Bob Loblaw

tissue check...

So, for all you non-hygiene readers, this will bore you! Yesterday I did my first "tissue check" at work. Remember how our instructors always talked about "in the real world" you will have time for tissue checks?

So about a month ago i saw a man for a prophy. He was probably around 65 or so. Upon probing i started rehearsing my perio schpill in my head. I found a a handful of 6mm pockets, and mostly 5mm in all the posteriors. Apparently this man had been told about perio disease before, but he didn't want to do Arestin or pay for SC&RP. He said he would floss better and that would take care of it, yet his readings didn't show that he was doing that. Well, i didn't want to let him go another 6 mos and possibly get worse...so we made a deal! After his basic cleaning i did oral irrigation with Peridex. He has a Hydrofloss at home that he bought from our office--it's basically a waterpik like gadget. He committed to his homecare and I asked him to use his hydrofloss for a month at least once daily, sometimes diluting some Peridex in the rinse then come back to see me...then we would make a decision.

I was nervous he wouldn't be compliant, but figured a month would be better than letting him do well in the beginning and then losing track of him in the 6 mo period of time until next recall. I talked to the dr about it and he thought it was a good idea. So when he came back yesterday he told me he had been very committed and used the hydrofloss once everyday and sometimes twice. I could not believe my eyes!!! His tissue appeared healthy and tight around the teeth. Every single sight had improved by 1,2, and in some places 3mm! It's kinda weird how i got so excited over this, but i really wanted him to know that he had made a difference in his mouth. I sat him up and did a little pt education. I showed him all his previous numbers compared to the ones i took. He laughed because they were all just in millimeters, but i told him that hygiene works around those small measurements and he had done really well. I think he was impressed! I for sure was! It's amazing what some thorough homecare will do when the pt is committed!

posted by Jami @ 7:19 AM