CE Courses

The Natural Truth about Baking Soda Toothpaste

Objectives of this CE course are to:

1. Understand baking soda's dual mechanism of action for plaque removal.
2. Determine surface areas of the mouth where baking soda toothpastes have been shown to remove more plaque vs non-baking soda toothpastes.
3. Identify baking soda's clinically proven benefits on plaque acid neutralization.
4. Explain why use of baking soda toothpastes can provide effective and natural stain removal and teeth whitening.
5. Define Relative Dentin Abrasivity (RDA) and discuss why baking soda toothpastes tend to have lower RDA values vs non-baking soda toothpastes.

Achieving pH Neutralization

Dental professionals will be prepared to advise patients about the role pH neutralization plays in maintaining oral health.:

1. Describe the unique and diverse microbiome of the oral cavity, and the significance of pH on homeostasis in the oral environment.
2. Explain how the consumption of fermentable sugars affects oral pH and disrupts the oral microbiome.
3. Detail how mechanical plaque removal can help maintain an alkaline environment, and how depositing remineralizing ions (fluoride, calcium and phosphate) through mechanical means increases remineralization.
4. Discuss the effects of salivary flow rates and salivary volume on oral biofilms, pH levels, acid neutralization, and remineralization.
5. Describe how sodium bicarbonate toothpaste with low abrasiveness and remineralizing ions helps to buffer acids, reduce cariogenic pathogens, and facilitate enamel remineralization.

Dentifrice Ingredients - Guide to Patient-Specific Recommendations

A Clinician's Guide to Dentifrices

• Describe the importance of using dentifrices to maintain oral health
• Be able to list and describe ingredients in dentifrices
• List the different broad categories of dentifrices
• Understand the misconceptions about dentifrice abrasives
• Compare the differences in abrasives in dentifrices
• List the therapeutic agents in dentifrices
• Understand the basis for dentifrice recommendations to patients