Do you want your patients to continue promoting their oral health?
In the United States, 64.9% of adults go to visit their dentists at least once a year. This means your practice will have gotten a lot of patients no matter where you’re located. By providing a great service, you’ll see a lot of them once again after a few months.
As a dentist, it’s always a delight to see someone return. However, the moment disappears once you see they haven’t been taking care of their oral health. This is why you must recommend the best oral hygiene products to your patients to help them care for their own oral health.
Which products should you recommend, though? Check out the list below to learn what the best products to recommend after a checkup are.
1. Soft-Bristle Toothbrushes
Start off by recommending your patients with the best kind of toothbrush for their oral health. Soft-bristled toothbrushes are better than hard-bristled brushes because they’re much more gentle on the mouth. They won’t damage the gums and leave them open to infection.
The bristles are also small enough in these brushes to reach deep inside the bigger gaps between the teeth. Your patients will be able to clean out their mouths better each time they brush using these toothbrushes.
2. Electric Toothbrushes
While soft-bristled toothbrushes are great, they’re not ideal for those who use too much force when they brush. Brushing aggressively will still strip off bits of the gumline. It can also strip away the protective enamel that’s covering the teeth.
Ask your patients if they’re forceful when brushing their teeth. If this the case, then recommend them an electric toothbrush. It’s a great way for them to avoid applying too much force to their teeth.
Letting the device do the work keeps their teeth protected. These brushes also help your patients clean out hard-to-reach areas in their mouths.
3. Dental Floss
As you may have told your patients time and time again, brushing isn’t enough to clean the mouth. You may have seen that there are still areas with plaque during a dental checkup. Often, these will be between the teeth.
This is why recommending dental floss is a must. This helps give a deep clean between the teeth. Doing this is important as any bacterial buildup from the plaque that remains there can lead to diseases like periodontitis.
4. Interdental Brushes
Interdental brushes are small brushes that patients can hold between two fingers. These are small enough to fit between some of the gaps smaller gaps in the teeth. Unlike dental floss, they do a better job of brushing the space between the teeth.
You must recommend these to your patients if they have braces on. This will make it much easier for them to clean their teeth during the first few weeks of wearing braces.
5. Mouthwash
There are over 700 different species of bacteria in the mouth. However, what most people don’t know is that only around 20% of the bacteria is on the teeth. This means there’s still a lot to clean out even after brushing your teeth.
Using mouthwash is a great way to eliminate a lot of the remaining bacteria. These also greatly reduce the risks of gingivitis thanks to the thorough clean it does.
Another great benefit of mouthwash is the fresh breath your patients get after using it. You can also recommend them more gentle mouthwash if they need it. This is the case for patients with sensitive gums and teeth.
6. Disclosing Tablets
Disclosing tablets are best recommended to patients who need to pay attention to their oral hygiene. These tablets spread a coloring solution that when they’re chewed and mixed with the saliva in a patient’s mouth. They stain plaque with a bright color, allowing patients to see which areas they need to pay more attention to.
This way, they’ll be able to give themselves a deeper clean every time they brush their teeth. It’s a great product to consider when their oral health is in a precarious position. You can visit this shop for tablets and other dental hygienist accessories.
7. Toothpaste Tablets
Does your patient travel a lot? If so, then recommend them some toothpaste tablets!
Like disclosing tablets, they’ll need to get chewed and hydrated before they’re useful. Once thoroughly chewed, the patient is ready for regular brushing.
This is a better alternative to small tubes of toothpaste as they’re more convenient when packing. For better results, recommend toothpaste tablets that contain fluoride. Fluoride helps clean the teeth much better without the stinging sensation that some kinds of toothpaste have.
8. Tongue Scrapers
A lot of people ignore their tongues when brushing their teeth. When this happens, a lot of debris can build up on the tongue, causing a whole slew of complications.
Tongue scrapers are great at removing debris and cleaning your tongue. Doing this is a great way to give the tongue a good shine after cleaning. Not only that, but it also improves a person’s sense of taste.
Tongue scrapers reduce bad breath. A lot of the residual bacteria in the mouth stays on the tongue. These often produce a bad smell when concentrated in an area, and tongue scrapers prevent the case from getting worse.
9. Water Flosser
A water flosser is a device that can help people with limited mobility to clean their teeth. It uses a pressurized stream of water to clean between the teeth. They’re also more convenient than traditional floss, as people don’t need to manipulate a string to clean their teeth.
10. Sugar-Free Gum
Sugar-free gum is also a great product to recommend to your patients. Chewing gum encourages the production of saliva. Saliva is the body’s natural deterrent to tooth decay.
After eating a meal, chewing gum allows them to rinse off the plaque naturally. It’s a great and easy way to promote oral hygiene on the go.
Recommend These Oral Hygiene Products to Your Patients Today
Your patients are sure to appreciate your service even more once you recommend them these oral hygiene products. Make sure they take care of themselves by recommending these products today!
Do you want to learn more about hygienic dental products? Check out the rest of our guides to learn what’s hot on the market today!