Oral hygiene in the orthodontic practice: Motivation, responsibilities, and concepts

This article describes our current oral health program. This program will continue to change as we learn more effective ways to communicate and offer instruction. The orthodontist and his staff are in a unique position to help patients become concerned about oral health. The cumulative effect of such patient educations is tremendous since hundreds of patients can be affected. Improving the effectiveness of an oral health program is an excellent opportunity to expand our service as health-care practitioners. A survey of dental home-care programs shows that a relationship exists between dentists' attitudes toward their programs and the degrees of success. Usually an oral health program will not become effective unless the orthodontist is motivated and accepts responsibility for motivating his staff and patients. The extent to which an orthodontist is enthusiastic and involves himself in oral health motivation will be reflected in how enthusiastic his auxiliaries are when instructing patients. If an orthodontist delegates both the motivational and instructional aspects of oral hygiene improvement to auxiliaries, his program will fall short of its potential effectiveness. A comment at each appointment telling the patient about his cleaning effectiveness is especially helpful. This feedback should be offered with kindness, objectivity, and respect for the patient. If an orthodontist feels impatient or frustrated, the patient will perceive this; perception of this negativity will frequently result in patient resistance to instruction and cooperation. When an orthodontist offers guidance in oral hygiene with sincere interest and respect, patients usually respond to his concern and become receptive to improving themselves. The extent to which we recognize a patient's "potential" to achieve excellent oral health, regardless of his present condition, will affect our ability to motivate that person. Our respect for patients will increase when we accept that nearly every patient has the inner capability for achieving excellent oral health. We have an opportunity to help patients recognize this potential. When patients recognize more of their potential, self-respect grows and they gain interest in caring for themselves.