Patient Education

The Secret Weapon – Part Two

Posted on by Michael Goldberg DMD
In Part One, we explored how salivary analysis changes the patient conversation – helping patients better understand their health and why treatment matters. But its impact goes even further – empowering both the clinical team and the practice, which we explore below in Part Two. The Real Secret Salivary analysis isn’t powerful because it’s advanced. It’s powerful because it changes the story. It moves dentistry from:“Here’s what you need.” To: “Here’s what your body is telling us—...
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The Secret Weapon – Part One

Posted on by Michael Goldberg DMD
Every practice owner I know is chasing the same three outcomes—whether they admit it out loud or not. Better patients. Higher acceptance of the right care—free from insurance constraints. And referrals that happen naturally, because marketing has become expensive, exhausting, and unpredictable. Yet most practices are still reaching for the same familiar tools to get there: Better scripts. Prettier brochures. Tighter financial conversations. Hel...
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Throwback: How Do You Speak Testing? With Janice Kaeley DDS, MSD

Posted on by Janice Kaeley DDS, MSD
Patient Background: A 41-year-old female patient is seen for a new patient exam. Her last dental appointment was 10 months ago. Today her primary concern is occasional bleeding gums with brushing. Currently, there are no medical conditions reported and no medications or supplements reported. The patient indicated she may be experiencing peri-menopausal symptoms, but this is not confirmed by a medical doctor. Upon dental examination, generalized 4mm to 6mm pockets were revealed with generaliz...
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Throwback: How Do You Speak Testing?

Posted on by Leslie I. Bautista RDH
A common question of everyone doing something for the first time is “How?” Clinical laboratory testing is standard of care in the medical profession and while completing their degrees, our medical colleagues learned the “How.” For dental professionals, clinical laboratory testing is a newer concept. Clinical lab testing in dentistry marks a paradigm shift. We hope this series “How to Speak” provides insights into how to talk with your patients about optimal care. The guest author has been gi...
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Throwback: It’s Not JUST About the Science

Posted on by Michael Goldberg DMD
At a time when “evidence-based” everything is all the rage; I would like to share my experience and philosophy in regard to salivary diagnostics.  My approach comes from a non-scientific perspective garnered from my 40+ years of clinical experience.  I come at it from both a trained scientific, human, psychological, patient management and pragmatic mindset. Several years back, I had a discussion with a well-respected career academic and journal editor about “evidence-based” medicine.  He ...
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Do We Really Need Antibiotics for Periodontal Disease?

Posted on by Lee Sheldon DMD PA
When patients receive their OralDNA® MyPerioPath® test results, one of the most common questions is: “Why aren’t we prescribing antibiotics?” After all, the test identifies bacteria linked to periodontal (gum) disease. Shouldn’t antibiotics be the next step? Dr. Lee Sheldon explains that the answer often goes back to the root cause of periodontal disease itself. “Periodontal disease is the loss of support for the teeth. It comes primarily from bacteria that go below the gum line and lo...
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Throwback: Communication is Key

Posted on by Traci Warner, RDH
Periodontal disease is one of the most prevalent chronic inflammatory diseases in the United States and it is a key indicator of other systemic diseases.  Dentistry has a significant role in reducing the impact of chronic disease in patients who trust their dental teams to guide them to total body health.  From the first call and through every step of the patient experience, such as reviewing the medical history, the conversation should include the oral systemic connection. Dental teams a...
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Throwback: Side Effects Support LLC

Posted on by Jill Meyer-Lippert RDH
As I started my first job in dentistry, my mother received a breast cancer diagnosis and suffered horribly with oral side effects from chemotherapy. Her pain from severe dry mouth and mouth sores (oral mucositis) was dismissed by her oncology team as “just part of treatments.” She received no guidance on how to prevent or reduce her discomfort and there were no oral care strategies implemented to prevent long-term damage to her dental health. Through questioning other cancer survivors, I le...
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Interview with Dr. Geoffrey Sharpe

Posted on by Geoffrey Sharpe BDS MFDS RCPS MSc MRD Perio RCSEd
Dr. Ron McGlennen: How were you introduced to OralDNA® salivary diagnostics, and what motivated you to incorporate it into your practice? Dr. Geoffrey Sharpe: As a periodontist, I had been aware of salivary diagnostic testing for some time. However, this subject was not widely taught at dental schools, even at the postgraduate level. A number of colleagues in my network were strong advocates of the tests available from OralDNA® Labs and I became curious to explore their potential in my sp...
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Beyond the Probe: How OralDNA Testing Transformed Our Protocols and Outcomes

Posted on by Jonathan Evans
For decades, we've understood that periodontal disease is bacterial in origin, yet many of our treatment strategies remained nonspecific. We scaled, we cleaned, we hoped for the best. OralDNA® testing changed that for us - it brought specificity, clarity, and purpose to our protocols.  At our practice, every periodontal patient and every medically high-risk patient receives an OralDNA® MyPerioPath as a baseline test. This includes individuals with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or auto...
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