As dental hygienists, our primary commitment is to provide exceptional care that promotes our patients' oral and overall health. However, there's an often-overlooked aspect of our profession that is just as crucial to patient-centered care: ethical billing. While our education extensively covers clinical practices and patient management, it seldom …

Orthodontics do way more than just moving teeth for aesthetics! Learn from Dr. Amanda Wilson, orthodontist, dental consultant, and advisor at straighsmilesolutions how you can help screen for orthodontic cases. Patients are as young as two years old! Today we’ll talk about: What to screen for in a very young pediatric patient The importance of orth…

You know the story, you've worked on periodontal assessments for the majority of your appointment. It’s a whole lot of work to get the gingival assessment right. The shape, contour, color, consistency, etc., all of those things may not always be the most fun to document. These small details tell the story of the gingiva. Think of it as a detective …

Have you ever wondered how to discuss the need for orthodontia with your patient? Do you get confused about overbite vs. overjet? Good news, this episode covers all of that and more! Join Amanda to discuss occlusion, orthodontia, sleep disorders, oral myofunctional therapy, and more! Our guest, Dr. Amanda Wilson, dives deep into what YOU need to kn…

Back at it for part 2! In our last episode, we started our long conversation about Diabetes, its types, and the medications used to manage the disease. Join Amanda to talk to Lisa Mayo today to continue that conversation! In part 1, we reviewed the basics of this disease, its different types, and some of the treatment modalities. Today, we’ll cover…

Have you had difficulty understanding Diabetes and its many intricacies? Do the types of Diabetes throw you off while you’re reading questions? Well then, this episode is for you! Join Amanda to talk to Lisa Mayo, RDH, BS, MHA and author of the upcoming textbook all about powered instrumentation! Today, we will review the basics of this disease, it…

When we think about salivary gland disorders, most dental hygienists will think about xerostomia. This is commonly the most noted chief complaint from our patients. Let’s take a deep dive into the types of disorders that affect the salivary glands. They are not all cancerous, some are benign, and there are lots of things to know! Join Claire and Vi…

Have you ever wondered how you can make such interesting facial expressions under your mask while working on your patients? As you learned in head and neck anatomy, you use your muscles of facial expression! Join Claire today to review the muscles of facial expression with Vicki Hawkins Schram! Vicki Hawkins Schram, MDH, BSDH, RDH is an experienced…

Have you read the 2022 NBDHE Guidelines? Are you confused about the changes? Not to worry, Claire is here to clear up the confusion! Join Claire and Amanda today to discuss the major changes in the 2022 NBDHE Guidelines. Claire has the guidelines handy and you can too! Click here to view the document: https://jcnde.ada.org/~/media/JCNDE/pdfs/nbdhe_…

In part 2 of our Change Models episodes, Staci Janous is back to discuss the ins and outs of the Transtheoretical Model! It’s imperative that we have an understanding of this model for the boards exams and Staci will guide us through the different terminology and applications for this topic! Join Amanda for another informative episode and change yo…

Dental Hygienists play many roles in the lives of their patients, but most often we forget about being an educator! When we deliver patient education, we must understand how to communicate and improve our patients’ dental and overall health! Join Amanda this week to discuss the ins and outs of the Health Belief Model and it’s differences from the T…

Did you take embryology and histology at the beginning of your program? Do you remember the Endoderm? What about the Ectoderm? Today our guest Professor Barb Bennett, walks us through the 3 layers we dreaded covering in Embryology and makes them easy to understand! Join Claire and Barb for a discussion about the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm and…

You may have seen her in the Summit or Tutoring, but today we are going to get to know Amanda Mitchell, StudentRDH faculty member and full-time instructor! Join Claire to dive in and get to know Amanda better! Hear all about her school days, what she loves about teaching, her hobbies (including being OBSESSED with Harry Potter!), and her next chapt…

Are you preparing to take the national board exam? Have you struggled to find a place to start? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then you’re in the right place! Join Claire and Amanda to kick off season 2 with a bang! They’ll be giving you their top “Do’s & Don’ts” of studying for the board! Stay tuned at the end for a special anno…

Have you ever had to explain why oil pulling isn't as effective as tooth brushing? How about whether charcoal toothpaste is safe? Then this episode is for you! For our last episode of season 1, please join Amanda and Fatimah Datoo to discuss the contents of a research paper! This step-by-step guide to writing a research paper will help students und…

Dental hygiene follows evidence-based practice, so how do we know whether our research is credible? Join Claire this week to talk to Professor Fatimah Datoo, a faculty member from Canada, to discuss sampling and how it relates to our practice as dental hygiene professionals! Fatimah will lead us through a discussion about research and how to determ…

Thanks for coming back for part 2! This week we will discuss the AAP Classifications and which forms of the exam each will apply to. Even though we could talk about this subject for hours, we tried to condense it into one episode! Don’t forget to check out Part 1 for some context about the overall updates! The AAP guidelines can be found on the Stu…

Extra extra, listen to this! The NBDHE has finally given us a clear answer about bringing back the standard-form board exam! In today’s episode, Claire and Amanda will discuss the ins and outs of this update and help you get the information you need! Join them for a chat about what these changes mean for you and how to navigate making the decision …

Ever wondered whether you’d enjoy working in a perio office? Join Claire today with Professor Cevik to discuss her experiences working in general practice, group specialty practices, and a periodontal office! Each environment presents its own set of challenges and opportunities! Thank you for joining us and see you next time! #1 dental hygiene boar…

Walking down memory lane, Professor Joanne Cevik from MCPHS University, Forsyth School of Dental Hygiene (dental hygiene school classmate) and I look back at the worst, best, and most fun moments we had in dental hygiene school. You will get the chance to get to know the real Claire (real name coming up in episode!) and see that it’s the people (cl…

Oral herpes infections affect 50-80% of adults in the United States….so why don’t we talk about it more?! While dental professionals are protected from transmission with PPE, patients are at risk for autoinfection from one vesicle to other areas of the face. Today we’ll discuss ways to educate our patients and understand concepts related to primary…

Have you ever dreamed of owning your own dental hygiene practice, or starting your own design business? If so, we have the perfect guest for you! Join us today for a conversation with Nicole Ortega, RDHAP, to hear about her experiences as a mobile dental hygienist, educator, speaker, influencer, author, podcaster, designer & founder of Lovely 32. F…

Have you ever wondered how to respond when your patient refuses fluoride? Do you need some updated information on fluoride content in community water? Look no further! For many years, patients have been asking questions, refusing treatment, and telling us that they only drink bottled water. In this episode, Dr. Staci Violante shares the facts about…

Dental Radiography is a complex subject, so where do we start?! The physics, biology, and technique all come together in the x-ray tubehead when the x-ray is produced. But….there are so many steps how can we remember them all?! Join Claire & Amanda for a special episode with guest April Turner, the National Board Success Manager in the dental hygie…

The wait is over! Part 2 of Biostatistics is here! Lisa Mayo joins us again for the completion of Descriptive Statistics and tells us about Standard Scores and Normal Distributions. What do these concepts mean to us after graduation and boards? Join us today to learn how to draw meaningful conclusions from research and apply them to your practice! …

Biostatistics can be a subject that students and teachers alike have many issues with. In today’s episode, Lisa Mayo breaks down Descriptive Statistics in a way that we can all appreciate! With all of the blogs, articles, and journals available to us, how do we tell what’s credible? How do we make evidence-based decisions for our treatment practice…

Join Claire to chat with Amber Auger, the host of #AskAmberRDH! As we all know, the burnout in dental hygiene is REAL and has gotten worse during Covid-19! Amber will share some great tips with us on how to avoid burnout and remember that we are not just “teeth cleaners”! By creating boundaries and getting the team to appreciate the RDH’s role in t…

Join Claire to chat with Michelle Strange, the dynamic host of the Tale of Two Hygienists podcast and cofounder of Level Up Infection Prevention! Michelle is going to share details on infection control and how to incorporate standard practices from DH school into your professional practice! Today we’ll learn about the differences between universal …

Join Claire this week to talk to Alana Martin, a recent graduate who has some great advice for those of you taking the CDCA manikin exam! She has the scoop about on all the details you need to know from the beginning of the exam day all the way through getting your score! #1 dental hygiene boards review: 🇺🇸 StudentRDH.com 🇨🇦 StudentRDH.ca Continuin…

Dental indices are used across the world by dental professionals and students, so what are they for? What do they do? What are the differences?! With SO many dental indices out there it’s important to understand the basics, classifications, and characteristics of an index. Today we’ll roll all of these facts into one bite-sized episode! Join us to …

How many times have you said the same thing during patient education….brush twice a day for two minutes, floss, clean your tongue, use mouth rinse, blah blah blah. And how many times has that been insufficient? Today we’ll dive into pH - what it is, how it impacts our patients, and how we can help! Sit back and relax for another episode of RDHBites…

The autonomic nervous system is a complex subject as it controls a lot of different processes in the body. On this episode, our amazing guest Professor Lisa Mayo will take us through the ins and outs of the ANS and help us relate this back to pharmacology and dental hygiene treatment. In this episode we’ll talk about the differences between the Sym…

Immunoglobulins, also known as antibodies, are the superheroes of our immune system. They play a crucial role in our body’s response to antigens such as bacteria, viruses, and allergens. RDH’s and students are both in a never-ending battle with periodontitis, caries, and other oral diseases, so how do these Immunoglobulins assist us? Today we’ll re…

Bruxism, from the Ancient Greek word “brux”, defines grinding or gnashing of the teeth. The ancient roots suggest that this problem has been around for centuries and is something that we still deal with today! Many people, myself included, grind their teeth uncontrollably at night and spend their days massaging their face, head, and neck constantly…