Dental Hygiene

Laser. The word sounds scary if it isn’t understood. A laser produces a narrow and intense beam of light energy which can be used to treat a wide range of dental conditions. For a hygienist, the laser is an effective and comfortable way to decontaminate periodontal pockets, help treat gingivitis, remove necrotic tissue, or treat an annoying canker sore....

Dental hygienists see a range of oral lesions on any given day in clinical practice that takes us back to the pages of our oral pathology books. The ability to identify and differentiate oral lesions is one of the most important skills we learn. Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a very common dermatologic disease which can affect the skin...

New and exciting things were happening at this past EuroPerio9 held in Amsterdam from June 20th-23rd, 2018. The American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) announced new periodontal classifications for the AAP Guidelines. The guidelines have not been updated since 1999, so this is a pretty big deal! This was a long time coming as both the American Academy of Periodontology...

The Today’s RDH Hygienist Profile is an ongoing series that features dental hygienists who have expanded their career beyond clinical work, are putting a unique spin on dental hygiene, or have gone above and beyond as a preventive specialist. To kick off the Today’s RDH Hygienist Profile series, we interview Whitney, RDH, BS, also known as Teeth Talk Girl!...

There are only a few things in this world that people enjoy more than sweets, whether it be chocolate or even adding sugar to a daily cup of coffee. We humans just cannot seem to get enough. However, tooth decay is considered an epidemic in children in the USA. Further, sugar, and the inflammation caused by it, feeds many...

This is Part 2 of the Oral Care Training for Assisted Living Staff. Part one explored the steps of creating a program to educate staff in general tooth brushing and basic daily home care in assisted living settings. Part two explores training staff in toothbrush storage and sanitation. Toothbrush storage and sanitation play a vital role in any residential or...

A study published online in Environmental Health Perspective on July 20, 2012, written by Anna Choi, a research scientist in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard, claimed, “Children in high-fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ scores than those who lived in low fluoride areas.”1 This publication fueled the fire for the anti-fluoride movement. In March of 2013, another article...

You have worked incredibly hard to get where you are as a dental hygienist, investing time and money into your degree, keeping current on professional development, and providing first-rate care within the four walls of a dental practice. How satisfied are you? If you don’t have complete fulfillment in your present role as a dental hygienist, what is leaving you unsatisfied?...

Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery, second only to drugs as the world’s largest criminal activity. The United Nations defines trafficking in human beings as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, detection, abuse of power or position of...

Urban legends are types of modern folklore or fictional stories presented as true and used for entertainment or to serve as cautionary tales. Urban legends were first published in 1968 and are typically complete stories with plots and characters that are “rooted in popular culture” and display elements of “fear, humor, mystery or horror”.1 The urban legends of dentistry...