Shirley Gutkowski, RDH, BSDH

Imagine my surprise when I heard someone talking about an interdisciplinary team comprised of the receptionist, dental assistant, practice manager, dentist and dental hygienist. I suppose that’s right but a true interdisciplinary team refers to medical disciplines, like dentistry, cardiology, respiratory, chiropractor, oncology and pediatrics to name a few. That’s the best way to treat the whole patient.

In the coming months and years, the idea of chewing and learning about the mechanics of chewing will become all the rage. The physiological benefits of chewing have been understood for a while. However, the magnitude of the benefits in the context of epigenetics is a game-changer. Many dental hygienists across the country visit schools during the academic school year to teach youngsters about oral hygiene.

One of the big mysteries of dental hygiene practice is how some hygienists are highly paid and some are not. Even people from the same class with the same grades have a per-hour discrepancy that defies logic.

Stories on all types of media question whether victims of sexual harassment, rape, bullying, poverty and more are at least partially to blame for their circumstances. How often do oral health professionals do the same-blame the victim for new or continuing conditions?

Most businesses today, including dental practices, are run using a factory assembly line-model.

Have patients ever said they missed an appointment because you didn’t remind them?

Millennials in almost any arena except dental hygiene know entry level is a bachelor's degree. Many dental hygienists have an associate’s degree but have paid for a baccalaureate in time, energy and cold, hard cash. The only people who don’t know it are recent grads, non-dental people and registered dental hygienists that just ignore this cold, hard fact.

Since 1991, people have had questions about alternating codes D4910 with D1110 for follow-up of periodontal care.

Over the years, the idea of bleeding on probing has been a tightly held tenant in dental hygiene education and in practice. New studies on treatment benefits measure both bleeding and the decrease of bleeding on probing sites. Does anyone even know what that means?

Once again, April has arrived with thoughts of spring, flowers and a new beginnings change perceptions and outlooks. Did you think, hey, it’s also Oral Cancer Awareness month?

- "Aging is a risk factor for oral cancer" - "Everyone needs to floss" - "Restorative dentistry restores oral health" What is the truth and current science behind these statements? The automatic answer has a high likelihood of being dated, incorrect or incomplete. The public and many of us believe what happens in clinical dental hygiene practice is based on science. Yet, is it?

Dental hygienists are arguably an officious bunch. They love their rules; they trot them out like prize ponies, showing everyone that they know the score and were taught well. But U.S. dental hygienists have a secret. They are thugs, and they don’t even know it.

In 2008, the American Dental Educators Association (ADEA) formed a committee charged with assembling a glossary of terms for dental educators. Their labors were published in July 2010 Dental Clinics of North Americas. They found this necessary because the teaching of dentistry had changed in light of CAMBRA-Caries Management by Risk Assessment. 

Mass media face tight restrictions on time and space. There are limited minutes to deliver the message in a fast-changing, ever-more complex world, and the tendency can be to oversimplify.

Millennials are more conscious than ever of how food affects their health.

Millennials need to feel as if their treatment is important and that they are on the right track; this means being inquisitive. Is there anything in the practice of dental hygiene that should be exempt from questioning and examination? 

Millennials balk at doing things the way we’ve always done it because they want freedom of choice in everything. They may not balk at the assignment itself but instead may challenge the methodology. A Modern Millennial Hygienist questions the same old way of charting and diagnosing periodontal disease. A Modern Millennial Hygienist knows that symptoms-disease-dysfunction does not make sense with science.

Millennials are natural entrepreneurs and are not much satisfied with status quo. The Ebola crisis has brought to light the need for proper personal protective equipment and procedures. Yet there needs to be funds to pay for it. The cost of doing business needs to be more than a nebulous idea.

In our previous article, we introduced the idea of the Modern Millennial Hygienist (MMH). MMH challenges our brains to use higher level revolutionary thinking. Growth and change can warp-speed return on investment (ROI) and profitability for the practice AND the hygienist. This issue, we will look at how a MMH uses the opportunities downtime provides.

Dentistry is now serving four or more generations with two or three generations working in the practice. All of us are aging and, as we age, the real danger is thinking old. For dental hygiene professionals to succeed in the 21st century, it is essential to become a modern millennial hygienist (MMH). It is not age-based, it’s attitude-based. MMH challenges our brains to use higher level revolutionary thinking.

As the number of children diagnosed with autism continues to grow, it’s important for you and your team members to know what products to avoid and what products work best when treating patients on the autism spectrum in your practice.

Ready to expand from the clinical to the business side of dentistry? Knowing how to communicate is key. Here’s what you need to know about the dos and don’ts of text messaging.