The important role dental hygienists play with in-office whitening

So what role does the dental hygienist play in boosting a practice's in-office whitening sales? How should the hygienist communicate with patients about the benefits of in-office whitening rather than over-the-counter whitening? I asked these questions and several others to Anastasia Turchetta, RDH, during a recent Google Hangout.

One of the biggest points made by Anastasia during the Hangout was the fact that whitening should be strongly weighed when it comes to patients who are under the age of 16.

"When you think about adolescent girls who have just gone through orthodontics, one of the first things that they think about is getting their teeth whitened," Turchetta said. "I'm not a fan of that and I'm not a fan of whitening for patients under the age of 16. It's easy when they are that age to get into a phase of over-whitening and we have to do everything we can to prevent that. With decalcification going on in so many teenagers, it's important for them to whiten under the watch of a dental professional."

Listen to more thoughts from Anastasia on the hygienist's role with whitening in our Google Hangout below.