Customer Spotlight: Dr. Paul Keelan’s Office Reflects On 12 Years With CariFree
We are honored and proud to have Dr. Paul Keelan’s office as a long-time CariFree customer. We hope their reflection on the success and obstacles of their program will help you with your own journey to your patients becoming cavity-free!
What is your why? Why is a caries prevention program important to you and your team?
As a team we want to be able to go above and beyond for our patients. We wanted a product that could serve as an excellent adjunct to our strong core of preventing and addressing decay as well as work with our patients that are facing issues with gum disease. Because the ingredients in CariFree products address both, it was a no brainer to add it to our office.
What has been your biggest team/office success with the program?
Overall reduction in our patients who are at a high risk of decay. Less bleeding and improvement in periodontal charting measurements.
What has been your biggest patient success with the products?
We have many patients who first came to us with many areas of decay that have since stabilized and been able to stay cavity-free and/or lower risk thanks to the CariFree product. We have seen a wonderful improvement in our periodontal patients as well, with less bleeding and overall improvement since completing their periodontal treatment.
Words of wisdom: If someone is on the fence about using CariFree, what would you tell them?
If your office is looking for a great product that covers many of the common issue’s patients face every day, CariFree is great. It is a versatile product that works well for many of the different concern’s patients face. We have had success with the product and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for ways to help patients in their office.
How do you explain caries prevention to a patient in a way that is easy for them to understand and implement into their daily life?
There are a multitude of factors that go into caries prevention. Not every patient is the same, some patients have a more acidic environment in their mouths, poor dietary habits, and/or poor oral hygiene habits so we as providers must look at the bigger picture. First, we always discuss oral hygiene habits, how often they’re brushing and flossing and when the last time they visited the dentist. Next, we always discuss eating habits. How much pop are they consuming, how frequently throughout the day they are consuming this as well as anything else they are eating or drinking. Once the information is gathered, we stress brushing twice per day and flossing at least once per day. Discuss consuming less sugary or acidic foods or recommend that they eat these types of food with their meals or with a glass of water. If the patients are doing well in both the eating and oral hygiene habits, then we need to look at the type of bacteria they may have in their mouth. In our office this is where we would discuss using the CTx4 Treatment Rinse and/or CTx4 Gel 5000. We would explain how the different components in the toothpaste and rinse can lead to less decay.
If you had to describe your program to someone who had never heard of CariFree before, what would you tell them?
CariFree products are a group of rinses, toothpastes, and adjunct oral hygiene aides to help with patients who are a high decay risk. They use different components such as prescription strength fluoride, xylitol, pH neutralizers, and other components to help to kill bacteria. They offer a toothpaste, a treatment rinse to use on a short-term basis, a maintenance rinse to use daily, gum/lollipops, fluoride for in office use and a spray for patients with dry mouth. In our office we also use the products to combat against periodontal disease as well, many of the bacteria that the products target is also seen in patients with active periodontal disease.
What is the biggest challenge you face with your program and what did you do to overcome that challenge?
I would say the biggest challenge is the extra cost. We try to discuss how the benefit far outweighs any additional cost. We also keep our cost as low as we can. We always mention that the cost of the products is better than the cost of a 1 surface restoration.
Do you have any tips on implementing the products that have helped it be the success it is today?
In our office we use the products for both high decay risk patients and patients with gingivitis or periodontal disease. We have created our own system where we recommend the patient use the CTx4 Treatment Rinse with the CTx4 Gel 5000 when starting periodontal therapy or gingivitis therapy. Every patient that is diagnosed with periodontal disease or gingivitis is offered the rinses in conjunction with their treatment and sent home with it at the start of that treatment. We also offer at the minimum the 5000 gel to any patient who has 2 or more active areas of decay, those with recession, patients with sensitivity and obviously patients who are more prone to decay or decay causing behaviors. The rinse is also used in those patients especially when starting their restorative work and throughout their treatment.