Ms Tabitha Acret, Dental Hygienist

Tabitha Acret is a dedicated and passionate award-winning Dental Hygienist. She studied a Bachelor of Oral Health at Newcastle University, completed a Graduate Certificate in Public Health and a Clinical Master student at the University of Central London Eastman Campus.

Tabitha has become one of the most sought-after Hygienists and Educators in Australia and internationally with a fast-growing and loyal customer base of patients, dental professionals and media. Tabitha was previously the National Vice-President for the Dental Hygienists Association of Australia and has volunteered in many roles since graduation for the Association. She also has a passion for education with students, working as lecturer at Sydney University as well as a Clinical Educator for implant maintenance and non-surgical periodontal therapy. Currently, she also works two days a week in private practice.

Mastering Oral Hygiene Instruction: A Hands-On Skills Course for Every Patient

Effective oral hygiene instruction is one of the most underrated clinical skills in dentistry. We deliver it every day, yet most of us were never formally taught how to teach — how to motivate behaviour change, tailor technique to anatomy, or adapt our approach across the lifespan. The result is generic advice that patients nod along to in the chair and abandon the moment they get home. This hands-on course rebuilds OHI from the ground up as a clinical and communication skill. Participants will move beyond the standard “brush twice a day, don’t forget to floss” script and develop a structured, evidence-based approach to behaviour change that works across four distinct patient populations: paediatric, orthodontic, periodontal, and geriatric.

Learning Objectives

The science of motivation and behaviour change. Why traditional advice-giving fails, and how motivational interviewing, habit formation theory, and the COM-B model can be applied in short clinical appointments. You will practise techniques that shift patients from passive listeners to active participants in their own oral health.
Paediatric OHI. Age-appropriate communication frameworks for toddlers through adolescents. Engaging carers without undermining the child. Disclosing agents, brushing technique progression, and managing the high-caries-risk child. Strategies for the anxious or resistant young patient.

Orthodontic OHI. Plaque control around fixed appliances, clear aligners, and retainers. Interdental aid selection — from interspace brushes to floss threaders, superfloss, and water flossers — matched to appliance type. Managing white spot lesions and gingival inflammation throughout active treatment.

Periodontal OHI. Site-specific instruction for patients with Stage I–IV periodontitis, recession, furcations, and post-surgical sites. Interdental brush sizing and technique. Integrating OHI with non-surgical and supportive periodontal therapy. Setting realistic plaque score targets and tracking progress objectively.

Geriatric OHI. Adapting instruction for patients with reduced dexterity, cognitive decline, polypharmacy-induced xerostomia, and prosthodontic considerations. Carer education for dependent patients. Denture hygiene, implant maintenance in the ageing patient, and root caries prevention.

Hands-On Components
Participants will work through structured practical sessions including on themselves and on typodonts and peer partners, interdental aid selection workshops, role-play scenarios with standardised patient briefs across all four populations, and live coaching on communication delivery with real-time feedback.

Each participant will receive a hands on OHI pack worth over $100 each