Dr Marcel Donnet and Dr Neha Dixit discuss oral hygiene and the importance of teeth cleaning to maintain physical wellness
The mouth contains bacteria and is a dynamic environment. Day and night, there is significant activity taking place between different types of bacteria. Some of these bacteria can become unstable and gain the upper hand over balanced, health-promoting bacteria, in time resulting in conditions like caries, bad breath, and / or gum inflammation, with signs of bleeding or spaces or openings surrounding the teeth under the gum line. This often necessitates thorough teeth cleaning, or more.
In general, when the balance between different types of bacteria is disturbed, the destabilised bacteria become dominant, speeding up disease progression.
In order to maintain a healthy balance of bacteria in the mouth, we have two major tools to hand:
- Oral hygiene performed at home, well known as home care; and
- Professional prophylaxis carried out in a dental practice, also called professional teeth cleaning (PTC).
Home care and oral hygiene
Home care involves removing the daily accumulation of plaque, also called biofilm, which is a community of different bacteria formed in a protective layer. These efforts break up the biofilm and help to slow down the advancement of destabilised bacteria. Effective oral hygiene performed at home removes much of the biofilm when performed daily, however, there are always areas that are difficult to reach and that need to be tackled with professional teeth cleaning on a regular basis.
Since the organic activity in the mouth never stops, both methods – home care and professional teeth cleaning – are equally important and necessary to maintain an optimal balance of bacteria inside the mouth. A healthy mouth is a gateway to a healthy body.
Where professional teeth cleaning is needed on a regular basis, it is important that the methods used by dental professionals are comfortable for patients, increasing compliance. In addition, the methods used should be efficient and, at the same time, preserve natural teeth.
The prophylaxis method, improved
The new, modern professional prophylaxis method, Guided Biofilm Therapy article part one, is specifically designed to achieve these aims. The eight-step modular protocol ensures the best possible results during and following prophylaxis treatment, in terms of safety and efficiency. In addition, the use of a gentle prophylaxis powder – AIRFLOW® PLUS – adds to superior patient comfort and compliance.
In 2021, dental practices across the globe were sent a questionnaire, which patients were invited to complete, sharing their experience and satisfaction with the Guided Biofilm Therapy protocol. The collation of the answers from this questionnaire is an ongoing process, with more than 160,000 patients from 50 countries participating to date.
Initial results were published previously, sharing half of the patients’ responses(1). Among the questions posed, there were 2 main points of query:
- Did you feel pain during the treatment with this new method?
- Would you recommend the GBT treatment to others?
The ratings were assessed from 0 to 5, with 0 = painful and 5 = painless for the first question, and 0 = no recommendation and 5 = high recommendation for the second question.
The questionnaire evaluation regarding pain levels highlights the fact that GBT does not trigger a pain response in most patients (Figure 1):
More than 99% of patients did not experience any pain during the GBT treatment.
As a result of this superior outcome regarding patient comfort during GBT treatment, it is apparent that patients would also strongly recommend the GBT method to others (Figure 2).
More than 98% of patients would strongly recommend GBT to others
In fact, 98.8% of patients would strongly recommend GBT compared to the old method with hand instruments, brushes and polishing paste.
Patient comfort is key when we consider long term prevention of oral conditions. Guided Biofilm Therapy is considered, and proven, to be most comfortable for patients, as well as clinicians.
This survey demonstrated that the modern professional prophylaxis method of choice is GBT.
The basis for carrying out the survey was that conventional methods used in the past for professional teeth cleaning resulted in pain and bleeding. This resulted in fewer patients visiting dental hygienists or dentists for regular prophylaxis and check-ups, and so reducing overall recall rates due to bad experiences.
On the other hand, the “GBT recommendation” test result is based on patients’ previous personal experiences with conventional prophylaxis methods. Since most patients would strongly recommend GBT to others, it is apparent that they were unhappy with their prior experiences during prophylaxis.
Bearing in mind that the struggle with oral bacteria never ends, and that professional prophylaxis needs to be performed regularly, choosing a comfortable method appears to be the best and wisest choice.
Guided Biofilm Therapy is truly the best choice today to keep your teeth for life.
- Koch, J, “Guided Biofilm Therapy“ is the absolute favorite among patients, ZMK, vol. 38 – 4, April 2022, 183-185 (Link to article https://gbt-dental.com/GBT-Favorite-ZMK-ENG)
