Course Overview

Good oral hygiene contributes to maintaining oral health in children and adults. Ideal oral hygiene requires preventative treatments that dental assistants can facilitate in order to ensure maintenance of oral health and disease inhibition. Today, mouth rinses, fluoride varnishes, and sealants provide dental assistants with tools to ensure good oral hygiene and health for their patients.

Sealants, first utilized in dental offices in the 1970s, proved to be an effective tool in caries prevention. However, early use demonstrated vulnerability to fissures, bubbles, and failure to adapt to dentition with sealants lasting only six months to a year 14. First and second generation sealants demonstrated high resistance to flow and extremely low viscosity. The third generation showed improvements with increased viscosity, making it easier to handle, but issues with light curing deemed them still problematic 15. Initial problems with cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness of sealants led to further concerns.

Biofilms consist of a microbially derived sessile community composed of cells irreversibly attached to a substratum, interface, or to each other, and which are part of an extracellular polymeric matrix substance that the cells have produced 8. The sessile growth pattern brings a variety of microbes together to form a microbiome of the biofilm community. Biofilms contain a variety of species termed microbial communities that require a cooperative communal nature, but provide advantages to the participating microorganisms

Acid erosion has become a fairly common condition in recent years—mainly thanks to patient lifestyle choices. If not treated properly it can lead to serious problems for your patients, causing irreversible damage that affects their quality of life.

Frequently used in initial or supportive periodontal therapy, rubber cup polishing devices can be effective for professional supragingival biofilm plaque removal 49. Previously, rubber cup polishing was utilized on every patient, because it was believed to facilitate fluoride uptake however, recent studies have demonstrated no evidence of this.