Dental Hygiene

Dental hygienists continue to pursue the latest advances in technology and education, but it can become overwhelming. The influx of new systems and studies inundates dental conferences, emails, podcasts, and social media, leaving us to feel inadequate or like we are not doing enough. Dental hygienists are a special breed, and we like to be perfect, detail-oriented, and well-educated. This...

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...

Editor's Note: Information about COVID-19 is changing on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. We have made every attempt to ensure this article is up-to-date at the time of publication, but with the rapid changes occurring, some information may have changed since publication. Please visit https://www.coronavirus.gov/ for the latest news and information on COVID-19. During this COVID-19 crisis, I am sitting at home...

Decades after the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was first introduced, it is still one of the most misunderstood federal health laws in effect, including within dentistry. Prior to HIPAA, no generally accepted set of security standards or general requirements for protecting health information existed for health care. Recent events concerning vaccination requirements for employment have...

Plymouth Meeting, PA – February 11, 2021 – Premier Dental Products Company is proud to announce that over the last 15 years it has donated over $4 million to the American Dental Association Foundation’s Give Kids a Smile® (GKAS) program, with its latest donation of 10,000 individual treatments of Enamel Pro® Varnish, an innovative product that serves to strengthen...

The ketogenic diet has many devotees beyond the original intent of a controlled nutritional response to pediatric epilepsy. Dental hygienists have an in-depth understanding of the pivotal role nutrition can play in oral health and disease. Unexplained gingival inflammation can be rooted in what our patients consume daily and can be a small indication of a larger inflammatory issue...

Medications cure, treat, or prevent a disease or condition or relieve symptoms from an illness ─ vital elements to maintaining or improving health. Over 20,000 prescription medications are approved for marketing, and more than 66% of all adults in the United States use prescription medications. 1 Dental patients are more often on medications than not. Dental professionals should evaluate the...

Dr. Kathy DeFord and I became acquainted through Iowa Western Community College’s Dental Hygiene Advisory Board. At a recent board meeting, I informed Dr. DeFord that I had learned from a former student’s research that she had a therapy dog at her office, and I would love to gain more insight. Dr. DeFord lit up and was happy to...

The recent pandemic has caused some concern among hygienists about the future of their careers. Many have voiced concerns about going back to work, and many have toyed with the idea of starting a new career. Dentists have made bold statements going as far as claiming "dental hygiene as a career is done." These concerns seem to be stemmed from...

We can all probably relate to moments when we lose sight of the reasons we went into the dental field in the first place and, at times, can get caught up in the negative, forgetting what a great profession we are lucky to be a member of. Everyone has their own journey and motivational factors that led them to...