Dentaltown October 2014 - (Page 124)

hygiene and prevention perio program feature Reflecting on Your Perio Program This is the ﬁfth installment of our ﬁve part series on implementing a perio program in your practice. The ﬁrst installment focused on assessing the periodontal health of your practice, asking, " How healthy are your patients and how healthy do you want them to be?" Answers to these questions provided the foundation for the second installment, focused on getting the conversation going between dentists and hygienists on their philosophies of periodontal treatment and prevention. In the third installment it was time to create the plan for your perio program. Once the plan was ready, the focus was implementation. The fourth installment provided ideas for presenting the perio program to patients to gain their acceptance and full participation. In this ﬁnal installment, our clinical experts provide reﬂections on the implementation and acceptance of the perio program and helpful suggestions for measuring success and identifying areas needing improvement. Diane Brucato Thomas, RDH, EF, BS, FAADH, OMT, BBP: V aluable feedback to evaluate the success of your perio program can come from everyone involved. The doctor may notice a need to refer fewer clients to the periodontist as one positive result of the periodontal program. In addition, production numbers should increase signiﬁcantly. The front desk personnel are often the ones who receive direct reports from the clients regarding their feelings about the services they receive. Maintaining good, open-minded, non-defensive communications with these co-workers can only improve your service as a clinician. This feedback provides the opportunity to grow and excel. The scheduling experts can report the percentage of clients who actually schedule for recommended periodontal treatment, 124 OCTOBER 2014 » dentaltown.com while those collecting fees can report on collection success. Those team members can offer suggestions as well as feedback. For example, despite making every effort to convey a client's responsibility to pay at time of service, one day I had a client who had spent the entire day with me in treatment, then claimed he wasn't expecting to have to pay that day. To avoid this in the future, the front desk team solved this problem by performing collections when clients walk in the door, before I take them back into the operatory. They explain by saying, " We have found that when clients come in for long procedures, it is easier for them to complete business transactions while they are fresh, beforehand. This way, when you are done, you can just go home and rest." The clinician can take advantage of the re-evaluation appointment after treatment is completed and healing is well underway to evaluate the success of the periodontal program. The re-evaluation appointment should include a complete periodontal charting of probing scores, bleeding points, purulence and tissue description. I cannot say it enough: L earn to read the tissues! If you were completely thorough removing sub gingival calculus or if you missed something, the tissues will not lie. Healthy tissue is pink, not red or cyanotic, and it does not bleed. Do not be afraid to reinstrument and re-evaluate to achieve optimal tissue health. If an area does not resolve, it may be necessary to refer the client to a periodontist. In performing thorough re-evaluations and reading the tissues, you may discover you have a weakness pattern. For example, there was a time when I consistently missed the disto-lingual line angles of mandibular bicuspids. B y paying attention to that, I was able to identify an area where I needed to improve my skills and push myself to overcome that weakness. In that process, I became a better clinician. http://www.dentaltown.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown October 2014

Dentaltown.com Highlights
Howard Speaks: Debt and Cash Flow
Professional Courtesy: The Amazon Question
Continuing Education Update
According to the AAP, Periodontal Disease is Associated with Heart Disease
Teach Me Ideal Dentistry for Veneers
Appointment Flow
HIPPA, HITECH, ePHI: OMG, What a PIA
Second Opinion: The $63,750 Obamacare Incentive — Is it Worth It?
Doctor’s Biggest Financial Mistakes
CAD/CAM Dentistry: Exploring the Possibilities
Productive CAD/CAM Dentistry
Product Profile: Bluephase Style LED
Product Profile: Enamelon Preventive Treatment Gel
Product Profile: G-ænial Bond
New Products
Composite Materials for Optimal Restorative Results
A Step-by-Step Guide to Developing, Promoting and Staging a Successful Community Event
Better, Faster, More Effi cient Dentistry
Industry Leaders on Industry-leading Handpiece Manufacturers
You Should Know: PACE Marcom
Poll
Ad Index
You Should Know: Triology
Digital Marketing by the Numbers
Perio Reports
How to Perform a Painless Perio Probing
Step 5: Refl ect on the Program
Dentally Incorrect

Dentaltown October 2014