What makes me love dental hygiene is the true impact I am making on the lives of the patients and providers. Having a role model of my mother being a nurse of 45 years, I knew I also wanted to be in the medical field and help others. After graduating college with my Bachelors, I went for my routine dental cleaning and the hygienist told me I had the perfect personality to be a hygienist
Not knowing the career path I was going to take or not knowing anything about teeth, she encouraged me to apply. The next day I scheduled an informational session to the nearest Dental Hygiene School, a week after took the entrance exam, and a month later got an acceptance letter while I was opening my mail on my way to church to honor my late grandmother on the one-year anniversary of her passing.
Feeling like it was fate, I said yes to Dental Hygiene School. Once I started, I received a full ride scholarship, was nominated Class President and then met my best friend who two years later would introduce me to my husband and now have a son named Brooks ☺
It was the last quarter of hygiene school that inspired me the most in this profession was when I went to Remote Area Medical with my Dental Hygiene School. We went to Knoxville, TN and were able to help the underserved community. I’ll never forget being there the night before watching the news in the hotel we were staying in and the extremely long line of people camping in tents in lines waiting to receive care from us the next morning. I went to bed that night knowing I was about to make a huge impact and be a part of something great. This was the moment I knew when I graduated, I wanted to spend my time educating and helping people in the underserved community. Majority of my Dental Hygiene career was spent serving in underserved communities. What was most fulfilling to me was seeing patients back for their 3 or 6 month re-care appointment and seeing the excitement of how well they were doing with their homecare and improvement of their oral health. Knowing my recommendations really worked truly filled my heart knowing I had made an impact for their overall health.
After 4 years of serving and working full time, I unfortunately was diagnosed with carpel tunnel. Speaking with my doctor, we had decided it was best that I pivoted my career. It was then I made it my mission to help educate Dentists and Dental Hygienists on proper ergonomics and on specific products to help prevent injury in their career. I was able to create and present a CE course to Dentist and Dental Hygienists showing the importance of ergonomics how to take steps in preventing carpel tunnel. Since then, I have encouraged eight friends to apply for hygiene school who are now licensed practicing Hygienists. Since graduating I have also been invited to sit on my alma matter Dental Hygiene Advisory Board to help vote on decisions for the program. Despite my career taking a different path after my injury, being in the profession for the last 10 years, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else and I cannot wait to continue to help patients and providers for decades to come.