Prevention of Oral Disease by Implementing Oral Self-care Program for Your Patients via Smartphone
Prevention of oral disease is the foundation of improving the oral health and even general health of your patients. Dental practitioners are used to perform clinical procedures, such as fissure sealant, topical fluoride application and preventive resin restoration, to prevent dental caries. Meanwhile, dietary recommendations and daily oral self-care instructions are also vital for caries prevention. Prevention of periodontal disease also requires repeated patient training that enables them to remove dental plaque efficiently at home. However, practitioners find it is not easy to approach patients and give advice to them when they have left clinics. On the other hand, one-to-one in person instruction and training will need more chairside time and communication skills, which is a great challenge to many busy dental practices. With the recent technology development, oral health education and oral self-care training, e.g. use of ID brush and high fluoride toothpaste, can be conducted through smartphone. Patients can receive continuous motivation and updated oral health education material as well.
Dr Jerry Liu is a private dental practitioner since he graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1991 with distinction in Periodontology and Public Health. He also had a bachelor degree in Psychology, a master degree in Dental Public Health and a graduate states in the Kois Centre, Seattle. Dr Liu is a fellow of the College of Dental Surgeon of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. He is currently appointed as Honorary Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Hong Kong and registered as specialist in Community Dentistry in Hong Kong. With his special interest in behavioral science, he has conducted lectures and workshops for the undergraduate and post-graduate students in the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Hong Kong for 30 consecutive years. Throughout his career, he applied the principles of clinical communication and patient motivation, together with his knowledge in preventive dentistry, in his dental practice. Many patients benefited from this approach and maintained their healthy and functional dentition.
