Students & New Grads

If I were to ask you to think back to dental hygiene school, some would remember the feelings of being overwhelmed, being stressed to the max, and the tears that were shed. Others might remember the friends they made and the happiness they felt when hard work turned into successfully earning that dental hygiene degree. When I think back,...

What kind of office are you in? There is the kind where it is a utopian bliss, and the team truly is a team of well-intentioned, happy people working cohesively to create the ultimate patient experience. Then there is the office that targets the hygienist because of the income disparity and requires a patient be seen every 40 minutes,...

I remember the feeling of relief like it was just yesterday. I had jumped for joy after passing to officially become a registered dental hygienist! I was unstoppable, and I felt that I was finally about to have my life together. That summer, I had multiple interviews lined up since most employers were asking for one to two days of...

I can still recall how I felt when I first graduated from hygiene school. I was pumped up and proud of myself for the new life I was creating. I wasn’t new to the dental field; I had been an assistant for four years, but my new role as a hygienist is what intrigued me. I interviewed in my hometown about 15...

Graduation from dental hygiene school is an impressive and rewarding accomplishment. For many, it meant overcoming numerous challenges and obstacles to ultimately achieve the dream of working as a dental hygienist. If you're like me, it means that ─ even after several years of a commitment to prerequisite courses and hygiene courses ─ at the end of it all, you're...

Being a new hygienist, I find myself facing many challenges beyond clinical work. Acclimating myself to a new set of patients and moving to a different office system have been challenges of their own. While some patients are very open and accepting to having a new hire or a different hygienist provide treatment, some often shy away or get...

So you just landed your first dental hygiene temp job – that’s great! Whether you’re a new graduate, a mom who is returning to work after maternity leave, a seasoned hygienist looking to make extra money on the side, or a freelancer not wanting to commit to a permanent position, here are some important questions you should think about...

Sweaty palms, right armpit smelling as per its now-normal state thanks to menopause, light-headedness from lack of sleep thanks to anxiety over the exam, and again, hormonal insomnia. Nausea so bad I thought I might vomit right on my partner… who lay there trusting me with her life. She gagged so hard, sitting up, coughing from all the extra anesthetic...

Two summers ago, I was preparing to retake my clinical board exam. I had already failed the exam in Great Falls, Montana, and was preparing to drive to Boise, Idaho, to retake the exam. I had never been to Boise. I had never been to or even seen another dental hygiene school. Failure in Boise would have meant that...

Hygiene school felt like it would never end. Two years of learning skill after skill, preparing for an insane number of exams, learning more facts than seemed possible to fit into a single human brain, and having to apply it all to pass board exams have all culminated in one thing: a new wave of graduated dental hygienists. So, what...