Advanced Instrumentation for the General Practice Dental Hygienist

This course serves to broaden the horizons of the general practice dental hygienist in utilizing advanced instrumentation and /or instruments that are not typically in the general practice set up for initial or periodontal recall patient treatment. In addition, alternative fulcrums, patient and clinician positioning that can be utilized to better access certain areas of the mouth and address special dental needs.

In pre-pandemic times, the use of combination therapy, consisting of both hand and power instruments, was considered the norm. Yet, as the concern over aerosol transmitted viruses has drastically come into play, the recommendation for the reduction of the use of power instrumentation, such as the use of ultrasonic scaling and air polishing, must be considered.^1,8 Although a combination of manual and ultrasonic therapies is very efficient and recommended when treating moderate to deep periodontal pockets, manual scaling cannot be replaced. When dealing with initial PPD greater than 4 mm (medium to deep pockets), manual instrumentation was shown to be the superior in reducing PPD.^2,9

The purpose of this course is to broaden the horizons of the general practice dental hygienist in treating some of the special needs of patients by utilizing advanced manual instrumentation and /or instruments that are not typically in the general practice set up for initial or periodontal recall patient treatment.

Acknowledgement

Instrument photos, illustrations, tables and instrument descriptions were graciously provided by Hu-Friedy Mfg Co. (except where noted).

The author wishes to thank Ginny Sudyk and Leanna Stuhlmiller at Steinbicker Family Dentistry for helping create the alternative fulcrum photos.