Life at Work

Recently, I was in a situation where I thought I needed to be more of an advocate for the patient than agree with the dentist’s treatment plan. This situation tugged at my heart, and I didn’t know how to encourage a second opinion professionally. The 69-year-old patient left the office thinking she needed five crowns. They were diagnosed a year...

Advocacy is a huge part of working with the community and different populations. When I think of advocacy, my first thought was Alicia Murria, RDH, MS(c). She has been a dental hygienist for eight years, is the executive director of a non-profit, and a hygiene faculty member with a dental technology company since 2017. My other articles in this series...

Switching settings now, we enter the public health sector, which includes the school-based community. According to the American Dental Association, dental public health is defined as "that part of dentistry providing leadership and expertise in population-based dentistry, oral health surveillance, policy development, community-based disease prevention and health promotion, and the maintenance of the dental safety net.”1 I asked Paula Morrison,...

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...

Many dental hygienists are going through a crisis as our profession is filled with uncertainty, fear, anxiety, and sadness in the midst of a global pandemic. We are at a standstill with many of us out of work and unsure of when we will be able to start working again. During all of this, I have noticed a trend...

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. Fellow hygienists, I hope this finds you all at...

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...

I’ve been practicing for seven years now as a dental hygienist as well as many years prior as an assistant. I’ve seen all types of scheduling − 30 minutes with a hygiene assistant, 40 minutes with the “you must see 10 patients a day” doctor, and 60 minutes with the doctor who understands our value. Consultants have stated this time...

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...

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...