As a little girl, I have fond memories of spending time with my aunt in St. Louis who worked in a Medicaid dental office. Every day, I saw patients who were unable to get to the dentist or pay for care. Seeing patients dealing with…

Everything I know about what happened to me on the day of my sudden cardiac arrest—July 12, 2013—is because those present told me. I learned about the heroic efforts of my husband who discovered me unresponsive and called 911 while…

When I speak to dental hygienists, I remind them of how far our profession has come since I graduated from dental hygiene school 40 years ago. My intention is to inspire them to change the paradigm for our profession, increase access to…

Our choices on how to practice within the dental hygiene profession are limitless. I have seen us grow from working as auxiliaries to being an integral part of the healthcare team. For more than three decades, I have dedicated my career…

I grew up visiting my Aunt Mary in a nursing home, and too soon after that, I found myself visiting my Grandma Louise in another long-term care facility. Seeing my wheelchair-bound grandma in that facility was one of the hardest things…

Right after I was accepted to dental hygiene school, I was visiting my sister at a well-known hospital when she mentioned that her teeth felt awful from not being able to properly clean them. She asked the nurse for floss who replied, “I…

When I was 8 years old, my family and I left our home in Kabul, Afghanistan, due to increasing violence. We lived in India for 7 months and then relocated to Germany, where we were refugees. It was the most difficult time of my young…

Providing a critical healthcare service to patients through excellent clinical skills can be very rewarding. But you may want to add to your clinical duties and “climb the ladder.”

Throughout the past decade, I have grown professionally and personally on so many levels. It is impossible to pinpoint exactly what made me pivot toward the path that I’m on today, but what I can tell you is that I’ve never been happier.…

One day while doing a preliminary oral tissue exam, I felt a lump the size of a lima bean underneath a patient’s tongue.