Early Adopters : Hawkeye Probe

As a rule, bleeding is never really a good thing. But in dentistry, bleeding is a good indicator that something’s not quite right.

“Over the years, the dental industry has come to accept bleeding gums,” said Amanda Hill, BSDH, RDH, CDIPC, a dental educator and thought leader with over 25 years of experience in clinical dental hygiene. “Probing is one of the ways that we can assess this inflammation at every appointment. After all, inflammation in the mouth means there’s inflammation in the body, which can lead to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and all sorts of systemic effects. Picking up the probe and using proper technique to assess the health of our patients every time they come in elevates the dental appointment from a cleaning to a health visit.”

Improved Access

One tool that Hill has recently picked up is the Hawkeye, an innovative probe with an angled offset that makes it easier to assess clinical attachment in periodontal pockets, specifically in posterior regions.

Created in collaboration with Dr. Emily Boge, a dental administrative chair at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, IA, the probe is marked with the common pattern of 3–6–9–12 mm on both ends and made with a superior grade of stainless steel for improved access and durability.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen an offset probe,” said Hill. “It’s something I’ve never really thought about, but once I had it in my hand, I said to myself, ‘Oh, wow, I can see why this is so helpful.’”

A ‘Hawk’ Eye for Accurate Readings

When trying to get into tough spaces during recalls, hygienists have long enjoyed access to a variety of instruments with different kinds of bends, yet there’s never been an angled probe.

“There are times when you’re probing and you feel like you can’t get the probe back far enough—either your fingers aren’t long enough, or the lack of angulation on the probe doesn’t allow you to adapt it correctly,” said Hill. “Just yesterday I had a patient with an 8-mm pocket on the distal of tooth No. 16, and I was able to get a more accurate reading from the Hawkeye because of the extra angle.”

Hill shared that she loves using the Hawkeye around bulbous crowns.

“If you try and go in and get that angle with a straight probe, you’re either not going to get an accurate measurement or you’re going to end up gouging the patient,” she said. “So, having that offset allows you to stay parallel and achieve precise readings.”

Final Thoughts

Hill noted that with all the different types of dentistry seen today, the Hawkeye probe starts to make more and more sense, especially when it comes to over-contoured restorations and implants.

“When I started out in hygiene, it would be rare to see an implant a week, and now I see multiple implants a day,” she noted. “Sometimes, when you’re getting into areas where you have all these different kinds of restorations, it’s hard to achieve proper angulation with your probe and get accurate readings. Using an instrument like the Hawkeye probe helps calibrate the angulation and give me consistent readings every time because I’m not hindered by a bulbous restoration or a wisdom tooth that’s super hard to reach. That accuracy makes me a better healthcare professional for my patients.”