Wendy Briggs (00:01.038)
Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of The Double Your Production Podcast. I'm your host, Wendy Briggs, and I'm joined today by the amazing Jen Post. I am so excited about this podcast. Today we're going to be talking about innovation in hygiene and some of the great products that we have available to help us improve patient experience, be more efficient, and do all the amazing things that we as hygienists do every single day. So Jen, so excited to have you. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Jen Post (00:27.788)
Thanks for having me.
Wendy Briggs (00:29.228)
Yes, I'm sure our listeners would love to hear a little bit about you and your history and then certainly we'll talk about all the great things that your company is bringing to hygiene.
Jen Post (00:39.948)
Yeah, just really glad to be here. I am Jen Post, a dental hygienist. That's what I want people to really know as they're listening to me talk about this journey that I've been on. I practiced clinically for about 16 years just in little mom and pop dental offices. I loved it. I loved it a lot. I'd actually been a nurse before dental hygiene, and dental hygiene is much more specialized and I enjoyed working on one part of the body a little bit more. So that was a great career, but as I was in the profession, I got really nerdy about products and about how we deliver dental hygiene care.
Wendy Briggs (01:18.669)
Yes.
Jen Post (01:37.132)
And sometimes when you're sitting there cleaning teeth all day, you have a lot of time to daydream and think about, like, what else could I do with this profession? And I started thinking about pursuing academia. So what I did is I joined a master of dental hygiene program at the University of Minnesota.
And I got my master's degree and became a professor for a while. And that was actually fascinating because there is no better way to become an expert in your field than to start teaching it. You probably know that too, Wendy. I mean, you're teaching, but you become an expert in certain areas when you teach them.
Wendy Briggs (02:19.982)
Of course, yes. Right, right.
Jen Post (02:31.788)
And I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed working with students. I enjoyed like learning new procedures and then teaching those procedures. But after I finished my master's degree, I started looking at corporate industry. And I had always had a fascination with 3M and their dental products. I used those all the time when I was in practice.
They had this wonderful polishing paste that I loved. They had toothpaste and fluoride treatments. And I started working my network and eventually got an opportunity to apply for a job at 3M in their dental area. And so I've been there for about 10 years now or in the industry.
Wendy Briggs (03:19.426)
Nice.
Jen Post (03:29.762)
So 3M healthcare became Solventum almost two years ago. So they turned all of their healthcare component into a standalone company called Solventum. And so that's the company I'm with now. So I'm doing a similar thing that I did for 3M, now doing it for Solventum. And what I'm doing basically is research and development into dental products.
Wendy Briggs (03:45.485)
Nice. Yeah. Well, I love that because so often, like you said, on the clinical side, we're using these products and we tend to develop favorites because we have positive reactions from patients. We see the result, better flavors, better consistency, better utilization, ease of use, all of those things kind of factor into our favorites. But I would say that often when we're trying to make these decisions, we don't dig into the research and result side, maybe as much as we should. And frankly, I think that's why hygienists listen to this podcast and they listen to some of the things that we teach because we kind of bring that to them in a variety of ways.
So I think having a full picture of your journey is going to be very interesting to our listeners. And really the topic, the reason I invited you on the podcast, because we've had a little bit of a feature on innovation over the last little while we're having an upcoming retreat. April 24th and 25th of 2026, where that's really going to be our entire topic is innovation and dentistry. And people might think, well, gosh, we're just talking about, you know, CAD CAM or digital scanning or 3D printing or imaging. But no, technology actually operates on the product side as well. And there are companies like Solventum that are innovating on the product development side. And I think in hygiene, you know, we need to talk about those innovations at a higher level.
So Jen, a lot of our listeners know that we view hygiene a little bit differently than maybe the masses do, right? We love to see the hygienist as a partner with their doctor. We talk a lot about the doctor-hygiene partnership. We also like hygienists to recognize that they own their own future in hygiene, just like you did when you said, hey, I love this side of it, but what more can I do? We often help hygienists understand how to maximize their impact in their practices. For example, we teach them how to develop three critical roles, preventive therapist, periodontal therapist, and the role of patient treatment advocate. So a lot of the product innovation that we usually talk about is on that preventive side. I think we'll probably talk a lot about that here today, but these products and how they come to market and how we utilize them and the innovation side from the manufacturer side, we don't really talk about that very often.
And I think it's intriguing and interesting to providers, especially those that are really looking to optimize their impact, their footprint. You know, I love how you said you were a nurse before you were a hygienist, because what that tells me is that patient care is encoded in your DNA. You know, that's why you do what you do. And I think a lot of us in dentistry, we enter the field because we want to help people, we want to take care of people. And so in my mind, anything that can elevate patient experience and give patients the care they deserve is a huge win. So I want to be talking about some of those things.
So if it's okay with you, let's dive into some of the things that you see Solventum doing that really are different maybe than what other companies are doing, maybe some of the innovations that you see that you're excited about. And then maybe we can even take it a step further to talk about, okay, what are maybe some of the brain dead technologies? What are the things that every hygienist should know about and use with their patients day in and day out? I'd love to kind of explore those things if you don't mind. So innovations on the product side, what are you excited about right now?
Jen Post (07:25.418)
Well, lots of things because now that I work in this side of it, I see all the potential that's out there. You know, I think when I was practicing clinically, I always just thought, well, this is just what we have to choose from. Like it's a, you know, a buffet of different things that are similar, but, you know, you just have to choose which one works for you. I really see now that we have potential to really make a difference and really make a change. And there are just pretty big steps we can make to do that.
And I think one of the things we're really focusing right now is really thinking about who is the customer here. I think a lot of products we develop we are thinking about the customer as the dentist or the hygienist. And something that I've learned as we've been working with fluoride varnish or things that people use at home every day, things that have to, they have to accept them into their mouth. Then now that's a different customer. And that's a different way to think about how you're going to develop that product. And I think that's what we have to keep our sights on is like who has to say yes to this product. And that's where you get, I think, game changing innovations is when you think about who's that ultimate customer going to be. And it might not be who you think it is.
Wendy Briggs (09:11.34)
Yeah. Exactly, right? And I think that's really key. And we have a lot of conversations that are somewhat similar, right? Hygienists might think, and they might shrug their shoulders, and certainly doctors do, it's just fluoride. Like, how big of a deal can it really be? Well, it's not just fluoride. There's so much more nuance to it than that. And certainly, when we look at the big picture, we often teach a process, for example, by which we do a caries risk assessment on every patient. And once we identify, OK, what's the risk status of this patient?
What are the services on our menu that they desperately need to avoid disease and minimize damage going forward from either habits or genetic tendencies or maybe even just their past dental history? They're down that cycle of decline already. How can we reverse that? How can we improve their quality of life? How can we change their mindset? If they come through the door saying, hey, if it's not covered by insurance, I don't want to pay for it. There's a lot of different things that we can think about in that moment.
And like you said, you know, they are ultimately the customer at the end of the day. They're the ones that have to say yes or no. So one thing I love about Sloventum's research, you mentioned fluoride varnish. Let's talk just a little bit about, in my mind, the elephant in the room, the greatest thing in my opinion to hit dental hygiene on the varnish side in probably decades. And maybe why that helps us overcome some of the most common objections that patients may have. So let's talk about our water-based fluoride. Let's talk about ClinPro Clear.
Jen Post (10:40.28)
Sure, I also agree. ClinPro Clear fluoride treatment is one of the biggest incremental change I've seen in the dental hygiene world since I've been practicing. And I'm not just saying that because I'm one of the inventors. I see how people are reacting to this and what a change we've made.
You know, in the US, there's been almost 50 fluoride varnishes on the market, which are the sticky coatings that need to stay on your teeth for four to six hours. And I think those varnishes really represented a good improvement over the experiences we had before, which were the tray gel treatments that you had to wear for four minutes. I think about when I was practicing all the patients that I thought they're not going to take that. They're not going to accept that. Or they did that last time and they had a bad experience and they're not going to do it again. And I also think about the kids under six that I didn't even try to do that treatment on because I knew they weren't going to be able to do it. So I think about all the people that missed out on those treatments that they needed.
I think fluoride varnish, the sticky types were a good improvement because we could put those on a patient as soon as they had teeth. So we started seeing like the well child checks and, you know, a different approach to that. And now I think we've gone a step further with ClinPro Clear. It's a water-based treatment. you know, we've taken what was great about a fluoride varnish and now made it something that the patient wants to have on their teeth because it's water-based. It's slick, it's smooth, it's clean, and it has that experience where the patient can say, yeah, I will take that today. That's exactly what we wanted.
Wendy Briggs (12:32.919)
Yes. Right. And I love that. Yeah, I love that because that's the most common objections that we get. Is it sticky? It's slimy. It doesn't feel good. And especially remember the first generations were like orange, dark orange. It tasted terrible. So those of us who have been in the trenches for a while remember all the incremental changes. And now we have this earth-shattering change. And for those that are thinking, how big of a deal is it really? It's just fluoride.
Well, we've done the math. And if we get 80 % of our patients to accept the fluoride, it's about a $50,000 a year bump to the production or the revenue to the practice, which you take that times three full-time hygienists. And that's a big impact. Now, granted, we don't do things simply to increase production. We do it because it's the right thing to do. And patients deserve the very best. But on my side, we also look at the operations side of the business. And we recognize that, yes, we hear from dentists and hygienists both. Right now dentists are like, we can't keep up the high cost of doing business, the high cost of supplies, the high cost of salaries, the insurance reimbursement rates are not keeping up with that. And it's creating a cash squeeze, if you will, in these practices.
Well, in my experience, you know, the more personalized we make the treatment recommendations for patients, we do the risk assessment, we help them see the value in all of these adjunctive services that we can provide that can help further their health and help them accomplish their goals.
Well, in a perfect world, if we're doing that for the right reasons, and we also see an increase to productivity and cashflow at the same time, then that's a strategy we call a win-win-win. The patient wins first and foremost always, the practice wins, and the provider wins too, because we have the satisfaction of really providing optimal care to our patients. I think that's something that we should seek after and be proud of. And I believe fluoride is just one of the ways in which we help hygienists and practices realize that at a higher level in real life, right?
That's a strategy that when we implement it, we do it well, especially because now we have products that can help overcome the very common objections that we've heard for the last 10 years. I think that's a win all the way through. And the other thing that I think is important, I often get hygienists that say, it really better though? If it's water-based, how efficacious is it? Is the patient really getting the benefit that they're paying for? And I know you probably have some insights you can share with our listeners on that too.
Jen Post (15:09.012)
Absolutely. You know, one thing that was quite a surprise for sure to me and I think to some of our scientists who were developing is that when we switched to this water-based composition, it actually works better. So I didn't realize I applied fluoride varnishes for 16 years and know that those have a high concentration of fluoride, that they're very effective.
Wendy Briggs (15:26.296)
Yeah.
Jen Post (15:38.712)
But what I didn't know is that they're very dependent on the patient's saliva to dissolve that coating to liberate the fluoride from that coating. That is why you had to wear the traditional fluoride varnishes for four to six up to 24 hours because you had to let that dissolve to get the fluoride out. And now that we're in this water-based environment, we can see that however much fluoride we put in there is how much is going to be released and available to be taken into the tooth. That's huge. We used to have 3M Vanish Varnish and that was a super sticky coating. We stood behind that. We loved it. We know it worked. When we compare ClinPro Clear to that old Vanish Varnish formulation, we can see ClinPro Clear outperforming Vanish Varnish.
Even though Vanish Varnish has more than twice the amount of fluoride in it. So not only are you decreasing the amount of fluoride, but you're making sure that all of it is available to the patient. So that's just been, I hate to say a happy accident, but it has been a happy accident because our first prerogative of making this product was making something the patient would like. And now guess what? We have also got something that works better than what we had on the market before. So that's clinical excellence to me.
Wendy Briggs (17:17.23)
100%. And that's that win, win, win we're seeking after, right? So we love that about, about ClinPro. So tell us what else is in the works. What else are you excited about on the innovation side?
Jen Post (17:21.048)
Well, I think, you know, a lot of what we're focusing on right now is minimally invasive dentistry. So thinking about how do you preserve tooth structure? How do you delay time between treatments? How do you help patients protect the good restorations, crowns, bridge work, you know, restorations they have, composites? It's about how do we protect what's in there now and take it into the future. So that's you know that's kind of where we're focusing a lot of our work now. And we already know things that can do that you know we've got dental sealants that help preserve tooth structure so maybe you won't need that composite later. We've got prescription toothpaste which by the way has the highest preventive factor of any of our fluoride treatments.
So as you're talking about, you know, risk-based analysis, toothpaste is going to be your highest preventive factor of anything because that's something the patient uses every day. So anybody that's, we hope that they better be using something. But if you're moderate to high risk for tooth decay, you should be using high fluoridated toothpaste every day. So Solventum has ClinPro 5000, but there's other products on the market and we know those work. So get to using them.
Wendy Briggs (18:59.925)
Yeah, yeah, 100 % Jen and we've long used the analogy of, know, some hygienists think, well, gosh, you know, if I have to pick either or which would I rather them have and naturally we say, well, the ClinPro 5000 they're using every single day. However, I kind of challenge that thinking a little bit because I'm like, okay, if they really are high risk for decay, they need both. It's like the patient that's got a nutritional deficiency and they go to their physician and the physician says, okay, you need a prescription strength multivitamin.
In my mind, that's the ClinPro 5000, that's every day. But the patient sometimes needs a vitamin B12 shot. That's the varnish that we apply in the chair. So we often encourage people, don't make it an either or. If you have a high risk patient, put together a bundle. Have a bundle where they can take home the products, whatever that may be. ClinPro may be just one of them. There may be others in addition to that. You know, a power brush or something like that, along with some of those other products.
And when they do that and the varnish together, they save some money on both. We'd love to see patients leave with what they need in their hands simply because, like we said, we kind of laugh about it, but these patients typically are the ones that don't follow through to the same level that we might like them to. So we want to make it absolutely as easy as possible for them to impact their health in that way. So I'm a huge fan of that. Equip the patient with all of the take-home materials that they need. Give it to them while they're at the office. Bundle it, make it affordable for them to be able to do both because many times that's what they need. It's not an either or situation.
Jen Post (20:31.018)
I agree. And combination therapies is really the way to go if people are at moderate to high risk. So you should be looking at sealants. You should be looking at daily toothpaste use and fluoride treatments when they're in the office. These things work better together.
Wendy Briggs (20:48.206)
100%. And another thing, you mentioned sealants, a lot of the sealants now have fluoride release. And so every time we place that ClinPro Clear, we're recharging, if you will. We're taking, if the gas tank is on empty, that fluoride varnish gets it back up to the full threshold. So the fluoride release happens over the next series of months at the highest possible levels yet again. So you don't have to replace the sealant every six months, but every time you do that fluoride varnish, it recharges the fluoride release, which many of these high-risk patients desperately need as well. You know, we look at the innovations in products and technologies over the last few years, it's really been an awesome journey to participate in and to just see, you know, we're constantly making products better and patients are the beneficiaries of that, which I think is wonderful.
Jen Post (21:35.404)
I do too, I do too. I think patients actually want this and it's up to us as hygienists to promote that. And I also want to put in a plug for promoting these products in the dental chair. I think the dental assistant is a key person when you have, you know, a patient in the chair who just had to have some restorative work done, the dental assistant or the dentist could be saying, and we'd like to help you take care of this work that we just did for you today.
Wendy Briggs (22:05.954)
Yeah, we love that. We've actually long taught that we actually teach our members with our hygiene coaching that another prime place to place that fluoride varnish. Of course we do it on the hygiene side after we polish their teeth, but when they're cementing a crown or a bridge or some type of high dollar, high investment restoration, that's a perfect opportunity for the doctor to ask the assistant, you know, just have it a part of your routine. Every time you do a crown seat, there's a fluoride varnish on the tray.
And we make it a habit, if you will. It's part of our service offering to offer that fluoride varnish. And we also teach the doctor, we wordsmith it. We're going to go ahead and place this fluoride varnish because this new crown looks beautiful after this minute's cleaned off. We're going to want to protect that investment you've just made in this restoration. I've asked Wendy to place that fluoride varnish from now on. Every time we polish your teeth, you're going to want to place that varnish yet again to protect this investment you've just made. And the shift in mindset that happens there,
When you have the doctor and the assistant involved in that process is really powerful. So we have a lot of practices across the country that have said, fluoride varnish is now part of our crown set up, bridge set up, any type of cement appointment. We're going to place the varnish after that because I could not agree more that enrolling the entire team in this vision is really powerful. And we have patients that when they come back through and the hygienist mentions fluoride varnish, you know what they say? They say, oh yeah, you know what the doctor said? I should have that.
And so it solidifies in their mind the value of it. So I think, you know, just like anything else, we often say dentistry is a team sport.
Jen Post (23:30.647)
Mm-hmm. It is totally a team sport. We got to talk to each other and then we got to have the same message going to the patient. One thing I think about, I don't know what you think about this, is sometimes you have these patients who are hesitant or they think we're just trying to sell them something. What about if you had them in your chair and you offered that fluoride varnish and they seem a little hesitant? How about if I offered it no charge today? And then you can decide next time if you want to have this because it's what a way to make goodwill and then also show that this really matters to us. And so hopefully they take that with them then to the next appointment. We don't want to offer that all the time, but sometimes with that hesitancy, that little bit of goodwill is all it takes to push them over the edge.
Wendy Briggs (24:29.922)
I think that's a great strategy to use as well, Jen. If someone's had a prior experience with a product they didn't care for, they just appreciated it and like it, the taste or the sticky feeling, that might be a goodwill gesture in that instance. But certainly we have doctors that choose if they're doing it as a part of the crown, they may say, some choose to say, this one's on me, it's included with the price of your crown. From now on, you're gonna wanna have it going forward. And that creation of goodwill is great, but they've also built value at the same time. So one of the things that I often share is if we follow the process, the ideal process, you do the risk assessment, you help the patient understand all the reasons why this is a benefit to them. Often we shouldn't have to discount the dentistry to have patients move forward and be willing to say yes. But occasionally it may be appropriate to do that because like you said, we are generating goodwill. We're wanting to take care of our patients, first and foremost. But in our experience, patients that they understand the value and they understand the why, what's in it for me?
Jen Post (25:18.776)
Mm-hmm.
Wendy Briggs (25:26.606)
They're very willing to move forward with these things. And let's also be honest and real about the cost of a fluoride varnish. It's really not a high dollar value in dentistry. Where many practices keep it affordable because we want all of our patients to be able to say yes. And we want it to be an affordable price point for them. So at a $29 or a $39 or even a $65 fee, most patients in today's world can afford that and are willing when they understand the value.
So what I love about ClinPro and some of the other innovative products that you guys are putting to market is, you we talk about maximizing the roles of the world-class hygienist, preventive therapy, periodontal therapy, patient treatment advocate. You know, we couldn't do that without innovative services to offer. And so I just want to thank you again for joining us here today and sharing your journey and as well your knowledge about, you know, innovative products that are coming to market and how hygienists can maximize those because it is all about the patient first, and that patient care in your DNA, you we love that. And we know a lot of our providers are just the same. You know, we want to do things for the patients because they definitely need it and they deserve the very best care we can provide.
And so thank you for all of your work behind the scenes at 3M and now Solventum in providing us with world-class products that make our jobs easier and certainly make our patients' lives better. So we certainly appreciate your willingness to join us and all of your expertise in these areas.
Jen Post (26:53.324)
Thank you so much. I'm excited about the future.
Wendy Briggs (26:56.898)
Yeah, great time. Best time to practice dentistry.
Jen Post (27:00.096)
Yeah, absolutely.
Wendy Briggs (27:02.579)
It is. Well, thanks everybody for joining us. This is that's it for today's episode of The Double Your Production Podcast and we'll see you next time.
