 Hello everybody Andrea here with dental L let's talk about in the video today, what do you do when you have a patient, whether it be a child adult a senior it doesn't matter, every time they come in to see you for their teeth cleaning. There are more cavities their oral hygiene just simply isn't improving, but that patient is doing whatever they can to improve their oral hygiene. Sometimes things aren't as simple as just brushing or or brushing better, or picking a different toothbrush so there's a number of factors that could play here, why your patient is getting cavities or why your patient is getting, you know, more plaque every time they come in to see you they insist that nothing's changed. They're not eating as much sugar they're drinking more water things like that so I want you guys to think outside the box, and look at the overall picture the first thing you need to be checking with your patient is are they brushing properly. They might be brushing three times a day four times a day, but if they're still getting cavities if there's still a lot of plaque there, something's wrong so maybe they're just not brushing properly. I suggest showing them how to brush it's even better if patients are showing you how they brush, but I find a lot of patients get kind of nervous they feel like they're being put on the spot. They're just going to look at you and kind of do this and you're like really that's how you brush. They go no but you're making me nervous so I find for me I actually show patients how I want them to brush. Never yell at them never say that they're doing something wrong with then just offer them ways to improve things. If there's a little area in the mouth where there's no plaque. No, say this to way back here I don't know how you do it but it's very clean. You need to do what you're doing over here to the rest of the mouth, you know that kind of thing. But then you also have to think are they using the right toothbrush for them. If they're if they're using an electric toothbrush maybe a manual toothbrush is better for them believe it or not. You can either switch to a manual or use a combination of both. That's what I highly suggest doing if they're currently using a manual and you want to suggest an electric brush, then that's excellent have them try that. What if you have a patient who brushes twice a day they're using the right toothbrush the right technique, and they're also flossing well maybe they're not flossing properly. There's a lot of cavities every time if there's plaque tartar stain. I'm going to suggest the water pick. The water pick is the most amazing thing I just get my water flosser from Amazon I'll leave the link for you guys down below. Patients love to use it I talk about it like it's a pressure washer for your mouth. It's a heavy stream of water that cleans in between the teeth patients like doing it. And then more often because it's so easy and in turn, their mouth improves. But guess what else you have to think about. Are they using the right toothpaste sometimes just a regular company toothpaste isn't enough. I suggest switching their toothpaste to a toothpaste that contains xylitol and sodium fluoride what xylitol does is that helps to limit I thought I might have a tube of toothpaste here to show you but I don't. I can leave the link for you guys down below but what xylitol does is that actually helps to limit the bacteria in the mouth. If the bacteria is healthier inside the mouth. It's much harder to get cavities and then the sodium fluoride helps to kind of fill in any microscopic cracks that might be present any deep pits that might be easier to get a cavity it just helps to protect those areas. So I suggest a toothpaste with both. Let's say you've tried all of that and the patient is still coming in with cavities still coming in with more plaque and more charter than they should. Then it's most likely their diet they're going to need to drink more water. If they're drinking one pop a day, you got to stop doing that or at least drink water at the same time, literally, because every sip of that pop is a 20 minute acid attack acid attacks causing cavities so if they're having a sip every 10 minutes. That's another 20 minutes every 10 minutes of cavity causing acid attack so even if they're brushing perfectly using the right toothpaste drinking water. So if they're eating too much sugar, having too much soda, there's only so much that a proper toothpaste can do the last step that I like to suggest is a mouthwash as well. I never tried to introduce too much so when I see a patient for the first time, and there's a lot of stain plaque Tartar, I'm hesitant to kind of give them a new tooth brushing technique a new toothbrush a new toothpaste mouthwash tell them to order the water flosser. That's five new things your patient is going to look at you and be like whoa I really suck don't I like you're telling me to change everything. So I tend to do things over time but at the very least, I do give them another toothpaste to try and show them how to brush. But at the next appointment you know as I said if things still haven't improved, then I'm going to introduce a mouthwash as well. I might even talk about the water flosser you can do that all in the same appointment, kind of judge your patient and see how they're responding. If they're excited to learn more or if they're kind of like oh my god what do I do I have no idea, kind of judge your patient that way but those are some key things to work on with your patient because their oral health is so important. They don't want to get cavities they don't want to come in every six months and have their dental hygienists tell them, you have more plaque today you have more stain today. They want you to tell them wow things have really improved what have you done differently, they want you to tell them. Wow, you don't have any cavities today for the first time in 10 years. That's what they want you to do so I hope this helps you guys I will leave a couple links down below for the water flosser that I talked about and some toothpaste that I do highly recommend and a mouthwash also okay. Here's a little side note I do not work for any companies and I am not being paid to do this video. This is just my personal opinion I've been a dental professional for 17 years. So please click like to this video if you like it, and please make sure to subscribe to my channel because that does really help me out. Thank you guys so much and I'll see you guys in the next one.