Today, I'm going to show you
how guided biofilm therapy, or GBT,
works when we professionally clean
a patient's mouth from start to finish.
My job as a dental hygienist is to detect and treat
but most importantly prevent periodontal disease.
Biofilms are highly organized
microscopic communities of bacteria.
But it's responsible for bleeding gums,
for bad breath, for some dental infections,
for some of the unsightly deposits
that we see on our teeth,
and, of course, it's linked to
some more serious, systemic diseases, as well.
So, here we can see plaque and calculus deposits,
but more concerning is the color of the gums,
which are red, and they're also puffy and swollen,
and that would lead us to believe either gingivitis
or even periodontal disease could be present here.
One of the problems with biofilm
is that you can't see it and you can't feel it,
so I use a dye called Biofilm Discloser,
which is an organic, colored dye.
So, when the dye's applied to the teeth,
which have biofilm on them,
it changes the color of the biofilm.
And it's a really clever two-tone dye,
so it means that it stains early biofilm,
which is less than three days old, pink,
and it stains mature biofilm,
which is more than three days old, blue.
The patient is shown in the mirror
the stained biofilm.
Biofilms are microscopic,
whereas the plaque is a biofilm that's matured,
and it's large enough to be seen with the naked eye.
Ideally, what we want is to disrupt dental biofilm
before it has the chance to mature into plaque.
So, this is where we start the cleaning process,
and it is completely different
to the old-fashioned methods
of curettage and hand scaling.
So, here I'm using a tool called Airflow Max,
which acts like a warm jet wash for inside the mouth.
It uses a combination of warm water
and tiny soluble and antimicrobial powder.
Airflow Max will remove
100% of the biofilm from the teeth
and all of the surrounding tissues,
including underneath the gums,
where it's dark and warm
and the biofilm really likes to hide.
I'm also using the Airflow Max
not just to take the biofilm away,
but it takes the stains away, as well,
so the mouth looks and feels super clean afterwards.
It's very comfortable for the patient.
It's gentle, it's efficient, it's very safe,
with no abrasion or damage to the tooth surface at all.
After we've disrupted all of the biofilm
and we've removed all of the stains,
Piezon No-Pain is used
at this stage,
and it uses ultrasonic vibrations
to remove any remaining hard calculus.
It shaves the calculus off very gently.
So it's very different
to the old-fashioned methods of scraping the teeth,
which would take calculus away
but would also scratch the tooth's surface.
Stage seven of the GBT process is
our quality-control stage, really.
So, here, I would spend a few moments
checking around the whole mouth
to ensure that all the deposits have been removed
and all the biofilm's been disrupted.
So, at this stage, I would hand the mirror
back to my patient
so they can see the before-and-after results
of their guided-biofilm-therapy treatment.
I usually ask my patients
to run their tongue over their teeth at this stage
to feel how silky-smooth they are
now that the biofilm and calculus is gone.
Learning good oral-hygiene habits
is like learning to swim.
You have to be shown, so ask a dental hygienist
to teach you how to clean your teeth properly.
Spend the most time and concentrate the most efforts
on the areas that you can't see.
That's where you'll find the most biofilm.
So in between the back teeth,
underneath the gumline,
around the base of restorations.
Ah! I love my job!
I love it so much,
because I get to put smiles
on people's faces every single day.
What other job in the world gets to do that?