Ask Kara RDH

Our office has three hygienists; myself, who has been a hygienist for 35 years, my coworker “Lorna” who has been a hygienist 45 years, and our newest addition “Lucy” who graduated almost three years ago. Lucy gets done with ALL of her patients in 40 minutes. Lorna and I stay on time, but we usually aren’t as fast. The...

I was recently offered a job with more pay and good benefits. However, the appointments are only 45 minutes, except for SRP. Also, the equipment, such as the ultrasonic, are old. The office is pretty laid back, and the people and doctor are very nice, unlike my current, very well-equipped office. I did the working interview, and I felt...

Please help me and tell me I am not alone… am I alone? I have been a hygienist for three years. However, my anxiety over giving injections has not gotten any better. I get shaky and feel like my fear is written all over my face. I am the only hygienist who is licensed to give injections in my...

Is there a polite way to tell a patient to come on time? I get that things happen and are out of their control, but I have a few patients that are always 10-20 minutes late for all appointments. What’s the best way to address this? The offices I’ve worked at that run smoothly, on-time, and with the least amount...

I am a new dental hygienist, licensed for about four months now. I see a lot of patients for periodontal maintenance. My concern with some more involved perio patients I’m running into is, during periodontal probing there isn’t a huge difference from the previous charting. Their pocket depths are ranging from 4-7 mm, OH is poor/fair, and it seems...

I am a new grad and started full-time at a new office. The hygienist I replaced sharpened her instruments once a month. I feel that is not nearly enough, but I know this office doesn’t like ordering new instruments often. My concerns are I don’t want to wear down instruments very fast by over-sharpening, and I don’t want to...

I work in an office one day a week. I am a new grad, and this is my first job. We recently hired a new hygienist with years of experience. She saw one of my SRP patients at their first recall recently. This patient has poor oral hygiene and up to 9+ mm pockets. She said that whoever did...

Since I’ve started at this office, I feel I have seen too many FMD patients. Patients that I believe, and have been treatment planned, as an adult prophy, however, the doctor is diagnosing as needing an FMD first. Patients that come in with heavy supragingival calculus and moderate/heavy plaque, I can understand in order to remove deposits for an...

What do you do if you have a patient that’s been coming to the same practice for 15 years as is treated by the same hygienist, but I am now seeing them due to a scheduling conflict, and the patient presents with moderate subgingival calculus and slight bone loss on X-rays?  Because of this, it is recommended to the...

I have a patient with extreme thermal and tactile sensitivity but has great probing depths. She qualifies for a prophy but needs to be anesthetized due to her sensitivity. Therefore, we do 1/2 mouth one visit, and the other half another visit. What insurance code would we use to bill this out as? Any suggestions besides local anesthesia to...