1. The significant advantages of the single tuft toothbrush – some say the best kept secret in dentistry. 5 places I use it ...and why it revolutionises the treatment of pericoronitis (almost as effective as antibiotics, and patients never need surgery prior to major exams).
2. How to assess the hardness of the bristle and its potential to damage the gingiva.
3. What sort of etch to use during fissure seals ….15 seconds is too short for many fluorosis patients and may account for failed fissure seals. What etch gives you feedback as to when it is actually etching.
4. How to quickly determine what size of interdental brush your patient needs…
5. How to use the gap sizing probes… Get hands-on experience with analysing nine different gaps on the special model and then verifying the correct fit, pressure and cleaning action of the predicted brush size.
6. Learn how to interpret the probe reading when it is halfway or not clear.
7. Experience the bristle texture of different single tuft brushes, and why some are ‘gum strippers’ in a published study.
8. Compare cleaning the operculum and periodontal defects with a normal brush vs single tuft on the special partially erupted model where you can really see what’s going on.
9. What are the different bristle types: PBT, 610 nylon, 612 nylon, taper tip, short, long, zig zag trims vs flat…and what are pros and cons?
10. How to use an interdental brush technique that causes minimal stress to the wire, and what specific question to ask patients about their technique if breakage is common. When to use a right-angle vs a straight handle.
11. Why tongue cleaning is not just about freshening the breath but now proven to improve the oral microbiota and create powerful chemicals in the mouth which result in improved arterial health and blood pressure.
12. Nitrates, nitrites, nitric oxide and green vegetables. Your mother was right.
13. How CPP-ACP can also stimulate those good bacteria, as well as help with demineralisation/caries... And create a positive refractive optical effect in the re-mineralised enamel that makes the teeth appear more translucent and whiter... even without bleaching.
14. How to avoid the shock and patient distress when your floss snaps multiple times in their mouth.
15. Why did they invent twin floss? Is it a gimmick?
16. What’s best in toothpicks…soft wood, hard wood, hard plastic, soft plastic, rubber coated plastic, round, triangular, or none of the above?
17. The amazing synergistic effect of stannous fluoride when used with CPPACP. On its own stannous creates 11% remineralisation, 13% for CPP-ACP... but put together they create a 1+1=3 effect... a surprising 31% re-mineralisation... as shown in a published study.
18. Saving teeth with furcations…Why it is essential to use an interdental brush to stop root caries in furcations under critical teeth, such as bridge abutments.
19. Why I would never use floss around an implant with an abutment/fixture joint. Too risky.
20. When would you use floss preferentially over interdentals? And vice versa?
21. I used to spend hours tediously cutting burs to short shank to use with a mini head handpiece... 60 reasons why I don’t have to now and how I consider this and one other thing the most significant improvement in the quality of life in dentistry for anyone who cuts teeth... especially occlusal fissure seals/class ones.
22. Why I love the new 20 watt high power mini head handpiece from NSK. Way more access and so much easier to use.
23. Tapered tip bristles – why they penetrate deeper into the crevices and cause less gingival abrasion. But do they feel right?
24. Which type of floss gives the least and most shredding and breakage? This is especially relevant for those with tight or rough contacts and when checking contacts in the chair, and where the new class 2 composite has razor sharp marginal ridge edges.
25. Understanding floss and floss picks – and feeling the differences (in your mouth) between nylon, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, PTFE, PEBA and silk fibres, spool vs handle mounted floss.
26. Which type of floss has the lowest insertion pressure and the best patient feedback in a published study on ease-of-use and which has minimal pain on the gum.
27. Is it better to use string floss between your fingers or floss mounted on a plastic bow? Which flosses have a natural advantage in either delivery system?
28. Molar flossing is traditionally harder to do – which devices improve that, and which ones are too flimsy – what is the evidence comparing torque/twisting forces, insertion forces and gum impact as it breaks through the contact point, on 2 devices.
29. Why I recommend that patients using flosspicks carefully bite the flosspick down.
30. Why are several famous professors in charge of dental schools in Europe not teaching the use of floss anymore, and why even I don’t agree with that.
31. Various treatments for dry mouth and how enzymes in certain mouth washes are said to dramatically enhance the benefits.
32. Factors affecting compliance with your oral hygiene advice – what are some things to make it easy, simple and fun?
33. Using water powered flossing devices to increase patient compliance – especially useful for complicated structures like orthodontic brackets and wires and on non-compliant brushing patients... and the use of the U turn nozzle for lingual bonded wire retainers.
34. What other ways are there to help maintain orthodontic patients? And those with bonded lingual wire.
35. What products work best to help geriatric patients with weak hand dexterity, high decay rates and low saliva rates.
36. So the tooth has a furca... how to manage it and why I cant believe we used to extract the tooth. Experience from a hygienist who had 8mm furca pockets on all 6’s and how she stabilised it and saved the teeth.
37. Experience the mechanical lubricating effect of vibration on an interdental brush – feel the reduction in insertion force. How this may help in 2 ways.
38. Why the strength of fine wire in an interdental brush goes with the 4th power of the diameter and is 16 times more likely to buckle than wire that is twice the diameter... And what technique to use to overcome this problem.

You will be provided with a significant range of different products which are mostly yours to keep (except the mouth model and silk floss). This includes a rechargeable Power Pikster, a Professional Chairside Kit and a bespoke organiser stand to coordinate and reference a variety of different oral care devices used during the course. We will provide, for the session only, a specially optimised patient education and demonstration model, on which you can practice and experience a lot of different devices and techniques, and advance your skills and knowledge. A CPD certificate will be provided at the completion.

We will provide food, non-alcoholic drinks and all the classroom materials. To get a closer view it would be good to bring some reading glasses or loupes, maybe a headlight if you have one, in order to get a better experience of the various techniques and products. This course will be based on products made by Erskine Oral Care but the principles apply to a wide variety of different products and techniques.