Dental News - Don’t let braces hinder hygiene

Kristine Colker and Sierra Rendon, DTA

Thu. 9 May 2013

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If you’re an orthodontist who would like to help your patients maintain a better level of hygiene care, you’ll want to learn more about Ortho Essentials. Crest and Oral-B, in collaboration with Dr. Duncan Brown, a practicing orthodontist, created Ortho Essentials to improve hygiene for patients with braces.

“Independent research suggests that patients with consistent poor oral hygiene could be in orthodontic treatment longer than originally expected,” said Mike Wagner, category account executive at Procter & Gamble.

“Crest and Oral-B created the Pro-Health System: Ortho Essentials, which includes the Oral-B Professional Precision 5000 Electric Toothbrush with Smart Guide, Crest Pro-Health Clinical Protection Toothpaste, Crest Pro-Health Complete Rinse and Oral-B Super Floss. These products, when used together, are proven to reduce plaque and gingival bleeding.”

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Of course, none of these products can help if the patient is not consistent in using them.

“Compliance is key. Ortho Essentials includes many different patient education materials that will help keep the patient using the products to improve their oral health,” Wagner said.

Another way orthodontists can help their patients is by directing them to the new Embrace It! hub, also from Crest and Oral-B.

“Embrace It! is a one-stop shop where one can find information pertaining to any part of the ‘braces journey,’” Wagner said. “With an eye to understanding what would actually be helpful and useful to a parent and their kids, this hub will provide practical content, expertise and resources to parents while also providing engaging tools parents will actually want to share with their kids and tweens. Also here, parents can find participating Ortho Essentials offices in the area where they live.”

Orthodontists can point parents to the Embrace It! hub at the same time a child is first receiving braces.

“Orthodontists should embrace the hub, no pun intended, and feel like they can use Embrace It! as a resource to share with their patients,” he said. “They should feel great about sitting down and using the materials on Embrace It! during an appointment or sending parents home with the website to learn more, giving peace of mind to both the orthodontists and patients.”

To learn more about Embrace It!, visit www.embraceit.com.

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