Greetings Heart to Hands Award,
My name is Liisa Moore, a registered dental hygienist from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. I would like to take this opportunity to nominate my good friend and colleague, Joe Siegfried RHD, for the Heart to Hands Award.
Joe and I met a few years ago through rdhu, a continuing education company for which we both present courses and perform other speaking engagements. We had an instant connection and became friends immediately. Joe’s passion for expanding the minds of dental hygienists and inspiring them to see that we are so much more than just “teeth cleaners” is truly admirable.
Joe took an adventurous leap in 2019 and opened his dental hygiene clinic, Kingsmill Dental Hygiene, in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. Despite all the challenges of COVID-19, he managed to keep his practice successful. Inclusivity is vital to Joe so much that he will often don a transparent mask when he has hard-of-hearing clients to help make them more comfortable, and he also offers subtitles in all of his presentations. Another factor that makes Joe's clinic so different is his focus on myofunctional therapy. I had the honour of enrolling in Joe’s intensive myofunctional therapy course, where he inspires other dental hygienists to explore the rewarding practice of myofunctional therapy. He shared many cases with us of his clients who truly felt they had nowhere else to turn, so they came to him as a last resort with low expectations. Because of Joe’s in-depth training and knowledge, he was able to help clients with issues such as mouth breathing, sleep disorders and even help children focus, changing the lives of many. Joe, being the most prominent advocate of interprofessional collaboration, has built a solid network around him of other regulated health professionals that he refers to when issues present that are beyond of his scope of practice. It is impressive that he also has dentists, chiropractors, physiotherapists, and massage therapists refer their clients to him.
Joe volunteers his time as an active board member for the Dental Hygiene Practitioners of Ontario, where he is very involved in planning their annual conference. He also holds membership in the Canadian Dental Hygienist Association as well as the Ontario Dental Hygienist Association. When Joe is not in his clinic, he travels to attend or speak at various dental, myofunctional therapy, sleep, or breathing seminars and meetings. Joe’s vision for the future of dental hygiene is genuinely inspiring. His work educating the public on the importance of prevention and its connection to oral and overall health is changing the dynamic of dentistry. Ever the advocate, Joe takes any opportunity to remind dental hygienists that we are primary health care providers and that in Ontario, we are regulated health professionals who do not need a dentist's permission to offer a dental hygiene diagnosis, dental hygiene treatment plan, or send a referral to the proper specialist when indicated.
In dental hygiene, we need to recognize hygienists like Joe not only for the excellent clinician he is but also for being a cheerleader for others in the same profession. One of Joe’s favourite sayings is that we are collaborators, not competitors. Not only does he want to see his clients succeed in improving their oral and overall health, he also thrives on seeing other dental hygienists grow and move the profession forward.