Rediscovering the “Best” First Step in Dental Care

When I was a dental student in the 1980s, we were taught that the very first step in any dental examination was to identify and show the disease to the patient — and not proceed until the disease process was under control. Over forty years later, I still believe it’s the best approach.
​You may benefit from helping show residents that they may need help. The following is on Linkedin, but the videos you need are on this site.

As digital X-rays and intra-oral cameras became common, I moved away from the original “hands-on” method — it was cleaner and easy to show patients their oral health directly on a screen. But when I recently revisited the question of “What is the best way?”, I found the modern summaries surprisingly disappointing. The simple, effective techniques we once relied on weren’t even mentioned.
For the general public, self-monitoring should be the foundation of good oral health. One low-tech tool still outperforms many high-tech ones:
👉 Plaque disclosing tablets — costing around 10p — provide more insight than the latest Bluetooth toothbrush.
They reveal where brushing misses, and they empower people to take control of their oral health.
It’s a simple, visual method that could easily be incorporated into teledentistry for home use — the true “first step” in any examination.
I’ve shared a few short videos on how to use disclosing tablets on my Teeth4Life YouTube channel and via assistants on the DentalHealthService.net website.
For adults, the SMIFF test offers an even better self-assessment method — one I proposed over five years ago.
Here’s the link and explanation:
🎥 The SMIFF Test – Checking Oral Health


👉to improve access https://chng.it/dNtrdbk5Nb


FROM AI
“At-Home Self-Exams
Performing regular self-exams is a proactive way to detect changes in oral health. Individuals should check for signs of redness, gum inflammation, unusual lumps, or sores during these self-assessments. Noticing such red flags can prompt timely consultation with a dentist to address potential concerns before they escalate.[4]Reference [4]”