As a dentist, you know the importance of keeping your dental hygiene up and ready to go. However, your patients likely do not, and even if they do they are not likely to follow through with the tips because they either forget or they just don’t see the point of having better dental hygiene. But what’s the point of simply cleaning the teeth of your patients if they aren’t going to keep them clean?
Well, thankfully there are a few ways to make sure that your patients keep on top of their dental hygiene, and most of them require you to interact with your patients and help them out while they are inside the office.
Make It Easy For Your Patients To Have Good Dental Hygiene
First, consider the goodie bag that you give each patient at the end of the appointment. You’ve got all sorts of items in there that your patients can benefit from. The oral hygiene products inside the bags aren’t just things that you should put into the bags as an afterthought, but should be good items that are able to help your patients keep up their dental hygiene.
For example, one of the things that you can do is place fluoride toothpaste inside of your bags, because you know that fluoride is important, but your patients will likely only use the toothpaste that is cheapest or is their favorite, rather than using the one that defends their teeth and their tooth enamel from decay.
Additionally, you can give them a good anti-biotic and alcoholic mouthwash. Because even for those people who love to brush and floss every single day like they are supposed to, they still aren’t going to get everything that could pose a danger to their teeth. A good mouthwash can get into all the nooks and crannies and wash away all the debris, food items, and bacteria that can cause problems for your oral health.
Share What You Think About Dental Products
When it comes to dentists, you are seen as the experts in the world of dental work, and many patients often look up to you. So one of the best things that you can do to keep your patients’ oral health looking good is to give your opinion on the myriad of dental products out in the world. Whether you like these products because you use them yourself or because you have done the research, you can talk to your patients about them.
Or you can use a blog or other social media channel to market your thoughts on dental products and what you think should be inside of every single household for your patients to have the best dental care possible.
Talk To Your Patients About Their Tongues
Finally, most patients know that they need to brush and floss their teeth to have a healthy mouth. However, your patients also need to know that their tongues are a breeding ground for bacteria and other problems, and they need to be cleaned as well. While they can simply brush or scrape their tongues with their toothbrushes and call it a day, there are also specialized tongue scrapers that can be used to gently but firmly clean the tongue and ensure that all the bacteria is being removed.
Recommending some tongue scrapers or even including them in the bags that you give your patients will ensure that your patients can have this vital part of the mouth cleaned up in time for their next visit.
Make Sure Your Patients Are Excited To Come Back
Finally, for your patients to truly keep on track with their oral health, they need to come back to the dentist. Even if they go to the utmost extremes to clean their mouth, there’s nothing they can do at home that will outmatch the deep and professional cleaning that they will get at the dentist’s office.
So make sure that your patients come back and are excited to come back by providing exceptional service and also incentivizing them to schedule their next appointment right away, because keeping teeth clean is one of the best ways to keep your patients on track with their oral hygiene.
Keep Everyone On Their Oral Hygiene
It might seem like an almost impossible job, but doing your best to keep your patients on their oral hygiene as a dentist is important. It will make sure that their health is where it needs to be, and it will make your job much easier!
