Make the Recommendation: Toothpaste as a Treatment

This course will provide an inside view of toothpaste. Information regarding inactive ingredients and the two most common active ingredients will be presented, providing the dental professional with the science to support why and how each product works and how they differ from one another. The goal of the course is to highlight therapeutic benefits, mechanisms of action and assist the dental professional with assessing the needs of today’s complex patients and providing them with an appropriate toothpaste recommendation.

• Explain the principle of therapeutic outcomes of the available formulations of toothpaste.
• Describe the reduction of caries incidence by assimilation of the fluoride ion into the apatite crystal of enamel as a result of sodium fluoride, stannous fluoride, and sodium monofluorophosphate.
• Discuss the reduction of biofilm and gingivitis with active ingredients in toothpaste. .
• Describe proper management of dentin hypersensitivity with the ingredients in toothpaste.
• Determine the most appropriate dentifrice recommendation based upon specific patient need.