Dental Hygiene

A woman goes through many changes during the nine months of pregnancy. It is always exciting to see the first signs of a baby bump, and most moms-to-be are concerned about the health of their growing baby. Unfortunately, these women can be misinformed or not informed at all about how pregnancy can affect oral health and how their oral...

If there’s one thing dental patients hate more than fillings and root canals, it’s needles. The anxiety associated with receiving a shot at their dental appointment is one of the most common reasons patients cite for their fear of the dentist. Unfortunately, there have not been many options for providing local anesthesia that did not require a shot in the...

A few nights ago, the boyfriend and I went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. If you’re ever in the Phoenix area, make sure you enjoy a cocktail and dinner at The Gladly, as it truly is an experience. In fact, I’ll happily join you, shoot me a Facebook message! Our favorite part about The Gladly: we...

When patients dawn the door of their dentist, whether to spruce up their pearly whites or to cure a toothache, they do not think any further about the appointment outside of its purpose. Patients do not think twice about the radiographs that were taken, the charting that took place, or the molds that were made of their teeth; just...

What is Crohn’s Disease? “Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract; this disease belongs to a group of conditions known as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).1” This disease can be triggered by an autoimmune reaction in your body; what happens is the immune system might mistake the bacteria in your digestive tract and cause your body to...

Truth be told, I had another version of this article with “how-tos,” “what-to-dos,” and pieces of advice from my experience thus far; I thought that would be the best way to share with my fellow dental hygienists. I will share those with you, but I also want to highlight the best way to gain restorative case acceptance is through...

Let’s face it, as dental hygienists we love what we do! But scaling teeth day in and day out, week after week, can get pretty old, pretty fast for some. Thankfully, the dental hygiene profession has reached a pivotal moment where there are now countless non-traditional career opportunities both in and out of the clinical setting. More than ever...

It is that time of year when the kids start a new school year, and many participate in school sports programs. Although schools attempt to keep our children safe on and off the field, the regulations for athletic mouth guards are not consistent with the need to prevent injury in the majority of school-based sports. A dental professional has...

It is estimated that 30 million Americans are exposed to potentially harmful sounds at work. Many workplaces require hearing protection devices (HPD) as personal protective equipment (PPE). Dentists and their auxiliaries are regularly exposed to decibel (dB) levels at and above the level of 85, which begins an unsafe zone for ears without protection. Awareness needs to be generated...

During dental treatment, saliva is generally not our friend. We fight with it to keep patients from feeling like they are drowning, it is always interfering with sealant placement and other restorative procedures, but what if that saliva we loathe could help our patients with early disease diagnosis? The ability to utilize saliva to monitor the health and disease...