What Your Patients are Talking about: Quip
What you seen this new toothbrush brand called Quip? We did a giveaway a few weeks ago with a few brushes for National Dental Hygiene Month. They also do quite a bit of advertising on social media. If you haven’t seen it, I’m sure your patients have and they will no doubt be asking you about it very soon.
Quip sells toothbrushes, both manual and electric, and toothpaste. They also offer a replacement system where every 3 months, new brushes, brush heads, or toothpaste is sent to the patient automatically which is pretty handy for most of our patients that don't think too much about their oral health care. Their brushes come with a slim travel case.
A couple things I liked about Quip after using it for a few weeks:
1. The subscription component. I love the ideas of having a new brush automatically shipped to a patient after 3 months of us. It will definitely make patients aware how fast 3 months will go between toothbrushes, and keep them up to date with changes their brushes.
2. The handle design. First off, it just looks clean. Second, the handle is weighted, so if you place the toothbrush down on your sink counter, the bristles are always going to pointing up and never touching the counter, giving it the perfect placement to completely dry in between brushings.
3. On the back of the toothpaste, there is a diagram of exactly how much toothpaste to use on the toothbrush. Sometimes, patients associate the mint taste of toothpaste with being clean and can go a little overboard with placing so much paste on their brush. However, with limiting the amount of toothpaste will hopefully make patients aware of how their teeth actually feel without biofilm.
Some things that weren’t my favorite:
1. The electric toothbrush. Though it is advertised as being comparable to a Sonicare or an Oral B, it definitely isn’t. It would compare more to a Spinbrush since it is battery operated and the vibration of the bristles doesn’t come close to how a Sonicare works. I ended up using the electric brush as a manual without turning it on. For patient’s, recommend they try out the manual toothbrush instead of spending the extra money on the electric brush.
2. The bristles are a bit on the tough side when compared to an extra soft or sensitive toothbrush. For a heavy brushing patient, I probably wouldn’t recommend this brush system for them.
They also have a new professional section where dental professionals can order their own products to try out for cost. So you don’t have to take my word for it, you can try it out yourself! Once you have, let us know what you think!
Have your patients asked about Quip, or any other product advertised on social media, yet?
Maevn Scrubs Giveaway
Congratulations to Catherine for winning our last giveaway for National Dental Hygiene Month! Please email us at hygieneedge@gmail.com with you contact information so we can mail you your prize!
Book Review: "Confessions of a Perio Princess"
I stumbled across Jamie Freitag’s book as I was browsing around Amazon looking at dental hygiene textbooks I want to purchase one day (doesn’t every dental hygienist do that?). The title caught my eye- “What they didn’t teach you in delta hygiene school”. I’ve been graduated for a several years, so I was curious if we had learned the same things. Turns out, we have! I felt like I could put myself in her same situations since I lived them over my hygiene career.
This book is an easy read and only takes an hour or so to get through it. It has some great insights for new grads to get the inside scoop on what dental hygiene is. It also highlights how to be a great employee and a great dental hygienist to star a career on the right foot. My only complain was the Kindle format. Unfortunately, when the book opens on the App, the formatting it off and makes reading it difficult at times.
This book would be a perfect gift for a graduating dental hygienist, or even a hygienist that has taken some time off of practice and is getting back into their career.
Have you read any dental hygiene books recently? Let us know in the comments! We are always looking for a new read.
Getting to Know Us: Meet Melia, RDH, BSDH
Melia is one of those people that has a presence. She is the person that when you're not sure which direction to go, you look at her. But its not a loud presence, but more like there is a quiet confidence and charisma about her- that allows her to do amazing things without making them seem like it was a big deal. I don't think I've met someone that is so grounded/analytical, yet, so creative (rare combination). Melia sees a need and she fills it. Undoubtedly, Hygiene Edge would not be as effective without her contribution.
You have to meet her! Read below.
Why did I want to become a dental hygienist?
Honestly, Dental Hygiene wasn't my first choice for a career. I always wanted to be a doctor. However, my dad is a dentist and loves it. Seeing him love his profession, treating patients, and patient's loving him, inspired me to try out a dental career. And I'm so glad I did! Dental Hygiene is definitely one the best careers on the planet. There is always something to learn and something to grow at.
The best part of dental hygiene:
So many! First off, there are so many amazing hygienists to meet and learn from. Dental Hygienists are some of the smartest, kindest, and hardworking people! Getting to know so many different ones through working in offices, through the American Dental Hygiene Association, and through going to conferences has been amazing. Second, there is always something new and exciting going on in dental hygiene. There are always better ways of doing things, better instruments being released, or new techniques to make the practice of dental hygiene even better. It is so interesting to keep up with them all and it makes dental hygiene interesting. Third, the patients. As a dental hygienist, you spend about an 1 hour with a complete stranger in very close contact. You get to know so many personal details about a person so fast and can be come friends quickly. You grow to love and trust your patients just like they are family.
Favorite part of a dental hygiene day:
Treating and educating a periodontally involved patient, and sharpening instruments! If there was a sharpening company near by, I would definitely apply for a job there!
Funny story from dental hygiene:
Mine was from dental hygiene school. I was treating a wonderful 90 year old woman that happens to grow up in the same town I am from, so we had an instant connection. She had partial upper and lower dentures, and I had placed them in an ultrasonic bath in Ziploc bags to be cleaned. After chatting with my patient and educating on some home care things, I went back to the ultrasonic and the dentures were missing! As a first year dental hygiene student, I freaked out and ran around the entire clinic trying to find them. Turns out, another student had accidentally taken them since their patient also had partials. Thank heavens they hadn't tried them in or given them to their patient.
GIVEAWAY- Maevn Scrubs
This is our LAST giveaway for National Dental Hygiene Month! We've loved hosting these giveaways throughout the month to celebrate with hygienists and are a little sad that October is ending!
For this giveaway, Maevn Scrubs is giving you a scrub top and bottom of your choice from their new Red Panda line. Who wouldn't want to end this month feeling fresh in a new pair of scrubs? The fabric is amazing and has a slight stretch to stay comfortable, but not too stretchy that you feel slouchy at the end of the day.
To enter, let us know below what YOU like to wear to work- scrubs, warm up jacket, profession attire? Winner will be announced next week!
Lyon Road Print Winner!
Congrats Kamara on winning our Lyon Road Print Giveaway for National Dental Hygiene Month!
Please email us (hygieneedge@gmail.com) with your contact information and we will send you your prize!
National Dental Hygiene Month Giveaway!
We love celebrating October and Dental Hygienists!
This latest giveaway is perfect for an operatory, a home office, or a perfect gift for your dentist!
To enter to with this print from Lyon Road, let us know below what YOUR office does the holidays! Do you decorate for Christmas, or dress up for Halloween? Take the week off for Thanksgiving? Give gifts to each other as on office, or donate the money used on gifts to charity?
Thank you to Lyon Road for giving us this amazing print to give away! They have LOTS of other dental prints that would be perfect for a gallery wall!
National Dental Hygiene Month Giveaway Winner!
Congratulations Natasha on winning our last giveaway!
Be sure to keep an eye out on Hygiene Edge! We have lots of giveaways left throughout October.
National Dental Hygiene Month Giveaway
October is still here, so we are still celebrating! Happy National Dental Hygiene Month! Our next giveaway is the perfect accessory, a simple gold tooth, to wear to dental conventions or your local ADHA component meeting.
To enter, let us know below what your favorite CE course topic that you'd learned about recently. Winner will be announced next week!
Thank you to The Black Feather for donating this bracelet to us to use for our month long celebration! To order one yourself, check out her listing here.
