6 THINGS THAT HAVE MADE ME A BETTER DENTAL HYGIENIST
Ya know, when we first graduate from dental hygiene school, we really have no idea what to expect.
We have hopes, we have dreams, but we also have lots of fears and what if’s.
I’ve been practicing hygiene now for 4 years. I’ve temped at a few offices. I started my journey at Aspen Dental. But mainly, I’ve been at the practice I’m at now since August of 2018 (I graduated in May 2018).
I’ve learned a lot over these few years and I can’t help but feel compelled to share them with you because they have impacted my career for the good.
Here are 6 significant things that have made my hygiene career so much more freaking better:
Establishing my own yoga practice
Daily exercise/movement
Always being a work in progress
Creating and starting my own side hustle
Working at an office that aligns with me and my values
Learning to let go of control
#1. Establishing my own yoga practice and really committing to it daily. I know, daily may sound like a lot to you, but, I truly strive for just a minimum of 10 minutes each day. Some days that’s plenty and some days I crave more.
Yoga has made my life 1,000 times better. I used to get a lot of neck pain and just felt very hunched. Yoga makes me feel taller and my spine feels like it can breathe. I feel so much more elongated, it’s insane. I truly believe yoga could be a lot more accessible from home than yoga professionals make it out to be! If you did yoga every day for a year, you’d notice massive change without the need to spend a ton of money.
One of the cheapest ways you can learn yoga on your own is by reading Journey into Power by Barone Baptiste. A lot of my own yoga sessions have come from the foundational principles he teaches and then each time I step on my mat, I flow into what I’m feeling on that particular day. Yoga has been a game changer for me, hands down. Highly, highly recommend it.
I’ve actually lost 8 pounds since I’ve started doing it daily! Read my story here.
#2. Daily movement. Again, I strive for 10 mins each day. The daily movement is either a yoga session or a legit workout. I really enjoy all types of workouts. Some days I enjoy a peloton ride, a jog outside, a strength-focused workout or even HIIT/conditioning workouts.
If you’d like to read more about my fitness journey, read this post. Long story short, I used to train for an hour plus 4-5 times a week and the moment I switched gears and worked out every day for at least 10 mins, everything changed and I finally started to lose weight and feel good in my skin!
#3. Improving my mindset by always being a work in progress. I used to be narrow-minded and left very little room to learn about things I didn’t really appreciate at the time. I thought mental health work was too “woo woo” for me. I thought you had to eat perfectly to lose weight. I thought you had to spend hours in the gym to get fit. Etc etc. You get the point.
Reading lots of books and listening to podcasts have helped, but one thing that’s helped the most is by s l o w i n g d o w n and really taking the time to listen to my thoughts, being open to feeling my feelings and paying attention to how I physically feel when I do x, y or z.
#4. This one is my favorite. Starting my very own side hustle. Cause let’s face it, dental hygiene is hard and it really is a dangerous game to rely on one stream of income. There are two other ways I make money besides my hygiene career. #1 is teaching bootcamp classes at a local gym and selling workout programs and #2 is being a sales rep for an activewear company.
The second way is much much much more lucrative and I have the potential to quit my hygiene job one day because of it. If you’d like to learn more about being an activewear sales rep, click here. If you’re an ambitious hygienist and ready to take action, then I highly recommend reading more about what I do and at least joining my newsletter below where I share a lot more about it!
#5. Working at an office that aligns with my values. I’d like to say that I have good work ethic. There are days that I don’t want to be at work, but I always work hard but I do so with my values in mind.
Some offices are literally hot messes and that can be one of the biggest reasons why hygienists are miserable. If you think it’s super important to teach patients ways they can prevent tooth loss (crowns, root canals, SRP) but you work for a dentist that does a bunch of patchwork and doesn’t really tell the patient what is actually going on their mouth, then I’d try your best to look to work at an office that shares the same philosophy as you. You will feel like you’re actually making a difference and you might actually start to like your job (and your boss)!
#6. Learning to let go of control. A lot of us hygienists are perfectionists. And sometimes it can feel really hard to let go and create the space for someone else to to help us or to just let the patient make their own decisions. Some patients don’t really care if they have gum disease and yes, that may make you cringe, but it is what it is.
We can’t force our patients to do anything. All we can do is educate them and let them figure things out for themselves. Our greatest learning experience is the actual experience!
If they absolutely hated having SRP, that might motivate them to do better at home and in time, you’ll notice changes, but they have to want to make those changes on their OWN.
