Optimising oral health in the Invisalign journey

Award-winning dental hygienist Claire Berry will present her personal Invisalign treatment and Itero scanning experience, both as a patient and as an oral health expert, at the Oral Health Summit on Friday 28th May 2021. Claire Berry is an award-winning dental hygienist, who was garlanded in 2018 and 2019. She qualified as a dental hygienist in 2019 from the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh whilst serving in the Army. Since qualifying, Claire has undertaken further training in facial aesthetics and runs training courses for dental professionals. She is also a KOL and lecturer for Oral-B and Boutique Whitening and an ambassador for the British Society of Dental Hygienists and Therapists. Claire is well known for sharing her tips on encouraging behavioural change in patients and helping her peers motivate patients to achieve optimal oral health. Claire is currently undergoing Invisalign treatment and will talking about the experience in a presentation she is giving at Oral Health Summit on 28th May. She will be explaining what went through her mind before embarking on her own Invisalign journey and why she no longer needs to double her check her image on photos or videos. Claire will share her journey both as a patient and as an oral health expert, detailing how she and her colleagues have developed a robust prevention programme pre-Invisalign treatment to ensure that patients’ oral health is optimal at the start and throughout their treatments. She commented: 'Wearing aligners for 22 hours a day is a breeding ground for bacteria and it is not ethical to charge patients for providing Invisalign if they start off with, or develop gum disease or other issues. Even when patients are eligible for treatment, prevention should always come first and we should definitely not agree to a treatment that is going to increase the risk of problems. That’s where our role in oral hygiene is essential prior to treatment.' Claire will discuss her personal experience of undergoing a digital scan with the latest Itero Element 5D Plus intraoral scanner and how the technology helps with patient engagement and explains how it can be used to educate patients about what’s happening in their mouths. She will also be talking about her personal trial of one the scanner’s unique features - its Near Infrared Imaging (NIRI) technology. It is used to aid in the detection and monitoring of interproximal caries lesions above the gingiva without using harmful radiation. She concludes: 'There is a model called the ‘health belief model’ which expounds that people are not going to change if they don’t think they are susceptible to issues. 'That’s where the NIRI technology is amazing as it visualises issues without the need to convince patients and that’s where behavioural change can be positively triggered.'