Finding Patients for Dental Hygiene School
If you ask any Dental Hygienist what the worst part of school was, most will say "Patients!" Finding patients, having them show to their appointments, and meeting the proper clinic requirements is hard. Here are a few tips for finding patients in your area.
1. Ask for referrals. If you have a great patient in your chair, either with great calculus, friendly, shows up on time, or is a requirement that you need for that semester, ask for referrals! Their family or friends are usually in the same periodontal health. Plus, you’ve already built a great relationship with this patient and they are likely to refer their loved ones to see you.
2. Sometimes after a long appointment, patients just want to get out the door and don’t have anyone to refer to you. One thing you can do is call your patient that evening or the next day to check up on them, find out their pain level, and answer any questions they may have. At that time, mention that you have openings and you are looking for patients. Sometimes being in a different setting will spark an idea in your patient on who needs to been seen by a hygienist.
3. Have fliers or cards printed with some basic information and always keep them on you. If someone shows interest in being a patient, get his or her information. Then you can contact them to make an appointment instead of waiting for them to call you.
4. Whenever you schedule a patient, ask if they can come in last minute. You never know when you’ll have a cancellation, so having a list of patient who can come in with a few hours notice will make the mad rush of phone calls less stressful.
5. As you are scheduling, tell patients that their services will be free if they bring you 5 names and phone numbers of people that are interested in being seen at your dental hygiene school. You'll end up paying for their services out of pocket that day, but they could give you a great patient pool to call and schedule.
What did you do to find patients while in hygiene school?
Dental Hygiene Coloring
Feeling stressed with work or school? Adult coloring is a great way to destress. Download our FREE Dental Hygiene themed coloring page, just for you HERE!
If you're having a hard time with indirect vision, try to color this coloring page by looking in a mirror. It's a great exercise to help practice using an intraoral mirror while you're at home.
Cone-Beam Computed Tomography
Cone-beam imaging is becoming very popular for its 3D visuals. Check out out latest video to see one for yourself.
Gracey Basics
Graceys are hard. However, if you give them a chance, you'll grow to love them. Our latest video gives some tips to help with adaptation and instrumentation with a gracey.
What are your favorite instruments for periodontally involved patients?
Dental Hygiene Goal Ideas for 2016
Hygiene can be repetitive and, let’s be honest, boring over time. Are you feeling this in your career? Set some professional goals to get out of this rut!
If you need some ideas on a goal you can set, here are a few:
1. Improve your head and neck cancer exam. Did you know that more people die from oral cancer than from skin cancer? When we are busy in our appointments, this critical exam can be skipped. Instead of just checking the tongue, spend an extra 2 minutes and check the patient’s entire head and neck for possible lesions. You never know whose life you’ll save this year by working on this goal.
2. Watch online or go to a Continuing Education Course once a month. There is nothing like a great CE meeting that will upstart your love of dental hygiene. You’ll meet new people in the same profession, refresh a skill you have, or even learn a new technology. Check out your local ADHA Component for in person meetings, or you can watch hundreds of webinars on www.vivalearning.com. This will also prevent the rush of finding CE’s when renewal time comes around.
3. Focus on your OHE. Find one new product or one new technique for each patient in your chair. Make it a game- ask open ended questions to your patients about their current habits and see how you can slightly tweek their technique to help their health. You don’t need to overwhelm them with several new products and change their flossing and brushing all in one appointment. Stick to one change at each recall appointment.
4. Stretch between patients. Do one small stretch between each patients to help you feel reenergized and to help your body. As you are walking up the waiting area to greet your next patient, stretch your wrists, arms, back, neck, whatever, and take a few deep breaths. We have a new stretching video that’ll be up in the next few weeks!
What is your idea for a New Year’s goal? Let us know below!
Periodontal Probing Refresher
If you find that your probing technique is lacking, check out how to probe in this Hygiene Edge video. Maybe improving your technique could be your New Year's Resolution for your clinical practice?
The Easy Way To Remove an Overhang
We have all seen them before, the dreaded overhang just waiting to cause a periodontal pocket around it. Removal of an overhang was not something I learned about in dental hygiene school. So when a dentist first said to me, "Shelley, get that overhang off," I gave him my fake it until you make it look and went to work instrumenting the area. I found that using the same techniques as I would with a tenacious piece of calculus did the job of knocking it loose, but I struggled to get it to come out interpoximally. (I could tell I removed it from the surface, as it was not attached to the tooth as seen in a post op radiograph. I will take one if I don't see the overhang come out.) Most of the time after a LONG struggle I could get it out by tying one-two knots in a piece of floss and threading it through. Then one day a seasoned hygienist gave me the best trick to get it out easily after instrumentation. Check it out for yourself in our newest video below.
Varnish Application Tips
Application TIP: As an assistant I was taught to bend the tip of any applicator brush before I put any material on it and gave it to the dentist. Naturally, when I became a dental hygienist this was a habit that I didn't even realize I had until I saw students NOT doing it. Trust me when I say it will make your life a whole lot easier if you give the applicator tip a little bend. Check out the video below to see for yourself.
Application TIP: As an assistant I was taught to bend the tip of any applicator brush before I put any material on it and gave it to the dentist. Naturally, when I became a dental hygienist this was a habit that I didn't even realize I had until I saw students NOT doing it. Trust me when I say it will make your life a whole lot easier if you give the applicator tip a little bend. Check out the video below to see for yourself.
Patient Acceptance TIP: It seems like every time a consultant comes around they are pressuring us to sell sell sell varnish. Let me tell you that I really hate that word in the medical field! It should be unethical to even say it. I like to think of it as informing the patient they have the option to receive the varnish because they are at high risk for caries, have recession, have dry mouth, or sensitivity etc. Always inform them of the custom reason they would benefit from a fluoride varnish treatment. Also, if you truly feel that they need it at each check up then ask them if they would like to receive it at each maintenance care appointment. Here is an example:
Tammy, I noticed today you have several areas of recession. This tooth structure is less mineralized than enamel and is very prone to cavities. To prevent this from happening I would recommend a fluoride varnish treatment each time you come in for your preventive care appointments. It will be an additional $20 at each visit but will help prevent cavities. Would you like me to place it at each appointment for you?
Post Op TIP: Varnish will clog your suction lines. Trust me when I say it WILL happen to you. So, it is not recommended that the patient use the suction after use. I will give my patient a cup to expectorate into after placement if needed (then I throw it away) or if you have a sink near by have them clean up there.
Charges TIP: Use D1206 for billing. I have seen one office who just gives it to everyone at no charge, all they way up to a $50 fee. Just make sure you code for what you do no matter if you charge or not. How much do you charge for varnish?