, happy patient, who has ended up with a good result, will recommend you to others. They appreciate the fact that you are looking after not just the straightness of their teeth, but the health of their teeth.
‘And that is always going to be economical.’
For more information on Biomin F, visit biomin.co.uk.
Catch previous Biomin lectures
- COVID – a blessing in disguise for dentists
- Biomin F represents a ‘quantum leap’ in toothpaste technology.
