Your dental hygienist is more than just “the girl who cleans your teeth.” In fact, while 93% of hygienists are female, more men are entering this growing field of health care.
Wait, did you just say health care? Yes, I said health care. Taking care of your mouth is part of your overall health. Dental care is really health care no matter how our medical system works.
I have been called many names as a dental hygienist: tooth scraper, gum gardener and cleaner. These names do not remotely describe what I do. Really, we should change our job title to Oral Health Prevention Specialist; maybe then that “cleaning” appointment can feel a little more like a physical scratch and less like just an itchy tooth.
Educational requirements
Your dental hygienist has had extensive formal education. All registered dental hygienists have taken chemistry, anatomy, microbiology (oh, that was hard!), statistics, nutrition, psychology, and more. And these are only the prerequisites for entering a hygiene school!
You may also want to read: Dear Patient: Keep these 6 things out of your mouth
Once we enter hygiene school, in addition to hands-on clinical courses, we take more courses in anatomy, oral pathology, pharmacology, research methods, and more. After graduation, we have to pass written and clinical boards (again, really hard). Some doctors have an associate’s degree just a few classes shy of a bachelor’s because of all those prerequisites. Others have degrees ranging from a bachelor’s to a doctorate.
And we don’t stop learning when we graduate. Continuing education to stay on top of all new science and innovation in oral health is required to renew our license.
Long story short: we’re really smart!
Specialists in oral-systemic connections
When you come in for your hygiene appointment, we’re not just looking at your teeth. Hygienists understand how conditions in your mouth can indicate problems in the rest of your body long before you feel anything. We are disease detectives. While we’re checking you for cavities and gum disease, we’re also looking for signs of cancer, diabetes, blocked airways, nutritional deficiencies, and more.
Inflammation in your mouth can be a pathway for pathogenic oral bacteria (the bad guys) to get into other parts of your body and cause disease and destruction. Chronic inflammation taxes your immune system. So when you come across that flu virus, your body may not have what it takes to fight it off because it’s too busy trying to fight untreated cavities or bleeding gums.
Prevention specialists
Speaking of bleeding gums, one of the great things about being a dental hygienist is that we can prevent certain diseases. We don’t have to be the bad guy who throws a workout. When you’re at your appointment, of course, we look around for signs of active disease. But all the while, we’re thinking of ways to set you up for success and prevent you from needing anything more than a simple check.
It starts with reviewing your medical history and looking for red flags that may be affecting your oral and overall health. The questions we ask about your home care and changes in your medical history aren’t to scold or snoop — we’re looking for ways to identify early signs of a problem and help you prevent you from needing further treatment. We have many tricks up our sleeves beyond washing and flossing.
This “cleanse” you came for is much more of a whole body assessment to discover ways to keep or make you healthy. So give your preventative oral health specialist a thumbs up when you next see them and let them know you know they’re more than just a teeth cleaner!
