Dental Hygienists Sweeten
the Dental Office
S
weets in the dental office? “What an oxymoron,” said
Sandra Dlugosz, RDH in an interview. Dlugosz is one
of the 5 winners of Xlear’s Spry Dental Defense Proj-
ect. According to Xlear, the project was created to motivate
patients to use xylitol-containing products for 30 days and
to then evaluate the bacterial plaque biofilm levels in those
patients.
The winners had the opportunity to lecture at Xlear’s
3rd Educational Conference on Xylitol, hosted in Can-
cún, Mexico from February 13-19.
The other dental hygienist contest winners were:
Carla Gantz, RDH, Cindy Schoeneninger, RDH, Helen
Fortner, RDH, BSDH, and Donna Grzegorek, RDH.
Grzegorek was not present at the xylitol conference in
Cancún.
The Project
According to Xlear, each of the participating dental
hygienists provided their patients with a Spry 30 Day
Dental Defense Kit, which contains Spry Toothpaste,
Spry Oral Rinse, Spry Chewing Gum, Spry Mints, and
Xlear Nasal Spray with Xylitol. The patients were in-
structed to brush twice daily with the Spry Toothpaste,
rinse twice daily with the Spry Oral Rinse, chew Spry
Gum or eat Spry Mints after meals and snacks, spray
each nostril twice daily with Xlear Nasal Spray, and
record their daily use of the products for 30 days.
At the onset of the 30-day project, the participating
hygienists recorded their interactions with their patients
on a video recorder and took before pictures of the pa-
tients’ teeth. Following the 30-day period, the patients
returned to the participating hygienists’ office for an
oral hygiene evaluation and bacterial biofilm scoring.
The patients discussed their experience with the Spry
products while being videotaped. The participating hy-
gienists also took follow-up intraoral photographs, ac-
cording to Xlear.
Presenting the Results
In a presentation of her results, Fortner discussed the
history of the dental hygiene profession. “Preventistry
 EFT TO RIGHT: Dental hygienist contest winnners Helen Fortner, RDH; Cindy Schoeneninger, RDH; Carla Gantz, RDH; and Sandra Dlugosz, RDH
L
present at Xlear’s xylitol conference.
Dental Learning
was the origin of our heritage,” said Fortner. She pre-
sented the before and after photos and the results she
observed. “The 5 patients who used the Spry 30 Day
Dental Defense System were surprised at how clean
their mouths felt,” she said in an interview, adding that
their mouths “were as clean as if they had a professional
cleaning every day, for 30 days.”
Gantz has been implementing xylitol through educat-
ing patients with samples of xylitol gum and coupons.
She said in an interview, “Patients are awestruck with
the results.” She added, “I believe part of the results
come about because of the pleasing taste… Patients ask
me all the time what toothpaste or mouth rinse should
they use. Before I knew about xylitol, my answer has
always been ‘find a toothpaste that you like, because if
you like the flavor, you’ll brush longer.’” She believes
that the dental goodie bag should have xylitol samples.
Pioneers
For the hygienists, presenting the results and their
patients’ experience is just the beginning of their de-
veloping relationship with xylitol. Once she became a
participant in the 30-day xylitol study, Fortner “started
to journey into xylitol education.”
“Our participation makes us pioneers in the profes-
sion of dental hygiene,” said Fortner. She said she is
interested in employment with a xylitol-friendly dental
practice.
Schoeneninger also shared her history with xylitol.
“We have been selling xylitol in my one practice for
about 4 years,” said Schoeneninger in an interview.
“We can hardly keep it on the shelves.” She added that
xylitol “has changed how we practice by moving us
forward in prevention and remineralization, not wait-
ing for the results of the disease but treating the disease
itself.”
In an interview, Dlugosz said she wants to share the
benefits of xylitol with the public. “Patients are tired
of hearing us say ‘you need to brush and floss more.’”
She added, “This is a sweet-tasting tool. One that we as
hygienists approve of.” —Elyse Fetherman
Photo provided by: Shirley Gutkowski
www.dentallearning.net