Time to Update Your Implant Care Protocols!
A big thank you to Susan Wingrove, RDH, for providing our recent Hygiene Insights course on implant care for dental hygiene educators! Susan shared valuable insights into implant assessment, maintenance, home care, and disease management, giving us plenty to consider as we prepare our students for clinical practice.
As someone who has a dental implant myself, several takeaways really stuck with me!
Key Takeaways for Implant Care
Stannous fluoride: Consider appropriate stannous fluoride products as part of an implant patient’s home-care routine to support oral health and help manage gingival inflammation.
Rubber-tip stimulators: Encourage patients to use a rubber-tip stimulator around implants when appropriate to help maintain the surrounding keratinized tissue.
Choose your instruments carefully: Don’t use plastic instruments or plastic ultrasonic tips
Plastic probes are okay! When assessing implants, flexibility is an important consideration. Implant restorations can have challenging angles and contours, so flexible probes can help clinicians navigate these areas. Selected metal probes may also be appropriate when used with gentle probing pressure.
Air polishing: Air-polishing systems are valuable tools for implant maintenance. However, the powder matters! Choose an implant-compatible powder, such as an appropriate low-abrasive option, based on the implant surface and manufacturer recommendations rather than assuming every powder is suitable.
And that’s just the beginning! These are important reminders that implant maintenance requires a thoughtful approach to instrumentation, polishing, probing, and patient home care.
Educators, It’s Time to Review Your Protocols!
Dental implants are increasingly common, and our students need to understand how implant maintenance differs from natural-tooth care. Take this opportunity to review your school’s implant care protocols, clinical instrumentation kits, and teaching materials.
Are your students learning about flexible probing options? Do they understand which instruments and polishing powders are appropriate for different implant surfaces? Are you teaching patients how to care for the tissues surrounding their implants at home?
Here is Susan Wingrove’s handout, which includes a complimentary digital copy of her textbook to help you review and update your implant care protocols!
Upcoming Faculty Calibration Webinar
Also, check out Oral-B’s DentalCare.com for an upcoming complimentary Faculty Calibration Webinar on November 2, 2026. This is another great opportunity to support faculty development and keep our teaching practices current.
Thank you again to Susan Wingrove, RDH for sharing her expertise with our Hygiene Insights educators! Let’s continue to evaluate our protocols, ask questions, and help our students build the knowledge and clinical judgment they need to provide excellent implant care.
Shelley Brown, MEd, RDH
Comments