A dental hygienist is known as a preventative specialist.

Our main objective is not only to

scale, polish, and help maintain our patient’s heath, but to help educate our patients in the

prevention of disease. We assess each individual patient health and needs in order to modify

our treatment plan to fit each patient. We want the patients in our community to understand

how important oral care is in relation to their overall health. It is important for us as hygienist to

be knowledgeable to all aspects of preventative care.

There are many different ways that we practice preventative care with our patients each

day. Often times we address the need to take new radiographs for our patients. Radiographs

help us assess the oral conditions of our patient’s that we may not be able to see intra-orally. As

clinicians we also can provide our patients with sealants and fluoride that help prevent disease

to our patients. Both help prevent and stop the progression of incipient caries.

It’s important that we also educate our patient on ways to improve their oral hygiene.

Providing our patients with oral hygiene instruction helps our patients understand the relation

between bacteria, diet, and disease. Providing toothbrushing and flossing instructions helps our

patients learn ways to improve their home care and eliminate disease causing bacteria. We also

provide our patients with nutritional counseling, helping our patients choose better teeth

healthy foods.

One of my favorite parts of clinic is helping my patients better take care of their health.

Active listening and providing open ended questions help me better understand my patient and

their overall health. I believe the key to success in preventing disease is individualizing the care

plan to the needs of my patient so I can best perform my duty as a dental hygienist.