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Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition No. 5, 2015

hygiene tribune Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | September-October 20154B < Page 1B over several days how prophy- laxis is more than mere fluori- dation. That it means efficient and atraumatic brushing, individual training and even tailored coaching. Prophylaxis can also be a pleasure – and can motivate: Yes, my teeth are clean, my gums are healthy! Train and train once again iTOP is individually trained oral prophylaxis, that rejects the thinly-spread “watering- can” principle in favour of individually tailored preven- tion. Every mouth is different, if one form of prophylaxis is ideal, another leads to sus- tainable success. And because the individual approach often means “scrub less” that is also the training aspect that iTOP alumni such as Rolf Kufus em- phasise in particular. How else are we to compete against the force of habit, which so often causes us to brush our teeth incorrectly from childhood on - with too much pressure from too hard a toothbrush and dental floss where only an interdental brush is of use? “Patients with tooth-cleaning damage such as exposed tooth necks are unaware of being ill but instead they feel they’re doing everything right,” says Rolf Kufus. “And nobody wants to intentionally destroy their mouth. These are all simply wrongly trained habits.” Catherine Schubert, dental hygiene specialist and iTOP in- structor, knows how detrimen- tal these habits can be: “All too often, I see patients who are still suffering from bleeding gums even after ten years of treatment because they were not educated and trained. This bleeding could so easily be stopped.” (Cf. box). Implants - the failures of pro- phylaxis Rolf Kufus realigned the pro- phylaxis concept for Personal- ized Dentistry in his practice after his first iTOP course. “Peoplearelivingintotheir90s nowadays. It’s better without exposed tooth necks.” He re- calls that a tooth goes through about six stages in the course of its existence from emerg- ing to falling out. Kufus: “If we succeed in delaying each of these stages by a few years, then, except for special cases such as accidents or agenesis, an implant may no longer be necessary.” In this new interpretation, an implant can be ultimately seen as a failure of prophylaxis. It is no longer like it used to be, when prophylaxis was primar- ily understood to mean brush- ing three times a day using flu- oride toothpaste and the brunt of the dental work was placed on tooth repair. Today, there is an ever-increasing number of dentists who view preven- tion as an essential part of the Hippocratic oath - namely the obligation to dental health as a whole. This also changes the role of dental hygienists who are shedding their role as “abrasive cleaners” and are turning into partners and fitness trainers for the oral health of patients. Ultimately, iTOP also changes the role of a dental practice, moving away from repair to- wards prevention - without losing sight of profit orienta- tion. Dental care is fun like this Dental hygiene professional and iTOP instructor Catherine Schubert on the: - three most common mis- takes in dental hygiene: Cleaning in the wrong place: the toothbrush is not close enough to the gums, with the result that its bristles cannot reach the sulcus. Brushing with too hard a toothbrush: if the toothbrush bristles are too hard, the pa- tient automatically moves the brush away from the gums and simultaneously causes brush- ing damage. Brushing with too much pres- sure: together with cuts by flossing (and resulting reces- sion of the gums), one the most frequently corrected errors. - three most easily achievable improvements: Using an interdental brush: iTOP graduates learn with surprising speed just how effi- ciently the spaces between the teeth can be cleaned. Feeling rather than intellect: DH professionals mainly in- struct patients using a model. In iTOP courses, they learn on each other how atraumatic tooth cleaning actually feels. Brushing perceived as plea- sure: bleeding disappears in an instant thanks to a change in brushing technique and a soft brush. Dental care and its results create happiness. www.kufus.ch www.curaprox.com www.itop-dental.com Contact Information PRINT DIGITAL EDUCATION EVENTS The DTI publishing group is composed of the world’s leading dental trade publishers that reach more than 650,000 dentists in more than 90 countries. .

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