Life at Work

Raise… the dreaded “R-Word.” Dental hygienists hate to have to ask for it. Dentists hate to give it. Why is it that we think compensation will only need to be discussed at the time of hire?  Maybe because it is such an uncomfortable topic, we delude ourselves into believing the subject of pay will never again have to arise...

As hygienists, we see all kinds of patients and hear many stories from them. We know their life stories and their families. We are people-oriented which is the thing I love the most about dental hygiene.  However, sometimes our patients say or do things that we aren’t expecting, and we have to come up with a quick, yet professional,...

Throughout my 30-year career as a clinical dental hygienist, I have had several physical therapy sessions for hand, shoulder, neck, and lower back chronic pain and fatigue. I found great comfort and release of tension with these simple and smart stretches. Please do these stretches gently and only as your body feels comfortable. If any stretch makes you feel uncomfortable...

As most typical teenagers, I toyed with many ideas throughout out my high school career. Initially, I wanted to do be an architect. After a brief job shadow with a local architect, I quickly realized the only thing appealing to me about that job was the electric eraser. Then I moved on to nursing around the same time my...

Some dentists are switching to the trend of assisted or accelerated hygiene. In this concept, the assistants go over medical history, take radiographs, polish, and stay for the exam with the doctor. This leaves just periodontal charting, ultrasonic scaling, and hand scaling up to the hygienist. For the dentist or office manager, this increases production by stacking patients in the...

Quitting your job is never easy, but it’s even more difficult to leave a position that you love. If you’re employed by an office that hasn’t met your expectations, even then the decision to leave can be difficult. However, in that case, it may lead to eventual relief. On the other hand, if you’re part of a dental team with...

The Five Love Languages series by Gary Chapman offers insight into how our society expresses and receives love. This concept focuses on filling a “love tank” with acts of service, words of affirmation, giving/receiving of gifts, quality time, and physical touch. The actions could appear, for example, in our relationships with family, friends, and co-workers. How can the “Five...

Stress brings out the best and worst in people, and it needs to be addressed in a careful but meaningful way. We need to be there for one another and come together like we never have. Times are definitely tough, and everyone seems to be handling it at their own pace and in their own way. Let's discuss the nuances...

When we first entered dental hygiene school, we were taught that as dental hygienists, we perform many different roles such as clinician, advocate, researcher, educator, and administrative/manager. Some of us work in different types of dental offices such as private practices, general, perio, and pedo to name a few, while others work in the public health sector. Some hygienists have...

All dental hygienists can appreciate that sometimes there are those patients who can make clinical life a little more difficult. The following is a list of five patient types that can test our patience and some strategies to better manage the challenges they present. The Self-Proclaimed Expert We all know them, they have proudly consulted social media to brush up on...