What makes me love Dental Hygiene?
Let me empower my love for Dental Hygiene with a statement that my Dentist/Employer declared:
“Carol, you have Gifted Hands.”
It is the Psychological/Social aspects of Dental Hygiene that continuously accentuate my love for Dental Hygiene. And my gifted hands. Rendering dental hygiene treatment to my patients is not a chore for me.
The needed manual dexterity comes naturally to me.
I love the importance of my manual dexterity and my dental hygiene expertise as I improve and transform my patients’ oral health to behoove their systemic health.
Thus, I love Dental Hygiene.
-The moments that inspire me are simple, yet profound:
I made a patient laugh.
A patient thanked me.
I observed a patient smile when I said:
“Let’s set up your six-month re-care appointment.”
I talked with my patients about something pleasant that made them forget how unpleasant they may be feeling.
I completed my patient’s dental hygiene treatment, and the patient looks and feels great.
My critical thinking pays off, and I feel I am providing excellent service to my patients.
-Also, the memorable patients enhance my love for Dental Hygiene.
Always, always, the memorable patients…
I will share this, one of many memorable patient interactions:
This patient is especially memorable to me:
Ms. Patient was a beautiful, apprehensive single mother with caries affecting her health and appearance.
The dentist reviewed the needed dental treatment with her. Expectantly, dental treatment would be costly.
Educationally, she knew the importance of her situation.
Psycho-socially, she cried.
She said that she hated spending money on herself and used it to raise her son.
“Your son needs a healthy mother.” I consulted with her.
She turned to me. I sat down next to her. The dentist observed our bond. He left the operatory for me to discuss the anticipated treatment alone with the patient, and to bond.
“I had also been a single mother,”
I confided with her.
Your energy is being used to combat the pain from your cavities and thwart the bacteria in your mouth.
This is the energy that your son needs from you. Your son needs your patience, your care, and your time.
Your son will benefit from a healthy mother, a mom who is not in pain or lethargic from suffering with an unhealthy mouth.”
“This dental treatment is for you, for your son.”
I knew what I was talking about…
Gradually, our patient had her teeth treated. My dentist was so caring and an excellent clinician. The patient came in for treatment on the days that I was working there.
I was her empathy.
Then, one day, she came to her appointment, and I wasn’t there. She was informed that the Dental Hygienist’s husband had died, unexpectedly.
This was one year ago.
The next day, on my doorstep, was a paper bag with a note of condolence from this memorable patient. In the bag was a box of “Entenmanns” chocolate chip cookies.
I cried.
They were the best-tasting chocolate chip cookies that I have ever eaten…
-What keeps me inspired and excited about my Dental Hygiene Career?
Intriguingly, I am a Registered Dental Hygienist and, also, a Registered Nurse. Utilizing and incorporating my Nursing knowledge within my Dental Hygiene treatment innervates my inspiration and excitement for my dental patients’ oral and systemic health.
For example, as I render dental hygiene treatment to my patients, I explain that their oral health affects their entire body health.
I explain how the excess bacterial film on their teeth creates an added burden for their body to combat their diabetes. At the patients’ next re-care appointment, their teeth have less calculus; their gingiva is tight, pink, and healthy.
I explain to my dental patients that their bodies are using energy to impede the inflammatory response to the accumulation of plaque and calculus on their teeth. This is energy that is keeping you from being more alert, thinking more assertively, and being able to be more physically active.
At the patients’ next re-care appointment, they present with healthier gingiva and less calculus on their teeth. Some patients tell me they now go for walks and have started exercising!
Some patients share that the dosage of their hypertensive and/or diabetes medications has been lowered.
My impact on creating and maintaining healthier oral health with my dental patients as they become cognizant of becoming systemically healthier is what keeps me inspired and excited in my Dental Hygiene Career.