, chatted with Jen Post, RDH, an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, about how fluoride varnish and the impact it can have on patients.

“We have a great vehicle to deliver fluoride now in fluoride varnish,” Post said. “It’s painted on teeth and sets up in the saliva.”

who recently talked about 3M ESPE's Clinpro 5000

) also discussed the role of dental professionals in educating the public about prescription-level fluoride products.

RELATED: Anastasia's five hot dental hygiene topics for 2015

“A lot of patients don’t realize that these prescription-level products exist so it’s really important for dental providers to share this information and let them know how important these levels of fluoride are for them,” Post said.

RELATED: The 6 things every dental hygienist should be doing to grow professionally

You can learn more about the Vanish line of varnish from 3M ESPE (mentioned in the video) 

. To see the entire interview between Turchetta and Post, please click below.

Articles

On a recent Google Hangout, Anastasia Turchetta, RDH, chatted with Jen Post, RDH, an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, about how fluoride varnish and the impact it can have on patients. “We have a great vehicle to deliver fluoride now in fluoride varnish,” Post said. “It’s painted on teeth and sets up in the saliva.”

Straight talk: The importance of fluoride varnish for pediatric patients

	Being a dental hygienist can sometimes be a thankless job. You’re doing your best to improve your patient’s oral health … but they don’t always see it that way. They see you as the person with the sharp pointy thing who 

We went out and looked for some tweets that were sent out by 

 after visiting their dental office and seeing the hygienist. Some were funny and some made us shake our head. 

Read on to see what 15 dental patients said about their visit with their hygienist … and see if any of these patients might be yours. 

Then check out these other things we found from patients on social media.

the dental hygienist gave me the mirror to watch how she was flossing my teeth but all i looked at was how good my makeup is today

Hygienist: Ooh, we have a new yellow cake flavor of fluoride! Me: I'll pass on the weapons-grade uranium thanks Hygienist: *blank stare*

Note to bros: never call a dental hygienist a dental assistant

The dental hygienist told me my home care was 'excellent' and the proceeded to brutalize my gum line for 30 minutes to punish me for it.

That thing where the hygienist has cleaned all the crap off your teeth so you can actually feel what a weird shape they are.

Me and this dental hygienist are going to have words. 'Achrrarghargh', mainly. And then, 'thank you'.

You know you're getting old when your dental hygienist no longer asks you what flavor of toothpaste you want.

Emerson called his beloved philosophy Transcendentalism. Sounds like the label one would pin on a nomadic dental hygienist.

Blatt's pep talks have all the urgency of a dental hygienist reminding you to floss more.

Today my dental hygienist was gushing over how I've only had 1 cavity...didn't have the heart to tell her I had one with my previous dentist

Avg dentist appointment: hygienist stabs my gums for an hour then my dentist comes in and talks football for 5 minutes and I leave

I wonder if my dental hygienist spent so much time on her eyebrows because she knew I would be staring at them for 35 minutes.

My dental hygienist switched out the usual mint finish post cleaning for cinnamon. 

Just as I was laying there thinking how odd it is to have my teeth brushed by another adult, the dental hygienist called it "polishing."

Dentist's office is playing Coldplay & I can hear dudebro in the next room trying to hit on his hygienist & I'm pretty sure this is hell.

 Being a dental hygienist can sometimes be a thankless job. You’re doing your best to improve your patient’s oral health … but they don’t always see it that way. They see you as the person with the sharp pointy thing who makes their gums bleed. Sigh. It’s a tough gig.

15 tweets about dental hygienists you have to see

	Have patients ever said they missed an appointment because you didn’t remind them?

How about the patients shopping for home care products in your office to take home by the bag full at no charge? Then there are the confessors asking for forgiveness and absolution for not flossing. Dental hygienists themselves have created or contributed to these behaviors in both overt and subtle ways. Dental hygienists, like the loved ones in a family, can unwittingly become the codependent enablers for the patients they serve.

Many of the behaviors and choices in our clinical practices are baked-in-the-cake, meaning they are such an integral part of the clinical tradition, we don’t question them. Look at these three simple everyday behaviors:

		Preschedule appointments and send reminders

Each behavior is usually done with a desire to help and be of service to our patients. Yet they create codependency because the hygienist and/or practice becomes the responsible party-not the patient. It’s time to examine and question these behaviors to understand why they exist and if they should continue.

Related reading: The truth about alternating codes D4910 and D1110

Codependency is a term most often used to describe the family members and other loved ones of a chemically dependent person. The family enabler, in a desire to help the person with the addiction, ends up owning the problem instead of the person with the addiction. Enabling is removing the natural consequences of the addict's behavior. Professionals warn against enabling because evidence has shown addicts experiencing the damaging consequences of the addiction on their own lives have the most powerful incentive to change. 

People with a predisposition to be a codependent enabler often find themselves in relationships where their primary role is that of rescuer, supporter and confidante. Studies show codependency is often considered an addiction in itself. Many health care providers become codependent enablers. The same desire to help and serve others can easily go over the line and create patient dependency.

More from DiGangi: 5 things your dental practice needs to know right now about Medicare

For many years, it has been a tradition in dentistry to preschedule the patient’s next appointment. The reason is to ensure the patient comes back. However, it really means we don’t trust our patients to care for themselves. We need to be the person responsible. So in whose interest is prescheduling? If we dig a bit deeper, we’ll see our own business security rests on having a full schedule. This is codependency at work again.

Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during and after the customer's requirements are met. Customer service is meeting the needs and desires of any customer and defined by the customer. Prescheduling and reminders can be a customer service behavior if that is what the customer wants. But we don’t have customers; we have patients. What is the difference? Perhaps it lies in the word we so often seek from our patients: compliance.

More from DiGangi and Gutkowski: Bleeding on punching in the nose: Thoughts on bleeding on probing

		the act of conforming, acquiescing or yielding;

		a tendency to yield readily to others, especially in a weak and subservient way;

Do those sound like healthy behaviors? We don’t think so. A healthy relationship is interdependent. This means each person in a relationship takes care of themselves. Have you ever found yourself going through a half or full day without going to bathroom? Are you taking care of yourself so you can be in healthy interdependent relationships?

Do you give out a toothbrush, floss and other items to your patients each time you see them? You probably have patients that only change their brush when they get a new one from you, and they can probably sell you back floss by the case. Do you question why you do this? Where did you learn that behavior? Should it continue? Customer service or enabling?

More from DiGangi and Gutkowski: Evidence, hype or manipulation?

Rather than answering those questions, we want to give you food for thought and discussion. How do you feel when you think about the possibility of being an enabler in codependent relationships? You are a caring, helping professional. Yet has it gone over the edge?

We fill these Modern Millennial Hygiene (MMH) articles with more questions than answers because that is true hallmark of an MMH-asking questions and continuing to search for the answers. We’re interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas.

Listen to DiGangi and Gutkowski's podcast on this topic below:

	Check Out Business Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with 

 Have patients ever said they missed an appointment because you didn’t remind them?

modernhygienist.com-2015-07-01

Straight talk: The importance of fluoride varnish for pediatric patients

15 tweets about dental hygienists you have to see

3 baked-in-the-cake patient-enabling behaviors