To whom it may concern,

My name is Michael Johnston and I am a Registered Dental Hygienist in the state of Washington and
have been working for more than 10 years. In addition to my 40 plus hour a week job I also work for the
Washington state Department of Health as the Chair of the Dental Hygiene Examination Committee and
volunteer my time at our local college helping the assistant’s complete requirements for their
certifications.

I am writing to you on behalf of Christina Oster who is applying to be accepted into a dental hygiene
program so she can fulfill her life long goal of becoming a dental hygienist. Christina has been a patient
of our office for as long as I can remember. She has come in for her regular appointments and also had
braces in our office. I mention this because each time she was in she always had questions that
pertained to her treatment or questions on why we did certain procedures. She would ask the staff how
long they have been in dentistry and why they chose it and then explained how she had a passion for
dentistry.

I had the privilege of having her shadow me for more than 50 hours of dental hygiene work. This
included all facets of the job from anesthesia to restorative, nitrous, annual exams and scaling
procedures. Throughout this time, she was punctual and dressed professionally. She had a very good
sense when to ask questions without it being awkward for the patient. She communicated very well
with me. One part of the communication skill I really appreciated is she took the time to listen to what I
was saying or how I was explaining something before proceeding on to the next statement or question.
She was able to observe other hygienists in our office in addition to me and she was able to work with
all of them and treated them with respect. I was amazed at how well she got along with others and
helped them where she could. This shows a lot of potential for her teamwork ability. Towards the end of
her observation time she had a very good understanding of how our appointments were designed and
the amount of work we would accomplish in one appointment. She is very fascinated with the job of
being a dental hygienist and how much time we spend building a relationship with the patient and
educating them on not only having good oral health, but concerned for their overall health. Even though
this is only a fraction of what our job does she seemed to comprehend the information she was learning.
I know she has registered with the state to have an assistant registration so that she could learn more
about sterilization and working in a dental office. I know that this experience is amazing prior to
becoming a dental hygienist.

I am confident that Christina would make a good addition to your program. She has been a great
student in her previous endeavors and has the desire and drive to become a dental hygienist. If you
have any questions or would like to talk about my recommendation any further please feel free to
contact me. I appreciate your time.

Sincerely,

Michael Johnston RDH 360-292-3309

Michaelray8888@hotmail.com

Mijohnston@willamettedental.com