Hygiene

Kellie Nock is the assistant editor for Dental Products Report. She graduated from Kent State University in 2018 with a Bachelor's in Journalism. Kellie enjoys multimedia content creation with a focus on audio and video storytelling. 

Articles

Hygiene products that best serve both patient and practice are always evolving, which is why it's important to embrace the best innovations in hygiene.

The Hygiene Products We've Left Behind (and What's Replaced Them)

Naomi Cooper is President of Minoa Marketing and CEO and co-founder of Doctor Distillery, which is now part of Genly. Naomi is a respected dental marketing executive, strategist, consultant, author, speaker and industry opinion leader. With over 16 years in the dental industry, she has helped leading companies across the dental industry consistently create tangible results for their marketing efforts aimed at the dental professional. Naomi also blogs regularly at www.minoamarketing.com. For more information about Doctor Distillery, email naomi@doctordistillery.com or visit www.doctordistillery.com. 

From live chat to same-day dentistry, you can exceed patient expectations with these tech-forward strategies. 

5 Tech Tools That Will Set Your Practice Apart

Dr Gabarée is currently the department head and instructor for both the dental assisting and dental hygiene programs at Coastal Carolina Community College in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Prior to his current position, Dr Gabarée, was a part-time instructor at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California, and maintained a full-time private dental practice for over 15 years. As a Certified Leadership Instructor of Phi Theta Kappa’s humanities-based leadership development curriculum, he also taught leadership development for over 8 years to a diverse segment of the Santa Maria community Dr Gabarée holds a doctor of dental surgery from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, a master of education with a concentration in higher education administration from Northeastern University, and a bachelor of arts from Villanova University. In May of 2015, at a time of life when most dentists his age would be planning their retirement years, Dr Gabarée chose to pursue his master of education degree to further his ability to be a catalyst of thought and influence for our nation’s next generation of dental health care providers and leaders.

Spring is a clinical dental hygienist by heart and has served her profession in various roles over the past 30 years. Currently a full-time faculty member at Coastal Carolina Community College (CCCC) as well as Guided Biofilm Therapy (GBT) trainer for EMS North America since 2019, Erika provides both didactic and hands-on training courses on behalf of SDA/EMS. She has further adapted and implemented the GBT curriculum in the dental hygiene curriculum at CCCC. Erika is an alumni of CCCC, where she began her dental hygiene journey. She holds a bachelor’s in dental hygiene and a master’s in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University. Spring is a Certified DISC Behavioral Consultant. Her mission is to provide innovative strategies to enhance patient care by educating today’s students, and helping practices build dream teams. Her passion for clinical dentistry and education inspired her to found Spring Innovative, a cultivating and innovative consulting platform for dental professionals at heart.

Coastal Carolina Community College uses Guided Biofilm Therapy treatment protocols based on individual dental patient diagnosis and risk assessment to achieve optimal results.

Training the Next Generation of Biofilm Warriors

Laura Dorr is the former executive editor of DPR's Modern Dental Network and a regular contributing author.

Nonopioid remedies are changing the landscape in dentistry. 

Taking An Alternate Route to Pain Management

A look at categories of dental products that will always be a part of providing dental care, even as technologies, form factors, and other aspects of these tools and instruments continue to change.

5 Dental Products That Will Never Be Replaced

With more than 20 years in the dental publishing industry, Kevin Henry has guided the leading publications in the industry, including serving as the former group editorial director for 

. He now works as the co-founder for IgniteDA, a community designed to empower, enlighten, and educate dental assistants, and as director of marketing for Fortune Management, a coaching community dedicated to help dentists and teams have extraordinary practices and lives. He can be reached at kevinhenry@fortunemgmt.com.

Dentists and dental teams need to be aware of a variety of emotions that children (and their parents) are experiencing after a pandemic as they make their way back into practices this school year.

What You Should Know as Kids Return to School and Your Dental Office

Lisa Newburger, a master's level social worker supervisor, helps audiences find humor in talking about tough topics. Her "in-your-face" style of presentations and writing will make you smile or just shock you into taking some action. Either way, she is very effective at empowering others to reach their goals and feel better about themselves. Her entertaining workshops are available for national and international audiences. Writing for the dental industry since 2010, she uses an alterego (Diana Directive) to illustrate her points in a sarcastic but effective way. Presentations can be scheduled by contacting Lisa at www.discussdirectives.com/dental.html.

When patients experience trauma in the chair, it is important to follow up and ensure that we can help them to the best of our ability. 

Experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in a Dental Office

Ms. Newkirk received her dental hygiene degree from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, in 1981. A recognized key opinion leader in periodontal endoscopy, Suzanne has published numerous articles and co-authored several dental textbook chapters on minimally invasive non-surgical periodontal therapy with use of the dental endoscope.

Ms. Newkirk is the national and international dental endoscopy instructor for Zest Dental Solutions and is a professional speaker. Her website is: 

Lynne Slim is an award-winning dental author who has published extensively in dental/dental hygiene journals including 

Journal of the Western Society of Periodontology

. She was the periodontal columnist for RDH magazine for about 17 years and is now a columnist for 

 and is a member of their advisory board. In 2003, Lynne founded Perio C Dent, a dental practice management company that specializes in the incorporation of non-surgical periodontal therapy into the hygiene department of the general dental practice.

As a key opinion leader in the dental industry, Lynne is frequently asked to review new products and write product reviews. She participates in product development and is consulted about consumer/RDH product awareness. Lynne received the Philips Oral Healthcare “Mentor of Distinction” award at the 2012 ADHA Annual Session.

Despite dental assistants performing hands-on patient care and tasks critical to patient health and safety, inconsistent state regulations make oversight of the profession difficult. 

Krakenimages.com.jpg

Why Don’t Some Dental Boards Regulate Dental Assistants?

Upgraded flossing toothbrush adds power while cutting the noise.

Waterpik Announces Sonic-Fusion 2.0 Flossing Toothbrush

Robert Elsenpeter is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Dental Products Report and Dental Lab Products. He is also the author of 18 technology books, including the award-winning Green IT: Reduce Your Information System's Environmental Impact While Adding to the Bottom Line. As such, he’s particularly interested in the technological side of dentistry.

Any number of infection control mistakes can happen in the practice, but there are ways to mitigate and rebound from these mistakes. 

Patient Care