My First Epiphany

  Refer back to my blog 7/26 about oral hygiene education.  A middle aged woman came to me gum infection so bad that her gums were purple.  She was worried and the dentist in New York City had told her she had a Vit C deficiency.  I told I thought it was gum infection  and if she would brush her teeth in the rolling stroke and use floss her gums would get better.  There was improvement but not enough.  I was very discouraged and remember thinking that oral hygiene instruction was probably a waste of my time and I would just clean teeth.  BUT I had been taught that oral hygiene instruction was 50% of my job.  I talked to my sister who was in dental hygiene school at the time and she mentioned the new way to brush called the Bass Technique..... soft brush....45 degree angle to gumline. I also started asking new patients with healthy gums what they did for their oral hygiene....I still do this today.  I kept hearing toothpicks almost 100% of the time.  The New York lady came back for her 3 mo recall . and I had her start using Stimudents  and a Lactona S-19 along the gumline.......her gums became perfect.  I love oral hygiene instruction today.  We live in an anti-tooth
picking culture...floss is the socially acceptable  way to deal with interproximal  oral hygiene.  Shortly after I learned about toothpicks from my patients. I had an opportunity to talk to Don Rolfs DDS periodontist and researcher.  I asked him what he thought of Stimudents...he said "I don't know if I want to blow up the company or buy it...I get my patients to start using the Stimudents and within 6 months they can reduce 4,5,or 6 mm pockets back to 3 mm....anything deeper I have to do surgery"
  I have been a strong advocate of toothpicking since.  I could take a 1000 new patients and walk around the interproximal gingival sulcus and guess right 100% of the time.
-if generalized bleeding....they use nothing between their teeth
-if sporadic bleeding...some interproximals  bleed some don't...they are flossers                                       -if there is no bleeding...they are toothpickers

I like toothpicks that are flexible and conform to the shape of the interproximal space...Stimudents(J&J), Soft Picks(Butler). I wish J&J would made a toothpick out of Balsa wood so it would always be soft and flexible...Stimudents are made out of pine and there are hard and soft toothpicks in each package.  I tell my patients to throw the hard one away or use them for kindling.