TOGETHER WE CAN BUILD HEALTHIER & BRIGHTER SMILES

This course explores the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in modern periodontal care, focusing on its application in periodontal disease classification, diagnosis, and the development of personalized homecare recommendations. Participants will learn how AI technologies can enhance diagnostic accuracy, predict disease progression, and tailor homecare strategies based on individual patient needs. The course will examine evidence-based approaches to patient education and homecare suggestions, emphasizing how these interventions improve treatment outcomes, patient compliance, and overall oral health.

This course will review current literature on the effectiveness of flossing and other interdental cleaning methods for patients with periodontal health, gingivitis, and periodontitis. In August 2016, the Associated Press (AP) printed an article that was widely disseminated in the lay media that there is scanty research supporting flossing as a method to improve oral health outcomes. This course will look at the 2011 Cochrane systematic review upon which the government based its decision to omit the recommendation to floss from the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the 2015 European Federation of Periodontology’s Workgroup 2015 statement, as well as the broader literature and scientific rationale behind flossing and interdental cleaning. Finally, this course will evaluate the utility of interdental cleaning methods in patients with high caries risk, periodontal health, gingivitis, and periodontitis.

Patients are more educated and asking more questions about their oral health. Dental professionals today can be overwhelmed by the number and variety of toothbrushes regularly surfacing on the market and the many differing technologies. All of these advances oblige dental professionals to seek information that will enable them to make the best product recommendations based on proven clinical effectiveness and gentleness, their own clinical experience, and patient preferences.