Life at Work

Being a dental hygienist can obviously be tiring. Seeing patient after patient can slowly chip away at your positivity. Having to work with negative co-workers, or people you don’t get along with makes everything that much more difficult. Dealing with problem patients, staying on schedule, and having to put up with not-so-kind coworkers in the office can make work an...

The question comes up a lot: How do I expand my career outside of the clinical setting? It is quite difficult to answer this question. Not because there are no opportunities, there’s actually many. It’s because there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to answer this question. It really depends on you, as an individual; including your particular goals, expectations, skillset, and what...

There’s a wide range of emotions that can come from being a dental hygienist. From dealing with co-workers, staying on schedule, the satisfaction of a patient improving their homecare, or the opposite – a patient not caring in the slightest about their health. However, there’s one emotion that can be hard to deal with because it continues to grow...

We’ve all worked with that person who acts as if they know everything. They speak in a condescending tone and are convinced they are 100% correct at all times. We all know that disgusted, irritated feeling we get when encountering these types of people. But have you stepped back and asked yourself whether you’ve been acting like that? It’s always...

As dental hygienists, we respect the doctor we work for. After all, it is their practice, their business, and we work either under direct or indirect supervision of them. They are the boss. Because of this respect, some topics that are hard or just plain uncomfortable to bring up with them. We might also hold back because we don’t...

Dental hygiene is dominated by women, and because of this, you are more than likely going to encounter an office pregnancy. This exciting time in your life may prompt a few questions such as, how can you stay comfortable before and after delivering a healthy baby? You may wonder if you will be able to keep up with the...

Ten years ago, I picked up my license, walked out of my employer’s office midday, and never looked back. I don’t regret it. What I do regret is not noticing the red flags sooner. Working in a toxic office is not something that every hygienist will encounter in their careers, but many will. So, here is a discussion of...

It takes everyone in a dental office working as a team to provide the best care to patients and establishing a happy workplace. Have you ever had a coworker improve your mood in an instant? Besides gifting a million dollars, here are four ways you can return the favor. Remember Significant Events Birthdays, anniversaries, etc. I can’t tell you how great...

The 574 Native American and Alaska Native tribes in the United States own 325 reservations and trust lands.1 Seven of them exist within my home state of Montana,2 and 6.7% of Montana’s population consists of Native Americans or Alaska Natives, which equates to roughly 71,608 native civilians.3 Although Natives make up a small portion of the population in the...

Dental hygiene has been known as a “mommy job” in my community. We don’t have to take call, we don’t have to work weekends, and most of us work part-time. I have known few hygienists who do work “full-time,” and most of them have expressed feeling what we like to call clinical “burnout.” They end up feeling the need...