Dental Stuff

Today my hubby had to go to the oral surgeon to have a wisdom tooth, #32, taken out. Every thing went according to plan thank goodness.  When my hubby came out from his appointment he tells me that the dentist used a "drill" (hand-piece) connected to an iPad.  I'm thinking hmmm never heard of this piece of

equipment. So I get on my iPad go to the App Store and wallah there it is iChiropro.  It's pretty cool. You connect the hand-piece to it, there are a variety to choose from for different purposes, and it has preset commands that control it.  There are more and ore uses for our gadgets other than gaming. I saw a tv program not too long ago that was showing apps to use in medical offices or to take vitals of patients while they were at home.  All sorts of neat technology on the horizon.


Until next time....

Keep brushing 

Woohooo...It's the Weekend!!

Well... it's the weekend again for me.  Four lovely days off from scraping teeth aaahhhhh.  I love my career but it's hard on this old body of mine not to mention I've been helping my mom after work painting and things at her new home.  It's all good though. Great company and lots of laughs. My mom and her sisters...what a group of ladies. LOL Gotta love them :-)


My plans for my 4 days off are as follows...

Friday

1. Appointment in Chatt 
2. A well deserved massage by my good friend Katie at All About U Salon 
3. Help mom figure out her kitchen cabinets 
4. Dinner with my hubby

Saturday

1. Try to sell...sell...sell at mom's yard sell
2. Spend the afternoon with my honey :-)
3. Hamburger night!! 

Sunday - Movie Day!  White House Down is on our agenda 

Monday - Probably something for mom I'm sure LOL  

Hope you have a great weekend planned

Until next time....

Keep Brushing!!! 

Weekend Wonderings

Today I was off from work YEAAAAAA!!  So I went and got a much needed massage from Ms Katie over at the All About U Salon.  It was oooh sooo good too. Working in dentistry is not so good for the back and neck. Boy, I get kinks where you wouldn't think you'd get kinks.  So I go have Katie unknot me. I asked her if it would break up my cellulite and she just laughed at me, so I took that as a big fat NO. LOL Oh and that is not me in that picture...hehehe

Then ran over to Big Lots to peruse all the goodies they get in.  You never know what you'll find good in that store :-)  Then lunch with my ladies, my mom & g'ma.  My of 2 best buds in all the world!  Mom sold her house and she's been scouring Cleveland for a replacement that won't brake the bank and I think we found one.  Nice little brick ranch about 6 minutes from me.  Which will be nice.  I hope the guy takes her bid on it. Say I word of prayer for her. 

Tomorrow we have our HUGE yard sale and I have tons of books and video games and VHS tapes if you still watch those...hehehe We've got furniture and brick a brack, knick knacks, clothing, air compressor, pressure washer, TVs, & tons of other stuff. I think my mom is selling everything but the kitchen sink...hehe So if you live in Cleveland, TN look for a huge yard sale. 

Well...Until tomorrow

Hope you have a great weekend!

Sherri 

Catching Up with New Dental Technology

Ok... As you can tell by some of my posts I work in the dental field.  I've been a dental hygienist for 20 years now.  I consider myself a good hygienist.  I'm not the best but I'm not the worst not by any stretch of the imagination.  I take way more continuing education than is necessary to keep my license current. I try to stay up to date on new techniques and technologies and if it were up to me and I ran my own business I would have more of these things. But alas that's not how it works in the dental game.  Hygienists are still under the guise of the dentist so therefore we work for/with them.  Fortunately, I work with a dentist who likes to stay on the cutting edge with his education & technologies as much as he can afford too. Dang it if dental equipment weren't so darn expensive!  Well, anyway...he likes to get new things when possible and can be fit in our budget.  

He recently purchased the lastest Cerec machine which will allow the dentists in my practice to fit a crown for our patients in 1 visit and save them from coming back and missing possibly more work.  It's a pretty cool machine too.  We're also adding a new oral cancer screening tool to our practice called Oral-ID.  Oral cancer is on the rise and  there have been many screening tools that have come to the market over the last few years.  Some require the patient to rinse with this horrid tasting solution and a little disposable light wand is use to look in the mouth.  Then there is the Velscope & Identifi which uses fluorescing technology but they are pricey.  The Oral-ID uses the same technology but is smaller and less expensive to use. Therefore it's less expensive to the patient for their

screening :-)  It's a win, win for everyone around. We have better screening tools beside just our naked eyes and patients doen't have to pay an arm & a leg for their cancer screenings!  Looks like a flashlight doesn't it.  Pretty cool! Can't wait to start screening my patients and offering them a little more peace of mind.  With all the media goings on about Michael Douglas' oral cancer and HPV.  This little handheld device will help dental professionals give better care to their patients. 

Does your dentist or doctor use an oral cancer screening aid?  If not, let them know that there is an affordable way to provide this service to their patients. 

Monday, Monday...

Monday, Monday... 
Most people don't like Mondays. I'm kind of indifferent to them.  I don't have to work every Monday so that's good :D But today was my Monday to work at the office. So there I was at 7:45 this morning for our usual morning meeting before starting our day.  It was good Monday though, great patients and good company from my fellow co-workers.  Their a bunch of great ladies and I'm glad to call them all my friends. 

Not sure how you feel about Mondays, but if you really think about them they really aren't all that bad especially if you wake up.  Now if you don't wake up then you've got a problem.

On another note...

Dang, do you know how many songs there are about Mondays???  A lot!  

Sunday, Monday, or Always by Bing Crosby
Call it Stormy Monday by T-Bone WalkerBlue Monday by Fats DominoMonday Monday by The Mamas and PapasRainy Days and Mondays by The CarpentersCome Monday by Jimmy BuffetMonday Morning by Fleetwood MacI Don't Like Mondays by the Boomtown RatsBlue Monday by New OrderManic Monday by The BangleNew Moon on Monday by Duran DuranMonday, Monday, Monday by Tegan and SaraMayonnaise Taco Monday by Five Iron FrenzyMonday Morning Church by Allan Jackson Permanent Monday by Gordon Sparks
Da doo ron ron by the CrystalsMonday by WilcoMonday Morning by Pulp


Hope you all had a great Monday and Friday is just 4 days away!!! Oh, but I hate to rub it in I don't have to work this Friday OR next Monday...hehehe Don't I have a great schedule!  WOOOOHOOO 

Woohoo it's Friday!

It's Friday, it's Friday!  Can you tell I'm happy cuz it's the weekend ;)  Today was my Friday to work and it was an uneventful day at the office, no mishaps and every patient showed up WOOOHOO!  In dentistry you always do the happy dance when all your scheduled patients showed up and your schedule is full but not OVER full.  

After work I went and tanned.  Yes, I know it's not good for ya but I don't over do it.  I'm not addicted to it or anything like that I just have no where outside at home to layout plus I just don't have the time.  I just want a healthy glow so don't condem me.  Then home to take out my baby girls and wait on the hubs to get home from work.  It's pizza night for the Bushes then the mall & Target. That's our Friday routine. Boring I know, but it suits us and I like it.  I did a little Vegas #RDHUOR shopping and found pair of creamsicle pants & a cute JLo top at Kohls. 


I think later me and the hubby will start a movie - Number Station with John Cusack.  Looks like it might be an interesting movie. A former black ops agent and the young woman he's assigned to protect fight for survival after a surprise attack.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Sherri aka smilingRDH

Tiring but Good :-)

Today I had the opportunity to help my community.  I live in a city just north of

Chattanooga, Cleveland, TN.  While I'm not originally from the area I have lived here for nearly 17 years.  As you can tell from my previous posts, I am in the business of dental hygiene.  Well, the Remote Area Medical came to our area today to do dental, medical and vision care for those in need and some of us from my office volunteered to help.  What an experience this was for me.  I've done other volunteer work though my office (I'll tell you about that later) but this was really cool just to see how the pull this off in the cafeteria of a high school.  They have rows of mobile dental units lined up, I think there were about 40+ chairs. I was at chair 34.  They do free cleanings, filling, & extractions.  They use a mobile x-ray unit called Nomad to take x-rays on the go.  Everything is sterilized just like in an dental office by autoclave.  They have rows and rows of dental instruments and equipment.  It's like a well oiled machine.  I was honored to get to help out.  The downside is you have to stand up to do your treatment which is hard on these 50+ year old legs and back but it was worth it to see the smiles on the faces of those I got to give care too. I had one 12 year old girl who just kept laughing at my crazy jokes and she looks up and "says you are just too funny".  Made me feel great that she was at ease with me.  Then I had the shall we call him the "character" what a hoot he was to treat.  Well, I suppose it takes all kinds.  

All in all it was an awesome Sunday morning.  If your interesting in volunteering for RAM check out their website at www.ramusa.org  to see if they are coming to your area or if you want to travel that's cool too.  We had volunteers from many states at our clinic. I met one male RDH from FL and another volunteer who was a nursing student from CO.  So you don't have to stay close to home if you don't want. Make it a vacation with a purpose!  

The Dreaded "F" Word

I'm sure most of you hate going to the dentist.  I hear it every day from my own patients. But be honest it's not all that bad. Dentistry and dental hygiene have come a long way over the years I have to admit myself.  In the 25 years that I've been in dentistry, 5 as a dental assistant and the last 20 as a Registered Dental Hygienists, I my self have seen plenty of changes. Some for the better and some not so good.  The good stuff is the technological advances that I've seen such as DNA testing for periodontal disease, digital radiology, advances in oral cancer detection & decay control just to name a few. I will address some of these new technologies in future blogs. But today I want to talk about the old FLOSS.  

I know, I know you don't wanna hear the "F" word from your hygienist.  Well, I think you're going to be surprised about my feeling as a hygienist about floss.  I think floss is crap. Most people don't use it properly anyway so why bother. Plus no one wants to use it a for one thing anyway, not even me.  Yes, you heard me right. I hate to floss! I didn't say I didn't clean in between my teeth.  No you didn't hear or read that.  I said I hate to use floss. I tell my patients that I think it's because I floss their teeth.  I figured it up one time and I floss over 32,000 teeth a year.  That's a lot of flossing!! So I'm adding mind to that number...hehehe Besides there are many other means of cleaning between your teeth than just using string. I say most people are "allergic to string" anyway...LOL 

Let's talk about some of my favorite floss alternatives.

Proxabrushes  or Interdental Brush
There are a myriad of different proxabrushes now. Every shape and size is available.  Gum makes some nice ones shown here.  

Also Dentek makes a quality product and their prices seem to be a little more affordable.  

I love their Easy Brushes.  They come in a variety of sizes in a bag of 16 and cost less than $4.00 at most department stores like Wal-Mart & Target.

Electric Flossers

Waterpik makes a cute little battery operated flosser. The tip of it is even coated with a whitening substance.  I've not tried the particular version but I've used an older model and it was ok.  Better than not cleaning in between your teeth at all anyway.  I always say "somethings better than nothing". 

Oral-b has the Hummingbird flosser.  It's just regular floss and the handle vibrates. Not very inventive really. 

Recently added to the flossing market is the Sonicare AirFloss.  I

purchased and AirFloss at a dental conference in 2011 when it first became available. I really like this device.  It works really well speaking from my own experience. I've even used it after I brushed and gotten lots of stuff out from between my teeth and I'm a great brusher if I do say so myself :)  The way this little gadget works is there is a reservoir on the handle that you fill with water. I like to put mouthwash in mine for a minty flavor ;) Then you place the tip between your teeth and press a button and it sends blast of liquid and air between your teeth and forces the plaque and debris out. 

So you can see you don't have to use string to clean between your teeth anymore. There are plenty of other options and some of them much better than floss too.  I've only touched on a few examples there are many, many more.  All you have to do is search around and find what works for you. One size does NOT fit all. Keep trying things until the next time you see your hygienist she says... "What have you been using? Your oral care is so much better than last visit."  You'll be happy because your preventive care visit will go much better and you won't get the old flossing lecture from your hygienist. 

Have a great day and happy interdental cleaning!! 

Your Smiling RDH,

Sherri