I have an upcoming interview in periodontal specialty office. Are the duties and responsibilities much different from a general dental office? Is more expected in regards to home care instruction or patient education? In what ways are there more responsibilities or less responsibilities? Anything else you can tell me about perio offices would be helpful!
You will be taking care of periodontal compromised patients. There shouldn’t be any adult prophies going on in a Perio office, but I’ve seen it. You will do many S/RP’s and handling the patients that have had osseous surgeries, Perio maintenance. You will give more injections since it’s a specialty practice. You will need to be well versed in all surgical Perio procedures… alternatives to gingival grafts to implants to dentures to tori removal to lasers and LANAP etc… You’ll still take FMX on occasion unless the referring office stays up on the radiographs. You’ll send letters to referring dentist letting them know how you are maintaining their patient and if your office will be alternating Perio or only seeing in your office until further notice. More I am sure, but you’ll find that out soon enough.
At the perio office I work at the periodontist has the dental assistant take an FMS every 3 years. He does full perio charting (PD, CAL, furcation, etc) himself at the first visit and will update complete charting every 3 years with the FMS.
I do a plaque index at every appointment, perio maint and then probe. If I see any changes in probing depth, I’ll write it down on the side and he will check them. If they’re calibrated then I’ll make a note in the notes.
I am allowed 1 hour per patient for maintenance, and 1.5-2 hours for 1 quad SRP. We will only do half a mouth if the patient life’s far away. He will see difficult cases for SRP. Hope this helps!