Clinical Experience II

Clinical Experience II
I seem to fail on convincing my brother and my father on the importance of flossing so they can start doing it daily instead of monthly. No matter how hard I try to get them to do so, they have their own set of beliefs in oral hygiene and they just blow off my “recommendation” in despite the fact that I am the most “knowledgeable” person in the oral hygiene around them.
However, the frustration has not discouraged me from sharing my knowledge with others. Last week at the clinic, I had an opportunity to treat a patient who was taking numerous medications for asthma and hypertension. While reviewing these medications I noticed that the most of them could cause xerostomia. Plus the patient told me that she had a dry mouth and was using Listerine mouthwash daily. Well, knowing the high content of alcohol in Listerine, I offered a sample of Biotene mouthwash in a cup and informed her that Listerine has the highest alcohol content of all the reported mouthwashes and it can cause a dry mouth that she might want to switch it.
When the patient returned for the prophylaxis on the following week, she told me that she purchased a bottle of Biotene mouthwash after she left the clinic and she has been using it daily. And she is very pleased with the product. It really surprised me to know that she considered my recommendation was valuable enough that she actually switched the product, which I could not even make my own family to do. It gave me a small taste of being a dental health advocator which makes me thirst for more education.