It’s National Dental Hygiene Month and many of the hygienists in our nation are participating in health fairs.
I had a great time participating in a health fair in my current state: Oregon.
In Oregon one Thursday night in October, we had a 2 hour CE course with Debbie Z. Sabatini.
We learned a lot and let me share here what I found new and interesting. Here are some tips about how Dental Hygienists shine a new light on oral cancer screenings:
- Change your language: change the word oral cancer to “oral abnormalities”
- Tell all Patients that you are there to “prevent pain, inflammation, infection, loss of teeth and loss of life”
- Talk about what you “See” not what you find
The next day all the hygienists participated in a community health fair and we all had a chance to not only learn how to use the OralID but we had people from the community recieve various screenings and one was for oral abnormalities. No, we did not find any serious oral abnormalities that day!
The OralID consensus is: It’s easy to use, takes maybe 4 mins and it’s about the size of a typical flashlight. It even lights up plaque around the gumline and on the teeth.
How would it feel if one day a patient came to your office with part of their jaw now missing? What will you say when this patient asks you “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” (meaning Why didn’t you tell me when you looked in my mouth that something there was abnormal?)
With HPV on the rise it is our responsibility to have this latest technology which can detect any abnormality before it becomes Life Altering!
It is our role as dental professionals to stop this now.
Need more information about how you can get started doing this type of screening? CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION
Please comment below about your thoughts or experiences using this fluorscopy technology. And be sure to share the important information with you colleagues.
Thank you for being a messenger of this important information! I appreciate you!