This week on A Tale of Two Hygienists TIPisode we are joined by Pediatric Dentist, Dr.Jeannette MacLean to talk to us about the expanding MI Paste line from GC America.
Episode Highlights
- What is MI Paste?
- Recaldent
- Using MI Paste in Your Practice
- Pediatric Patients
- Teen Patients
- MI Paste Plus
- Hypersensitivity
- MI Paste One
- MI Paste Kids
Quotes
“MI paste is actually a topical tooth cream that contains recaldent.”
“It’s nice to have an alternative to offer parents who are leery of fluoride.”
“It tastes good, it’s a mild flavor so compliance is good.”
“In the process of doing that you are going to hyper mineralize the outer surface of the enamel.”
“As it hyper mineralizes it can sometimes stain.”
“I have had success with this Etch MI Paste technique.”
“Switching to MI Paste there was a noticeable difference in my sensitivity.”
“You can clean and protect teeth with MI Paste One.”
“The cotton candy flavor tastes like real cotton candy.”
Links
MI Paste Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/mi.paste/
MI Paste Family Products: https://www.gcamerica.com/products/preventive/MI_Paste_Plus/index.php
Dr. MacLean Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJ6qgHP6JxaIqmSe3HSLmQ
Dr. MacLean Website
http://www.gcamerica.com/ce/alleducation.php
This TIPisode has been transcribed for your viewing pleasure:
Michelle Strange: A Tale of Two Hygienists presents this week’s TIPisode: quick and easy tips to keep you up to date and presented by the experts in the profession. Now, get ready for your unofficial TIPisode, this week brought to you by GC America.
Dr. Jeanette MacLean: Hi. This is pediatric dentist Dr. Jeanette MacLean here with today’s TIPisode on MI Paste from GC America. So, if you’re not familiar with MI Paste, what it is is it’s not just a regular toothpaste. Like, usually we think of toothpaste like, “Okay. Cleans your teeth. It has fluoride. Yada yada.” So this is actually something unique [laughing], and it actually contains a trademark ingredient known as recaldent. MI Paste is actually a topical tooth cream containing the recaldent ingredient, which is derived from the protein in cow’s milk, casein. It is contraindicated in patients with a true casein allergy or a milk protein allergy, but it is safe to use in patients with just a lactose sensitivity. That would not be an issue. It’s also kosher and gluten free.
Recaldent, to be more specific, this ingredient is casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate, or CPP-ACP. What CPP-ACP does in the MI Paste is it helps to increase the bioavailable calcium and phosphate in saliva, which is amazing for repairing and strengthening tooth enamel because of course when our tooth enamel or your patient’s tooth enamel gets attacked by the acids produced by bacteria in the biofilm, they lose calcium and phosphate. So having readily available calcium and phosphate in saliva will help replenish those minerals that have been lost by the enamel.
So how do I use this in my practice? I’m in a private practice, pediatric practice, and we see kids anywhere from birth until they go off to college, and of course lots of special needs patients, and there’s different ways that I utilize it.
So, on one end of the spectrum with my little ones, so under the age of six, I use what I refer to as MI Paste plain. Like the original MI Paste with no fluoride in it. So I’ll recommend the MI Paste to these parents, and I reassure the parents of these little ones that it is safe to swallow. They don’t have to worry about the children consuming excessive amounts of fluoride. You know, we are seeing more and more parents that prefer not to use fluoride, and as much as I am a believer in fluoride, sometimes you don’t have to fight every battle, especially from step one. So it’s nice to have another alternative to offer parents who are maybe more leery of fluoride, and it’s safe to swallow.
Compliance is great because they don’t have to use a toothbrush to put it on. You know, sometimes these kids may have sensory issues or they fight the toothbrush because they’re sensitive. Of course I still want the parents to brush [laughing], but when it comes to doing this extra treatment of the MI Paste, it’s nice that the parents can just put a little dab on their finger and spread it on the kid’s teeth. It tastes really nice. It’s like a nice, mild flavor, so acceptance is very good. Compliance has been excellent.
Now, the next stage that we use the MI Paste for is in our older kiddos. Let’s say our tweens and our teens. We have a lot of patients in orthodontic appliances. Now, of course I recommend to help prevent white spot lesions prescription-strength fluoride toothpaste. However, there is some controversy with that. In the presence of white spots, if you are to use prescription-strength fluoride toothpaste, which has 5,000 part per million fluoride, sure you may arrest those white spot lesions, but in the process of doing that, you’re going to hypermineralize the outer surface of the enamel. Great. You stop it from cavitating. You stop additional loss of calcium and phosphate. That’s all wonderful. But the negative is, as it hypermineralized, it can actually stain.
And I know you’ve seen these spots. So it can not only look white, sometimes it’ll look yellow or even brown as it becomes an arrested or inactive caries lesion. And it’s so hypermineralized that it will actually block future absorption of calcium and phosphate from the saliva, so you can’t get that natural reversal or remineralization of the white spots. That can be problematic cosmetically.
So another big use that I have for MI Paste is to help reverse the appearance of white spot lesions in my tween and teenage patients. I also will use it for some of my kiddos that have congenital enamel defects like MIH, molar incisor hypomineralization, congenital enamel defects where they have these unsightly white spots in their enamel. But let’s say they’re young or the parent is reluctant to do any sort of surgical intervention that might be more invasive and potentially remove large amounts of enamel like a bonding or — you know, we definitely aren’t going to do veneers in these little kids, or tweens I should say, or teenagers, you know, patients under the age of 18.
So I liked having this minimally invasive alternative where I can do a technique known as etch plus MI Paste, and essentially what that is is you’re using your conventional 37 percent phosphoric acid etch like you would for a resin composite, and you’re using that to help open the pores of the enamel, and then apply the MI Paste. And it can be the plain MI Paste, or it can be the other product we carry, which is MI Paste Plus, which has a typical over the counter strength of fluoride contained in it, which is 900 part per million. So a nice therapeutic amount of fluoride without overdoing it [laughing], so you’re not going to block absorption of calcium and phosphate. And I have had success with either product. Either the MI Paste plain or the MI Paste Plus, with or without fluoride, I have had success with this etch plus MI Paste technique.
If this technique interests you, I actually have a step-by-step video tutorial on my YouTube channel, which is Affiliated Children’s Dental Specialists. You can even link to it from my website, which is kidsteethandbraces.com. There’s a link to my YouTube tutorial of the etch plus MI Paste technique as well as a link to on-demand CE for minimally invasive cosmetic treatments for enamel defects and white spot lesions.
So now that brings me to my next use of MI Paste for adults and people like myself. So I have hypersensitivity with my teeth. I have kind of smaller teeth, thinner enamel, definitely have some erosion from bad habits of, you know, being a little bit addicted to sparkling water [laughing]. Things like that. You know, we all have our vices.
So, for many years, I was using one of the really well known over the counter products — or toothpaste I should say — for sensitivity, and not really stellar results. But, switching to MI Paste, there was a noticeable, significant difference in reducing my symptoms of hypersensitivity, particularly when I do my at-home whitening or bleaching procedures. I use the white strips, and of course when you’re bleaching and whitening your teeth, there’s some hypersensitivity associated with that, and I have found that the MI Paste has really been better at eliminating my symptoms of hypersensitivity.
So, for your adult patients, if they have hypersensitivity, erosion, wear, let’s say they’re bleaching their teeth, or let’s say they’re xerostomic, they have dry mouth, the MI Paste is excellent. It’s non-irritating, so it’s a really nice product for them.
And I should mention another fun fact [laughing] about MI Paste is that in Australia — you know, I mentioned earlier that the product was containing recaldent, which was developed in the 1980s in Australia, and in Australia where it’s distributed by GC America, it’s actually called “Tooth Mousse.” And, if you’re a child of the 80s or you know of the 80s [laughing] like me and you remember mousse, which was this product that everyone was putting in their hair and scrunching up their perms [laughing] to get nice volume, you think of that as an extra step, an extra product. Like, you go in the shower, you shampoo and condition your hair, but when you come out, you add the mousse to get that volume. I like actually explaining that to the parents.
You know, the kids don’t get the reference of mousse, but the parents get it, and it really clicks with them that this is like an extra step. I tell them to put it on their teeth almost like a lotion, you know, after they’ve brushed with their regular fluoride toothpaste, and it’s this nice way to add remineralization and enhance the calcium and phosphate in their saliva.
But, you know, sometimes patients aren’t the most compliant, so it’s also nice that there is the option of MI Paste One. It’s a one-step system, so you can clean and protect teeth with MI Paste One. It’s truly a toothpaste, so it’s got the recaldent ingredients but also fluoride, and it can eliminate the extra step of applying MI Paste after regular brushing.
And I’m really excited because this year they’re launching the new MI Paste One Kids, so we’re going to have even better options and awesome flavors for the kiddos. So I’ve actually had the chance for my kids to try it, and it has flavors like bubblegum, blue raspberry, and cotton candy, and to quote my 11-year-old son, “The cotton candy flavor tastes like real cotton candy!” [Laughing]. So compliance is going to be great with this.
A common theme or complaint really from parents that I hear is that my kids hate all toothpastes. They think it’s disgusting. They hate mint. They say it burns, you know, et cetera, et cetera. A lot of times it’s hard to get the kids to brush their teeth because they just don’t care for the flavors. They have a lot of these flavor aversions, and some of the flavors out there really aren’t that great. They’re kind of icky [laughing]. But I found that the patients really like the creaminess and the taste of MI Paste, so acceptance has been really excellent.
I gave the tube of cotton candy to one of my kid’s friends several months back, and then more recently I got a text message from the mom, and she’s like, “Uh, where do I get more of this toothpaste? We ran out. It’s his favorite. Um, we need to get more. Can you please help me get more of this?” [Laughing]. So I’m really excited for this new option and the new flavors that have come out. I’m excited about it.
If you haven’t tried MI Paste, I really hope you take the time to learn more about it, and I appreciate you listening to this TIPisode today and hope I’ve piqued your interest. Be sure to reach out to your local GC America rep. Have them come to your office and meet with your team and talk more about the products and how you can help your patients, you know, from the very young, the little ones where we don’t want them on these really high-dose fluoride toothpastes or to your adult or older patients who have dry mouth or hypersensitivity and want sensitivity relief without stain. So many options in between.
I mentioned the etch and MI Paste technique, so lots of cool and exciting things you can do with MI Paste, so be sure to check it out. Go to GC America’s website. There’s lots more information and resources on there as well. Downloads of information. Research articles on the recaldent ingredient. So many great options with the MI Paste. Thanks again for listening.
Michelle Strange: Thanks for listening to another TIPisode, and thank you to GC America for sponsoring this week’s episode. You can find out more about their great products at gcamerica.com.
And don’t forget to hit the “subscribe” button in your podcast app, follow us on Facebook or Instagram, and head over to our website, ataleoftwohygienists.com, to sign up for our newsletter. We always appreciate ratings and reviews. Thanks again for listening to your unofficial dental hygiene podcast.
[CLOSING MUSIC]
