Award Winners: Dr. Darren Webber & Val Hebert RDH.
www.communitydentalcenter.com in Smithfield, UT.
Hygienist Val Hebert and Dr. Darren Webber from Smithfield, UT received the Orkos Award recognizing their excellence in case study treatment of periodontal disease. Their case demonstrates how prescription tray delivery of medication helped a patient of record who had struggled with the disease for years. The award also acknowledges Hebert’s dedication to her patients and her efforts to find more effective treatment options for them.
Hebert’s primary objective was helping periodontal patients manage subgingival microbial conditions between office visits. “I’ve followed the guidelines of debridement, scaling and regular periodontal maintenance therapy for more than two decades,” reports RDH Val Hebert, “with lackluster results. It was the same scenario every 3-4 months. My patients wanted more comfortable care and better, tangible results, and I wanted more for my patients, so I searched for something new. More brushing and flossing was not going to help these perio patients.
”Her efforts paid off. She found prescription Perio Tray® delivery of medication, specifically 1.7% hydrogen peroxide gel (Perio Gel®, QNT Anderson, Bismarck, ND). The Perio Tray® is a uniquely fabricated periodontal medicament carrier with a customized internal peripheral seal that keeps medication below the gum line to fight infections. After spending an entire day in continuing education courses where she learned the science behind the debriding and oxygenating effects of hydrogen peroxide when it is delivered deep into pockets via the Perio Tray®, Hebert was ready to try the adjunctive delivery technique.
Her first Perio Tray® patient was the father of the dental assistant who works with her. “He had been one of our perio patients for three years,” Hebert reports. “He completed scalings and came in for periodontal therapy, although not as regularly as I recommended.” His was not an easy case. He had 100% bleeding on probing, significant calculus, generalized recession, sensitivity to thermal changes and to touch, pain on probing, and probing depths up to 9mm. He started Perio Tray® delivery three times a day for fifteen minutes and returned two weeks later.
At that two week follow up visit, Hebert recorded pinker tissue with firmer consistency.“ The most exciting part for me,” she stated, ”was that the patient said that his mouth felt better. To me, this was real success. He had taken an active role in his health and changed his homecare.” I asked him to return again in two weeks and to continue to use his Trays. Hebert monitored his improvement regularly and completed a full-mouth probing again at the six month visit. The patient had significant pocket reductions, and bleeding on probing was reduced to 5 sites or 3%. He was pleased with his treatment and so was the dental team.
Importantly, Hebert reports that after experiencing the initial success with Perio Tray® delivery the patient kept more regular recall appointment and seems happier to have his check-ups. “This is a true marker of our success,” she explains. Getting patients to take responsibility for their health can be a challenge. But having the right tools to deliver medication deep into the pockets is also vital. Perio Protect congratulates Dr. Webber and Val Hebert on this excellent case.
Dr. Webber is a Utah native and attended UNLV School of Dental Medicine. He has been in practice since 2008. Val Hebert was born and raised in Germany. She moved to Concord, NH in 1981 and received her Dental Hygiene degree from the New Hampshire Technical Institute. She moved to Cache Valley in 1994. The team works at Community Dental Center, one of the only dental offices in Cache Valley, UT providing care for patients with Medicaid, PCN and CHIP reimbursements. Their team is devoted to providing high quality dental services at affordable rates and to educating patients to take an active role in prevention strategies and treatment planning.
Additional information on the center is available at www.communitydentalcenter.com. To learn more about Perio Tray® delivery from Perio Protect, visit Perio Protect.