Dental Hygiene

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...

People who live in developed countries often lack knowledge of some of the serious dental and health issues that persistently trouble residents in developing countries. On an infrequent basis, a horrible disease will surface in a developed country where medical care, nutrition, and sanitation are too often taken for granted. One of those diseases is noma. Noma, also known as cancrum...

History is defined as the study of past events that are connected with someone or something. Have you ever given a thought to the history of dental hygiene? So much can be learned from the dental hygienists who came before us. A wealth of knowledge and experiences are available for those who’d like to know! I had the pleasure of...

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...

An amazing thing about being a dental hygienist is the flexibility of our work schedule. Hygienists can choose the days and times to work. We can even choose where. Temporarily employed dental hygienists can do just that − work on our own terms. Before deciding to temp, though, here are a few tips to follow that can ensure you have...

Many dental hygienists attempted to define “ambition” within the dental hygiene profession as part of a Today’s RDH survey, even while many admittedly struggled with career satisfaction. Overall, 82 American dental hygienists participated in the Today’s RDH survey. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents have been practicing dental hygiene for less than 20 years. Most hygienists (87 percent) say they feel encouraged...

Since periodontal disease is a chronic complex disease affecting 47% of the adult population in the United States,1 we know that treatment of the periodontium with an eye on oral-systemic links is an important focus. Proper nutrition should not be neglected as it plays an intricate role in the control of periodontal disease. The good news is that a huge...

I am always surprised and intrigued to discover new information through my patients. Recently, a patient (male, late 40s) proudly showed me his smartphone app and explained how it tracked his blood sugar, insulin, carbs, weight, and blood glucose levels. He wears a patch on his arm, which he changes every two weeks. Blood sugar levels and other information...

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently added more details about occupational burnout to the International Classification of Diseases. Consequently, the topic of hygiene burnout is more relevant than ever.1 A staggering percentage of hygienists (17%) fantasize about a career change at least once per month, according to a 2015 survey, and graduates after 2010 reported the least amount of...

One of the most challenging tasks dental hygienists face is taking the patient’s clinical diagnosis and trying to make it fit into an insurance code to successfully gain payment. Too often, the front office states that a code won’t prompt payment or that the insurance won’t cover a procedure. One philosophy that we can follow is to treat patients based...