Kaitlyn Machado, RDH, BS, MEd, FADHA
Since a very young age, Kaitlyn Machado, RDH, BS, MEd, FADHA, has always wanted to be a dental hygienist. She was the youngest student to graduate from her dental hygiene class in 2017. Since then, Kate has gone back for both her bachelor's and master's degrees.
She is a faculty member at her local dental hygiene school, a clinical dental hygienist, and has been a part of Today's RDH since its launch. She is extremely passionate about homecare and loves her prophy paste and fluoride varnish. In addition, Kate loves to work with a local non-profit organization that helps fight against hygiene insecurity of all ages in her community. Kate is very involved in the profession as much as she can, including local and state-level professional associations. She loves to attend professional conferences when she can. When she isn't working, she enjoys traveling, sports, watching movies, and spending time with her amazing, supportive family.
10 Tips for Improving Your Operatory to Make Your Life Easier
There are many needed materials and supplies involved in dental hygiene, and most of them lie within our operatories. You have oral hygiene/education instruction supplies, homecare products, sealant materials, set-ups, and other resources to name just a few. With having busy patient schedules all day, sometimes our drawers, countertops, and cabinets can become a disaster zone. Here are some...
The Demands of the Job: 3 Health Challenges Dental Hygienists Face
Many people, including our patients, do not realize the demands of the dental hygiene profession, especially physically. I was not aware of the aches and pains before either. Even in school, I was more focused on completing the program. In dental hygiene school, we did not see half as many patients in comparison to the real world.
Not all “aches...
How to Build Relationships with Your Patients
In any healthcare setting, you are interacting with different types of people. Clinically, as dental professionals, you are working with a community of many different personality types. Because of a dental hygienist's one-on-one interaction with patients, it is crucial to make a connection.
Making professional relationships with patients will only improve the overall care and treatment experience. Having relationships with...
A Dental Hygienist’s Personal Experience with Community Service
Yes, this article will focus on my own personal experiences doing some good in the community. My story could show some insight on how to find what you are passionate about in your own community.
Sometimes opportunities such as this are unexpected, and they present themselves to you when you aren't even looking. In my case, I was attending a...
Engagement: Dental Hygiene’s Process of Change Inspire Oral Health Improvements
The processes of change in dental patient education are associated with the stages of change model. The stages of change, also known as the Transtheoretical Model, offer guidance on the readiness of individuals or groups to change behavior.
The 10 processes of change are divided into two categories ─ experiential and behavioral. An individual can go through each of these...
6 Ways to Instill Bravery: Caring for Patients with Dental Anxiety
Have you ever put a patient back in the chair, and they blurt out, "I really hate going to the dentist?" Well, it's a good thing that this hygienist is not a dentist, eh?
We all have our own forms of anxiety. If you have ever entered a dental office, which I assume you have, you are aware of dental...
Dental Compliance: Helping Patients Comply Using the Stages of Change Model
Many healthy behavior models and theories are available, but the Stages of Change Model, also known as the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), is one that clearly breaks down where a dental patient is in their readiness to change behavior.
Part of the Stages of Change model involves assessing someone (in this case, your dental patients). Individual awareness and decision making are...
Different Stages of Career: Meet Kim, The Gung-ho Seasoned RDH
In part three of our series, we move our way up the ranks to a hygienist who has many years of experience under her belt. Kimberlee Faria, RDH, is a Massachusetts native who has been practicing for 30 years. She graduated from dental hygiene school in 1990.
To view the previous articles in the Different Stages of Career series, click...
Different Stages of Career: Mid-career RDH Reflects on Challenges
Over the past three years of clinical experience, I have been introduced to many different dental professionals, especially hygienists. Everyone possesses their own opinions, perspectives, and experiences about the profession. My goal here is to have hygienists reflect on their dental hygiene career based on their experience − a new graduate, a hygienist with a few years under her...
What Other Hygienists Do: Be an Advocate Through a Non-profit
Advocacy is a huge part of working with the community and different populations. When I think of advocacy, my first thought was Alicia Murria, RDH, MS(c). She has been a dental hygienist for eight years, is the executive director of a non-profit, and a hygiene faculty member with a dental technology company since 2017.
My other articles in this series...
What Other Hygienists Do: A Look at a School-based Dental Program
Switching settings now, we enter the public health sector, which includes the school-based community. According to the American Dental Association, dental public health is defined as "that part of dentistry providing leadership and expertise in population-based dentistry, oral health surveillance, policy development, community-based disease prevention and health promotion, and the maintenance of the dental safety net.”1
I asked Paula Morrison,...
What Other Hygienists Do: A Look at Care Behind Bars
When we first entered dental hygiene school, we were taught that as dental hygienists, we perform many different roles such as clinician, advocate, researcher, educator, and administrative/manager.
Some of us work in different types of dental offices such as private practices, general, perio, and pedo to name a few, while others work in the public health sector. Some hygienists have...
On the Hunt for CEs: Finding the Best Continuing Education Courses for You
Wherever you practice any form of dental hygiene, you require some sort of licensure, certification, or permit. One thing that all states have in common is the requirement of having a specific total amount of continuing education credits (CEUs).
Some hygienists dread them, and others see it as a great opportunity to refresh themselves in topics or to dive into...
How I Went from Dental Hygiene Student to Educator
During dental hygiene school, I decided I wanted to eventually be a dental hygiene educator. I've previously written about the steps I took to get my bachelor's degree. I wasn't expecting that, as soon as I completed my bachelor's degree, I had a position at my dental hygiene school as adjunct faculty.
For those who know me, I am very...
Difficult Patients: Not an Endangered Species
You see them all the time, difficult patients. They are definitely not an endangered species. We all have those war stories. Throughout the hygiene program, and the few months I’ve been in practice, I’ve already had my fair share of difficult patients. Even though they can sometimes bring a negative atmosphere to the appointment, we still have time to...
The Art of Sampling: A Fresh Insider Perspective of Dental Products
Samples, samples, samples! Sampling products from PPE to home-care supplies are a great opportunity for patients and clinicians to try something new and test it out. You may switch over to a new product almost immediately, quickly admiring the results of using it. Testing out products gives you hands-on experiences and observation, allowing you to formulate your own opinion...
5 Tips for Treating Geriatric Patients
Have you heard "I'm too old for x-rays!" from a geriatric patient? Age is but a number, and it is not an excuse for below standard of care. Quality dental care is always a must, no matter the age.
First, who is categorized as a geriatric? On average, adults older than age 65 can be grouped in this category. According...
Networking: Dental Hygienists Should Make One Connection after Another
Networking can be intimidating, but it is necessary for your continued success. Networking is a form of communication in the professional world. Networking can occur inside and outside the dental profession.
As with many things in life, it’s who you know. I’ll use my father as an example. He is not in the dental profession, but he is a professional...
What’s Next? My Personal Experience towards a Bachelor’s Degree
So you’re a dental hygienist, huh? Yes, yes I am. I am more than that though. Personally, I have goals outside the clinical setting. (And that’s ok if you have no desire to leave the clinic setting too). I hope to one day be an educator or work for a dental company, or possibly be a midlevel dental therapist,...
Why I Decided to Become a Dental Hygienist
What did you want to be when you grew up? Throughout childhood, we were asked this question. I assume many of you changed your answer a few times. I love to hear other's stories, see the similarities, and even the differences, of our dental hygiene upbringing. I knew my answer at a very young age, and it never changed....