Dental Practice Hero – Dr. Amanpreet Gill 

You were part of the initial pilot study evaluating Perio Tray therapy. What does that evaluation look like?

InterDent has a Clinical Advisory Board that evaluates products and protocols to ensure that every service we offer is implemented for the best patient outcomes. The health of our patients is our number one goal and that is part of what makes working at InterDent so rewarding. For Perio Tray therapy, our evaluation team started using the trays ourselves. Then we prescribed for a small group of patients and recorded the results. I prescribed them for my parents and other patients with chronic periodontitis. In each case, the patients who used this tray delivery had positive experiences. There was significantly less bleeding on probing and the patients reported liking the homecare. At first we were concerned about the price for our patient population, but we were encouraged when patients who had used it told us that they believed that it was a good investment.

The evaluation process took months. We were looking at two different tray delivery systems at multiple clinical sites comparing the data and patient experience. We began implementing Perio Protect treatment in early 2019. Now, three years later, I am so confident in what the product can do. The biggest change for me over this time is my expectations for how many more patients can be helped. We offer Perio Protect treatment to patients with inflammatory-driven periodontal disease and to patients who chronically exhibit bleeding on probing at 10 or more sites. There are just so many of these patients with uncontrolled inflammation who will benefit from this homecare.

When you started with Perio Protect, the initial evaluation focused on bleeding and inflammation. How do you balance gingival health with restorative needs?

Well, the balance comes in what patients can afford. Obviously we want to treat the whole mouth and improve oral health and general wellness for every patient, but we live in the real world. As a clinician, it is important to me to treat the inflammation. When a patient has a lot of restorative work that needs to be done, they sometimes have to plan for this.  Perio Protect allows us to decrease inflammation and stabilize the patient before and during the restorative work. This makes our restorative work better. When tissue is not hemorrhaging, when it is dry, it is easier to do the restorative work we need to do and that work is better.

We also gain our patients trust when we approach care from this standpoint. Patients want the best outcomes.

Thinking back to the initial implementation, what were the biggest challenges?

Getting a good impression was our primary focus. Now, many of our offices have digital scanners, which has made everything easier. But I want to recognize the InterDent team here, especially the Directors of Operations Adriana Arian, Kerri Ross, and Adam Brauer. This team worked with our Perio Protect representatives and with Director of Hygiene Gennell Gentile to make our hygiene departments so successful.

You mentioned that you’ve gained even more confidence in the product. What drives this?

I’ll tell you a story to explain. I was visiting our Fresno office a few months ago and a patient walked in to purchase more Perio Gel, so I asked him about his experience with Perio Protect. He was introduced to the treatment at another office years ago and became a new patient at the Fresno office. He spoke  highly of our dental team and specifically mentioned that he came to the office today because he believed that his decision to use Perio Tray therapy had helped him so much. When you have a product that patients name because they like it and are glad they have access to it and when you see the results clinically, you know it’s a good thing for the patients and for the practices.