Kim Kiser, RDH
Kim Kiser, RDH, whose career spans over 30 years, looks forward to sharing tips and topics that other fellow hygienist may find helpful, funny, and educational in their pursuit of ultimate care of their patients. A 1992 graduate of Trident College, Kim has a passion for educating patients with the best and most up to date products and techniques available, so patients fully understand how to properly be the best advocate in the care of their own oral health. Kim is a mother of 2, with one granddaughter, and resides in the beautiful North Georgia mountains with her husband, Mark. Outside of her love for dentistry, Kim also enjoys baking, gardening, painting, and enjoying all the beauty North Georgia has to offer.
Baby Teeth Matter: Embrace the Opportunity to Introduce Kids to Dentistry
Do you remember your first dental visit? I do not; I was apparently too young to have any memory of that momentous occasion. However, thanks to my chosen profession, I am a part of many kiddos’ first dental visit!
The American Dental Association recommends the first dental visit by age 12 months or six months after the appearance of the...
Reflections in My Dental Mirror: Tips for Younger Hygienists
My dental career began in Goose Creek, South Carolina, in 1987 at the ripe old age of 20. I was a certified dental assistant and immediately became hooked. I’m not sure what made me love it so; it could have been the smell of eugenol in the air, the fashionable scrubs I was able to wear, or the bright,...
Lip Tattoos: Help Dental Patients Think before They Ink
Humans have marked their bodies with tattoos for thousands of years, and these permanent designs are always personal, serving as status symbols, signs of religious beliefs, amulets, declarations of love, adornments, and even as forms of punishment. People tattoo every part of their bodies, including their inner labial mucosa, gingiva, and hard palate as a form of self-expression.
Celebrities such...
Vaping: Clearing the Air for Dental Patients
Much discussion has been devoted to vaping during the last few months after several reported deaths and hundreds with related lung disease illnesses around the United States. As dental hygiene clinicians on the front lines in health care, we need to be aware of this in order to help educate our patients with accurate information that could potentially help...
Teething Necklaces: Are They Worth the Risk?
I am a veteran dental hygienist. I am also a mother and a grandmother, and I like the title of “Memaw” much better. I know exactly how parents feel when a child is experiencing pain or discomfort. Parents want solutions and answers on how to alleviate or prevent the pain, especially when infants and small children are unable to...
Are You Burnt Out Or Just Bummed Out? What Hygienists Should Know
Regardless of how long you have been working as a dental hygienist, at some point you may have felt that you were just done and over it all! If the thought of scaling one more piece of calculus, flipping one more room, or reviewing a treatment plan makes you literally want to run out the door screaming all the...
7 Things Your Dental Hygienist Wish You Knew
Dental hygienists are very grateful to their patients, and they realize patients have chosen a dental office for assistance during the journey of keeping their teeth for a lifetime. It is a hard task for some patients to even show up for appointments due to perhaps anxiety or a dental phobia, a demanding work schedule, or daily life responsibilities.
So,...
Keeping the Schedule Filled: Battling the Saga of Appointment No Shows
I think since the dawn of civilization, there has been a problem in dental offices that has yet to be solved. Come on! You know what I’m talking about! Keeping the dental hygiene schedules full and productive!
You can seemingly have the perfect day scheduled when you begin the day fresh-faced at 8 a.m. But, by 9 o’clock, you have...
Dental Sealants: Making a Choice in Etching
We are all very aware of how effective dental sealants are against caries. The thin, little barriers placed in the pits and fissures of molar and premolar teeth have been around in one form or another since 1966. They have acted as a formidable defense in the fight against plaque and bacteria that would normally cause carious lesions.
You may have...