This is the first time I’m getting to interview you, you’re a dental hygienist with over 20 years of experience. Tell me a little about yourself before I fire off dental hygiene related questions.

I grew up in Winnipeg, did my high school all the way to University of Manitoba School of Dental Hygiene, graduated, worked for a short time in Garden City, Winnipeg and then moved to Calgary to get married, got 2 grown kids ready to be kicked out of the house, when their ready that is…

I worked at Sunridge Dental for a very long time (since 1998) and now moving onto doing dental consulting and of course still practicing dental hygiene all over Calgary.

Good for you, and that’s a long career in one location. How’s that been?

Everyday is a highlight of my career, some days less than other I suppose, but mostly its good. Dental hygiene is not that easy, lots of patient care, understanding and being skilled enough to make the whole experience comfortable, lots of patient education, taking good x-rays, talking when I have instruments in the patient’s mouth, so they can’t respond, and I wonder why they don’t say much sometimes.

I believe you about talking and not hearing anything back, must happened a lot. Let’s talk about comfort and hygiene. How do you make it work in your chair?

Well, thank goodness for sharp tools and electronic devices such as Cavitrons. Scalers and picks are hand instruments that we use to debride and plane surfaces to make them smooth. Cavitrons or Ultrasonic scalers are a type of electronic tool that vibrates at high speeds to knock off tartar (calculus) buildup. I use both. It’s so important to be proficient in the use of both, one can’t do the whole job of dental hygiene. We use Dentsply Cavitron Plus at the office, it’s been the most reliable of all ultrasonics in the industry, and we stick to Hu Friedy hand tools. You can’t beat their metallurgy. Keeping sharp edge on the tools makes the whole process alot more efficient, not to mention comfort as well. I don’t mean to come across that I like sharp instruments, but its important.

Ok let’s move on, nowadays there are also new tech that helps to make it easier, GBT for example. We’re getting excited to bring that on board soon. It promises to be a game changer for great comfort during dental hygiene. GBT is the future that is NOW!

That sounds fancy, that GBT. You didn’t answer the questions though, about comfort and hygiene, maybe elaborate on that.

Right, I think patient rapport is really important. I will always try to attain the best level of comfort, even on very difficult cases. Sometimes we get cases that are just plain difficult to attain good completion, so it might be important to take the case one at a time and person to person. Everybody’s pain tolerances is difference, so sometime I provide analgesics or anesthetics as part of the comfort regiment. It’s really case specific and a lot of patient education, when patients understand the improvement in oral health you want to achieve, they will generally become receptive, over time. IT TAKES PATIENCE TO HAVE GOOD PATIENTS AND OUTCOME.

Uhhh, still didn’t answer the question. But ok, tell me more about the GBT.

It’s not a new new technology but it has been refined recently and now great amount of studies and research on this topic. GBT stands for GUIDED BIOFILM THERAPY. It’s abreviated to GBT, sounds kool that way. It uses a spray tool to remove biofilm in place of scaling and root planing. Really awesome.

Is it easier than scaling and root planing, the stuff I usually get?

It’s way better, but its slower. Removal of biofilm takes time to do. We’re excited about offering this at Uxbridge Dental Care located in NW Calgary, across from Foothills hospital, in the neighbourhood of Univeristy Heigts, surrounded by St. Andrews, Parkdale, University of Calgary, near a Tim Hortons and Shell station, close to Calgary Transit Bus route, in the new Uxborough Development, with free parking (paid by Uxbridge Dental Care).

Wow, you really tried hard on that one. Anything else to add?

Yeah, contact me through the website www.uxbridgedentalcare.ca, click on the contact us and fill out the form. Even if you just want to ask about what I do for Hygiene consulting in your dental practice. But seriously, I’m a really good hygienist, it’s not just from experience. But I want to stay modest.

Right.