Medical Emergency Kit Guidelines for the Dental Office
Have a bit of extra time this month of January in your office? Seeing more last minute cancellations or patient’s calling in sick after the holidays? This is the perfect time to look into some systems that may have been neglected in the crazy months of 2020. One of them you should look into is your medical emergency kit. Isn’t it funny how we never really think about it until we need it, and then it’s too late to stock up or to find out your products have expired? Take an hour to peek through it and see what’s missing or what needs to be replaced.
The ADA recommends a few certain products be part of a dental emergency kit for medical emergencies that happen in your office. However, each state’s regulations might be slightly different, so I’d recommend checking out your state’s dental board just to make sure you’ll legally including everything that’s required. Here is a list of some of the basics that most states recommend:
· Epinephrine 1:1,000 (injectable)
· Histamine-blocker (injectable)
· Oxygen with positive-pressure administration capability
· Nitroglycerin (sublingual tablet or aerosol spray; be aware of contraindications)
· Bronchodilator (asthma inhaler)
· Sugar (a quick source of glucose such as orange juice)
· Aspirin
Other items that could be very helpful in a medical emergency:
· Aromatic ammonia
· Blood pressure monitoring equipment
· CPR pocket mask
· Syringes
· Tourniquets
· High-volume suction and aspiration tips or tonsillar suction
In addition to having a comprehensive medical kit due to your state regulations and malpractice insurance recommendations, OSHA also has guidelines to protect workers in case of an emergency. These recommendations in a first aid kit are for 2-3 employees. If your office is bit bigger, it may be smart to have 2 kits set up in your office (like one at the front desk and on in the staff room).
· Gauze pads (at least 4 x 4 inches)
· Two large gauze pads (at least 8 x 10 inches)
· Box adhesive bandages (band-aids)
· One package gauze roller bandage at least 2 inches wide
· Two triangular bandages
· Wound cleaning agent such as sealed moistened towelettes
· Scissors
· At least one blanket
· Tweezers
· Adhesive tape
· Latex gloves
· Resuscitation equipment such as resuscitation bag, airway, or pocket mask
· Two elastic wraps
· Splint
· Directions for requesting emergency assistance
In dentistry, we honestly have lots of these things that we use on patients every day! But having them specifically separated out and designated for an emergency will make the running around and chaos of trying to find them around the office decrease.
So, how does your offices medical kit hold up?
Side note- let’s pretend you’re in a medical emergency situation and you notice a product you need to use is expired. Definitely not ideal, but still use it! It may still work, even after the expiration date. It’s better to use it and try, then to assume it’s bad and won’t be effective.
What We Learned in 2020
Welp. Here we are. Into the New Year, full of hope for what’s to come. Even though 2020 didn’t turn out how we expected, we still had lots to be grateful for and learned so many things about ourselves and our profession that we may not have ever learned without the push to.
We weren’t doing enough for aerosol reduction before this pandemic. I’m not going to lie- I relayed a ton on PPE as a protection. But when really, PPE should be the last line of defense when it comes to protecting us from illness and aerosols. Anyone else think that anyone in dentistry has an amazing immune system for what we put our bodies through each day? Adding extra precautions for aerosol reduction, like an extra-oral suction device, will be something we carry on from last year.
Dental hygienists are pretty resilient. From being sent home from work without an end at sight, from being told offices are opening again just a few weeks later with a lot of fear around the pandemic still, makes RDHs so tough! They were able to grab the unknowns of working so close to patients and still keep themselves and, hopefully, their patients safe and cared for. They definitely showed how essential dental care is to the overall health of patients, and how important oral health is so many aspects of our communities.
Dental Hygiene School is not for the weak. Can you image going through dental hygiene school again, but in the middle of a pandemic!? You dental hygiene students are seriously amazing! From having clinic cancelled, from national boards being pushed back after months of studying, to patients cancelling left and right due to illness and exposures, to laying low during the fun years of college. I definitely admire and respect you!
Dental Hygienists can be utilized in new ways. Several states are allowing dental hygienists who are trained to give local anesthetic to be able to give vaccines. Many states allowed RDHs to work at the hospital to help with testing, sanitizing, and with triage. This totally makes sense! We are trained in all things infection control, know how to talk to patients in high stress situations, and can work quick on our feet. I loved seeing these areas for growth for dental hygienists in our country in a crazy time.
We are so lucky. Even though this year was TOUGH (with a capital T), we are lucky to be healthy, helping our communities and patients by improving their health and keeping their routine health visits and having a sense of normalcy in a world that is anything but normal.
So, we want to thank you and congratulate you for last year. We know we aren’t out the woods yet, and I honestly am going into this year with cautious hope, but definitely excited for what’s next for dental hygienists. Thank you for sticking around with us last year. This next year of 2021 will be amazing, and we’re excited for what we have planned!
NEW PPE for 2021 with Twice as Nice Uniforms
With 2020 being the year of PPE, 2021 is the year to better invest in your PPE comfort and look.
One of our goals here at Hygiene Edge for 2021 is to support more dental hygienists in their endeavors. Dental Hygienists are amazing, hard-working people!
We want to start out by introducing Debora Carrier, RDH. She is the founder of Twice as Nice Uniforms.
Twice as Nice scrubs and jackets are made with temperature regulating, moisture wicking, antimicrobial removable liners, which are perfect if you are one who gets too hot or too cold in the office. The outer fabric is also no-iron, soft, stretch, and will not pill or fade.
Twice as Nice Uniforms also has many accessories like masks, lab coats, and scrub caps. We tried out the therapeutic compression socks which are great for boosting circulation in your legs, supporting veins, diminishing leg swelling, reducing orthostatic hypotension, and more.
If you want to try any of the products out for yourself ,you can get 10% with our affiliate code: HYED2020 at: https://twiceasniceuniforms.com
Here’s to the best year yet!!
RDH Spotlight: Kathy Young with the Dental Flex Arm
Have you ever wanted to invent something? Have an amazing idea that would help with dental hygienists each day in their practice, or people in their every day lives? Our friend Kathy had an idea to help RDHs each day by keeping them safe with aerosol reduction but makes it easy. And at a time like this, isn’t this the #1 question we have right now?! Using the High Volume Suction is nearly impossible without an assistant, so why not invest in your own assistant with the Dental Flex Arm?
We asked Kathy a few questions about her inventor journey, and her advice to other dental hygienists would love to start down the path of product development. Read her interview below to get to know her a little bit better.
What has been your favorite part of being in the dental field?
My favorite part of being in the dental field is all the wonderful people I have gotten to know. I was in private practice for over 25 years, and I loved getting to know my patients. I have also been involved in serving in my professional organization for many years, and I have met some amazing dental hygienists. Now, as I am in education, I continue to meet many awesome educators and students.
What has been the most rewarding part of starting your own business? What's been the trickiest?
Our business is still very young, but I am rewarded by knowing that I am helping the dental community by making life easier and safer for them. I will honestly say that I could not have started this business without my partner (who also happens to be my brother). He has run a medical manufacturing business for years, so he knew all the “ins and outs” of business licenses, EIN’s, accounting, etc. He is so knowledgeable about these things, so my recommendation for others wanting to start a business is to get a good partner, who knows the ropes of small business. I feel this is the trickiest part of any business. Creating a website was a learning curve that I’m still working on. Marketing is a challenge in today’s “social marketing” world. One of the challenges is getting the word out about our product. Someone can create the best product in the world, but if no one knows about it, it’s not worth much.
What inspired you to create the Dental Flex Arm?
I teach dental hygiene at Utah Valley University, and as a dental hygiene program we had determined that our students would use the HVE when they were using the Ultrasonic. How this was going to happen was the problem. Learning to use the Ultrasonic is a challenge in the best of circumstances, but using it while holding the HVE is almost impossible for both beginners and experienced hygienists. The head of the UVU dental hygiene program, Dianne Knight, said to me one day, “You need to invent something to hold the HVE that we can use here at UVU”. That began my quest to create something that would hold the HVE and make life easier for our students. There are other similar products on the market, so I looked at those and knew I could create something better and less expensive. My goal was to produce the best product that was affordable so if a dental hygienist wanted to purchase it for him/herself they could take if from office to office. Many of the products on the market currently are prohibitively expensive, and the ongoing cost is also high (for disposables). One dental school clinical instructor rightly said to me, “This product can pay for itself in a day.” He was considering the cost of hiring an assistant to suction as well as the high cost for some of the disposables on the market today.
We went through a lot of prototypes before we got to the product we have today. Again, this is where my business partner, Steve, was invaluable. He knew how to source the best products. In fact, we knew we wanted to source our supplies in the USA, so Steve made a trip to Connecticut to visit one of the few gooseneck manufacturers in the United States, and we will be using them to help produce a part of the product to our specifications. I believe that as we help other business in the United States, it helps all of us.
What advice would you give someone who wants to start their own business or invent their own dental product?
Look for a need. That is what started me down this path to create the Dental Flex Arm. There was a need- and not just because of COVID. (Please remember dental professionals that HVE should be used with ALL aerosol producing procedures. COVID will soon be a thing of the past, but we still need to use the HVE.)
Find a partner who has the business “know how” to help you, because there is a LOT of paperwork involved.
Network to get the word out about your product. The more people who know about it, the more people you can help.
Do it for the right reasons. I’m not here to get rich (although that would be a nice thing). I wanted to do this to make life easier for hygienists, but I also see a place for assistants to use it, as well as every dental school in the nation.
Try not to go into debt to do it. This is just my own personal thought. The process might be a little slower, but it is nice to not have extra debt to worry about.
Thank you Kathy for sharing your knowledge experiences with us! It has been so fun for us to watch you develop this amazing product for dental hygienists by a dental hygienist. We’ve been using the Dental Flex arm for the last few months, and it has been so handy to hold the high volume suction for aerosol reduction.
To learn more about the Dental Flex Arm, find out all about it at their website or on Facebook.
Things to Work on During your Christmas Break
Congratulations on finishing up this fall semester of dental hygiene school! Honestly, no one has ever gone through a semester like this, and hopefully no one else will have to! You may be already away from campus and finishing up your lecture classes online. But, what about clinic? At our school, we’ll be away from the clinic for almost 2 months! It feels like a long time to be away from your instruments and your patients. However, there are a few things you can do while at home being away from patients to keep up on your clinic skills. Here are a few ideas:
Of course, watch our Hygiene Edge videos on all the basics regularly. We have them all- patient operator positioning, specific hand instruments that you may use, wrist motion, modified pen grasp, etc. Watching and reviewing videos can help jog your memory on how to perform all the skills you were practicing so hard to feel comfortable with.
Keep your hands and fingers healthy and strong. Being away from work on patients for so long means the muscles in your hands will go away. Keep up their strength by working them out! Yes, that sounds so weird to work out your hand muscles, but you totally can by playing with play dough and clay, grabbing stress balls, and pinching different objects. Your hands will thank you come January and you’re back seeing patients.
Grab your typodont and practice your adaption. However, before you do, make sure your typodont is sent up like a human would be. Instead of holding the typodont in front of your face with your non dominant hand, lay it down like you would a patient. Some typodonts have a hole in the back for you to put a dowel or a holder through and attach it to a table or your couch arm. Then, when you practice, make sure you’re in the correct clock position before jumping in. Even though your set up looks completely different than it would in a dental chair, you’ll still want to follow all the basics of where you sit, where your patients head it, where you non dominant hand goes, and where your dominant hand goes so you’re practicing and remembering all the correct techniques.
Keep working on your indirect vision. You can totally practice with your mouth mirror and instrument on your typodont, which would be very helpful. You can also practice by coloring a picture by only looking in a mirror, or doing mazes in a mirror. Doing any small, fine motor task while looking in your bathroom mirror will help train your brain to do a task you’re normally used to doing backwards, which is exactly what happens when you use a dental mirror intraorally. You can download our free coloring page from our shop, or go all out by downloading some Christmas pages and go for it!
Keep looking for patients! We know that finding patients is the trickiest part of dental hygiene school. Even though you may be having a low key break and not interacting with as many people as normally, still be keeping your eyes and ears open for potential patients. Having a Zoom family Christmas party? Bring it up that you’ll be looking for patients starting in a few weeks. Have some spare time online? Set up a few Facebook ads looking for patients or post on your neighborhood or city groups about discounted appointments come January. Right now it the perfect time to start filling your schedule for January.
Keep up the great work throughout your break! Definitely enjoy yourself, stay safe and healthy, and keep practicing your clinic skills at home to be ahead of the game come next semester. What are you doing during this break to keep yourself healthy and ready for the next semester?
Looking for more?
Celebrating the Holidays Dental Hygiene Style
How do you celebrate the holidays? Especially this year? Spending time with family? Hanging out at home? Taking a few days off of work, or working extra hours to get in everyone to use their benefits? Sending gifts to your family around the country?
We love recommending and sending oral hygiene gifts to our family (though they may be getting bored of it…). But, with missing dental hygiene appointments, having a stressful year, and filling up on carbs (hello sourdough bread hobby), an oral hygiene gift is definitely more than needed.
With the Crest Oral-B iO, there are many features that both your family and you as a dental professional will love.
The Smart Pressure Sensor: This is a game changer. The pressure sensor right on the handle shows when you’re pushing either too hard, too soft, or just right. It definitely opened our eyes up to how to effectively brush with this electric toothbrush.
Smart Clean: Once you have this brush, you’ll definitely want to download the app. The toothbrush can connect with your phone, and show exactly where you’re missing with your brushing, where you need to work on, and why you may be bleeding in areas that you didn’t expect.
Bristles: This brush is designed to effectively transfer energy directly to the end of each bristle. It definitely makes the brush very quiet as you use it, but doesn’t sacrifice efficacy
So, we’d love to know how you're celebrating this year! Even though it may be a bit different, it can still be memorable. Let us know below!
A huge thank you to Crest Oral-B for supporting us at Hygiene Edge. They love great research and education, just like us. To learn more about the new Crest Oral-B iO, how it works, and how to distribute from your office, check out the Crest Oral-B website here!
Dental Hygienist Gift Guide: 2020
Now that the holidays are in full swing, have you be thinking about gifts for your RDH bestie, your boss, or your hygiene assistant? Something small can show how much you’ve appreciated then throughout this crazy year. And, of course, we know this has been a weird and honestly hard year (hello not working for several months). Here are a few ideas for small but not simple gifts you could get for any dentistry lover in you life.
Tooth Like Charm from V Coterie
So cute and can be worn every day while working. This is perfect for the jewelry wearer, and you can save by only getting the charm since they probably already have a simple gold chain to wear it on. Plus, this is a dental owed company who knows all things dentistry and makes products that we actually can wear and love for years to come.
2. Perio Socks from Dental Socks
I totally ordered these for myself for Christmas. The perfect dentistry lilac color with all things hygiene on them.
3. Dentistry Candle from thedentalgiftshop
I mean, with candle names like “just want what my insurance covers” to “just a prophy”, how can you not fall in love and just smile with these?
4. Cheetah Tooth Sticker from HaleyBugCreates
The cutest tooth sticker perfect for a loupes case, a car, a water bottle, anything! She also has so many other cute dental stickers in her shop.
4. Tooth Luggage Tag from Happy Teeth
Once travel is back in full swing, this is the perfect accessory to take you to any dental convention!
5. Tiny Rose Gold Tooth Earrings from Toothlife
Because we all need something sweet to make it through the work day.
Even though this year can be seen as one of the worst, we can go out of it with a bang and celebrate with gratitude for those around us.
How are you celebrating with your coworkers or dental friends?
5 Things No One Ever Tells you About Dental Hygiene School
Whether you’re just starting out in school, or getting ready to jump into a dental hygiene program, get ready for the ride of your life. You’ll learn a lot, realize many things about people and yourself, and find out how tricky but exciting this profession really can be. Have you chatted with your dental hygienist before about their school experience?
Here are a few things that your RDH may not have told you about before jumping into your school applications:
1. Blood, sweat and tears will go into your degree- and it’s not just from you. Working in dentistry can be tricky because of the patients feelings about being in your chair. I still can’t get over how so many people sit down in my chair, and the 1st thing they say is “I hate being at the dentist or I hate the dentist”. Do they say things like that to other people and professions? Because of this, sometimes appointments have a bit of anxiety around them. But, you are the provider, the patient trusts you, and you got what it takes for the appointment to go smoothly.
2. Your instructors want what’s best for you. I’m not going to lie- being graded on work you’re doing is hard, especially getting feedback right away that may not be want you want to hear. It’s difficult! But, instructors want you to succeed! They want you to learn, grow, and become your best. Unfortunately, sometimes there’s a grade attached to that growth.
3. You’ll make lifelong friends in school. No one really understands what it’s like to go to dental hygiene school unless you’ve been through it. Your classmates will become like family to you over those 2 years- someone who can listen and commiserate with you. Even when you see each other years after school and life has changed, you’ll still be instant friends.
4. Start saving now for boards. To get your license as a dental hygienist in many states, you’ll need to take a written and clinical board exam. Unfortunately, they aren’t cheap, and aren’t part of your school tuition. Start saving now since you’ll need at least $3000 for these exams, to pay your patient, get new instruments if you choose to, etc, in your last semester of school.
5. You’ll get tired of your assigned scrub color real fast. I’m not going to lie- it’s been 12 years since I graduated dental hygiene school and I just bought myself a pair of royal blue scrubs. I couldn’t bring myself in buying them again, especially since the last time I owned a pair of royal blue scrubs, I burned them on the last day of school in a class bonfire. But, wearing them definitely brings back fond members of school, the patients that I met and treated, the lessons I learned from my instructions, and the friends I made while in school.
So, if you’re just jumping into school, or in the thick of if as the semester is winding down, you’ve got this! You will definitely learn more than you ever though and come out of the program stronger than before starting.
Thoughts about Washington's Teeth
Last year, when we could travel (anyone else missing traveling?!), I headed to Washington DC to see 1 specific thing- Washington’s “wooden” teeth. Of course, we travelled all over the city and area to site see, but definitely checking out this set of dentures at Mount Vernon was at the top of the must see list.
Some fun facts about these teeth:
1. They weren’t made out of wood. Though they were stained over the years which makes them have a wood grain look, they’re actually made out of ivory, teeth (human and horse), brass, copper and lead.
2. Washington was aware how having ill fitting dentures changed the shape of his face. He noticed how his mouth seemed wider, bigger, and didn’t look like him.
3. He hired dentists from all over to work on his teeth. The farthest was a dentist from France in the US working on soldier’s teeth.
As I was looking at them and the exhibit surrounding these dentures, I kept thinking how important teeth and a smile are to a person. Washington spent so much time, money, and thought on his teeth, constantly having them fixed and adjusted. He had the best professionals look into his oral health, and try to have the best second option in the country as his second set of teeth. This powerful leader was concerned about a “small” part of the human body.
And look at us! We are lucky enough to work with these precious patients and this important part of the human body and care for overall health every day. Just like Washington put so much care and though into his mouth, we get to work with people who also care, and get to be part of that care.
Next time I jump into a saddle stool, I’ll definitely be thinking about the importance of the patient, their teeth, and how their happiness can be tied to this short 1 hour appointment.
Ways to Support Dental Hygienists Right Now with Crest + Oral-B
Happy National Dental Hygiene Month! This is definitely our favorite month for so many reasons. Celebrating some of our favorite people, dental hygienists, is definitely one of the highlights! We believe it’s so important to celebrate our profession and colleagues, so we’ve compiled a few ideas that we’ve been doing this month:
Call a mentor and express your gratitude for them. This call may be very short, but it definitely can make a big impact on a dental hygienist in your life. Celebrate them and how they’ve helped you accomplish your career and life goals through their guidance and example.
Take a CE course created by a dental hygienist. We all know how smart dental hygienists are. Let’s learn from each other by supporting and celebrating each other. Did you know that Crest and Oral-B offer free CE courses on dentalcare.com - including dental hygienist created content! Choose from more than 150 FREE dental continuing education courses. DentalCare.com also offers a variety of educational resources and new product information to enhance your career.
Support a dental hygienist owned company. There are several amazing RDH run companies that could use a little love right now. It has been a hard year for everyone, so making a purchase from them could definitely turn their month around.
Make a daily commitment to the oath we made at graduation and be a bit better each day. We all stood up at our dental hygiene graduation and recited the Dental Hygiene Oath committing ourselves to helping patients and our communities improve their health, keep learning, and to do no harm. Print off the oath and hang it in your operatory as a daily reminder to be a bit better each day.
We can definitely make it through this tricky time by supporting each other. We want to say thank you to all of you, our amazing friends and community members, for supporting us as well! We have been so grateful for you for helping us and all RDHs through a crazy time we never imagined in dentistry. Knowing we have such an amazing community makes us #hygienistproud.
And a big thank you to Crest + Oral B for supporting dental hygienists with Hygienist Proud! Learn something new this month through www.dentalcare.com where you can find hundreds of free CE classes and professional resources.
*This post was in sponsorship with Crest and Oral-B