This "What’s On My Tray" features the geriatric advocate and mobile dentistry trailblazer, Sonya Dunbar, also known as the Geriatric Tooth Fairy for her tireless work bringing care to patients in long-term care facilities. She is the owner of Mobile Dental Xpress and shares her knowledge on her podcast, Dentistry Gone Wild.
With her vast experience and expertise, who better to share with us her three top products? She quickly told me that her three favorite products were “Cleanadent Paste, Oral-B iO, and Gingicaine Fusion Topical Anesthetics.”
So fresh and so clean
Treating patients in long-term care facilities means Sonya sees a broad range of oral conditions. That is why she uses Cleanadent Paste by Dr. B Dental Solutions, which can be used on prosthetics and on natural teeth.
Cleanadent is ultra-low abrasive and thus safe to clean dentures but still effective at removing adhesive from dentures and the mouth. “I love the Cleanadent products because they help reduce oral candidiasis commonly found in aging mouths,” she said. “It is also the only denture cleaning product that has natural ingredients.”
Cleanadent contains aloe vera, coconut oil, tea tree oil, and vitamins A, D, and E. With all these great qualities, we can see why Sonya chooses Cleanadent to care for the aging population.
More What's On My Tray: A pediatric hygienist's bag of tricks
Wow, wow, wow
If you haven’t tried the Oral-B iO, you have not had the opportunity to be wowed by an electric toothbrush. It has a smart pressure sensor that tells you if you are brushing too hard or not hard enough.
The Oral-B iO uses oscillating rotations and microvibration technology along with a variety of cleaning settings—daily clean, whitening, gum care, sensitive, and tongue clean. It truly is a toothbrush for all ages.
Sonya recommends it to her patients, especially because many suffer from dexterity difficulties. Oral-B iO also uses artificial intelligence to guide patients while brushing their teeth so that they don’t miss any areas, and it even reminds patients when to change their toothbrush head. The Oral-B iO wows Sonya and us!
“I don’t like needles”
How many times have we heard that? Luckily, there are alternatives such as Gingicaine Fusion Topical Anesthetic that we can use to help ease gingival pain without an injection.
As a dental hygienist working in mobile dental care, local anesthesia is not always an option for Sonya. That is why she loves the accessibility and effectiveness of Gingicaine, a 20% benzocaine oral anesthetic gel in a syringe that is used to deliver anesthetic directly into the patient’s sulcus.
Sonya appreciates the 15-second onset of the product. Another of her favorite features is the 7 mm gauge mark on the needle that lets her know how deep into the sulcus she delivers the oral anesthetic gel.
Gingicaine comes in strawberry flavor and has no bitter aftertaste—we like that! Another smart feature of Gingicaine is its pink tint that shows practitioners exactly where the product is delivered, leading to less waste. Fast-acting, effective, and tasty? We are adding Gingicaine to our next order.
What else is on Sonya’s tray? Follow Sonya Dunbar @geriatric_toothfairy for more geriatric health tips.
Editor's note: This article appeared in the April 2022 print edition of RDH magazine. Dental hygienists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.
