Dental Hygiene: Top 5 Things No One Told Me in School

So my third one is the butt you kick today may be the one you have to kiss tomorrow. That's a big statement, I know. Ministry is a very big multi-billion dollar industry. However, it is also one big dysfunctional family. Many of us know each other. Every time you leave somewhere, make sure you're leaving it better than what you found it. Welcome to the Phil Kline Dental Podcast. There's no question about it. Getting through dental school, hygiene school, and assisting school is not an easy endeavor. But the reality is, upon graduation from whatever school you attend, in large part, you are minimally prepared to enter the real world of dentistry. According to Emily Boge, our guest, you know enough not to kill somebody. What she means is, in order to become a really good dental health care provider, there is so much more to learn. So today we'll be talking with her about five significant things that dental hygiene school does not tell you and why it's so important to know these things in order to survive, grow, and thrive in the real world of dentistry. Our guest, Emily Boge, is one of the most knowledgeable educators you'll ever want to meet on the subject of dental assisting and dental hygiene. Emily blends her extensive experience in dental hygiene and dental assisting with a dual doctorate in education and organizational leadership. We'll be introducing Emily in a second, but first, as a dental healthcare professional, you might already know that 3M Healthcare is now Solventum, and one of its next-generation products is 3M ClinPro Clear Fluoride Treatment, available in a new rosin-free water-based formula, with soluble fluoride ions immediately available to deposit on the tooth. ClinPro Clear Fluoride treatment needs only 15 minutes of contact time. Plus, with less waiting time to eat or drink after application, it's even easier for your patients to say yes. Its uniquely designed LPOP delivery system ensures a smooth and professional application process. In clinical studies, hygienists found it fast and easy to apply, and patients rated their experience an impressive 98 out of 100. So if you're looking for effective fluoride uptake in a rosin-free, water-based formula, try 3M ClinPro Clear Fluoride Treatment from Solventum. To learn more, visit solventum.com. Emily, thanks so much for joining our show. Thank you for having me. Yeah, we're so happy you're on the show. And you've done some other podcasts with us that have been fantastic. Just so our audience knows, one was on infection control and prevention. And there's a lot of nuances in that discussion that I think every assistant and dental hygienist and dentist will benefit from. There's a lot of stuff in there that was quite interesting. And then, of course, for the hygienists out there. And there's a great podcast on re-tipping instruments versus all the other options. So I encourage all of you to check those out. So today we're going to be talking about something that applies to all forms of education, even on the graduate level. What they teach you in school is basically a foundation for you to move forward and expand your knowledge. You obviously don't get out of dental school, hygiene school, or assisting school. With all the knowledge that you need to be a competent clinician or a practice owner or whatever, there's so much to learn. So we're going to be focusing on the five main things that were not told to you in hygiene school. So this is essentially focused on the hygienist that graduated hygiene school and is now pursuing a career in dental hygiene. So knowing what they didn't tell you certainly opens your eyes to what... you need to learn more about so Emily, again we're happy to have you on to help us clarify all that so let's begin with the first of the five major things that they didn't tell you in dental hygiene school so the first thing i need to put out there is regardless of what level of dental professional you are wishing to become or you did become It's entry level. And sometimes the school doesn't do such a great job telling you that because they're so busy, like making you drink out of the fire hose day after day after day as you're learning things. And the more I travel and the more I talk to dental students and hygiene students, assisting students, lab tech students, all the students, I find that they're like, yeah, I get out of school and I found out I don't know anything. and it's like yeah because all we have time to do is teach you enough so you don't kill someone and it's so true time and time again we teach you enough and we assess you enough so you don't physically harm someone in practice what you do from there is up to you and i've seen an awful lot of folks out there who spend a lot of time getting a lot of additional education and they don't let themselves get burned out. They stay excited about dentistry. I used to work for one of those guys, man. He practiced for like 45 years. His name was Bob Gallaher. And I would see crowns in his patient's mouth that he placed when he got out of school in like 1960, mid 1960s. And I would be like, holy moly, those are still there. And he was just so excited about dentistry every day because he understood that secret sauce. was not staying at entry level i've seen other professionals that um stayed at entry level and we're still at entry level 30 years later and so you can kind of make of that what you want but i really want to start this podcast out by putting that out there like you can stay at entry level or you can choose to grow And it's up to you. And so I think the first thing, you know, that I really wanted to talk about the top five things is you got to be true to yourself because once you graduate with that entry level, you get to decide what is going to be your standard of care. The standard of care that we have at school, the students either get to choose to move forward with that or bend their standard of care to suit themselves, to suit their current employer, whatever. Only you can allow your work to be compromised and nobody can force you to do it, especially in today's climate. There's so many places you can go. And I know, Dr. Klein, you talked about this too in a previous podcast with me about the shortage that we're facing with dental team members. This concept of if you're an office who asks staff members, dental team members to perform with substandard equipment. and asks them to use scalers that are way beyond their usable life or reuse one-time use items. If you're putting people in that situation, then you can't be surprised when they don't stick around because you're asking them to compromise their standard of care. So in addition to being curious and trying new things, it's also important that you establish what are my non-negotiables? What are my standards of care that I'm just not going to let the people I work with? change. Yeah. I mean, based on the crisis that we're in right now in the dental practices, which is the shortage of hygienists and also assistants, the hygienist doesn't have to be subjected to a dental culture that he or she doesn't feel comfortable with. They could just get up and leave and they'll be hired by someone else. And they could look for a practice that fits their value system as far as what they're looking for in their career. Like you said, do I want to work in a practice that uses instruments where they're basically could barely cut calculus anymore? So the times have changed and it benefits for sure the hygienist. So what you're saying, Emily, is so true, you know, but in some environments which happened, but which may have been in place before COVID, you know, if a hygienist was in a practice and needed to put food on her table or his table, they may not have been as willing to get up and leave a practice and look for something that fits their value system better because they needed to feed their family. And that's just the reality. I'm not saying there's, you know, that there's not people out there. that situation but i'm saying right now it's it's an employee's market it is and if you're in a setting where you're happy with with the care you're providing and maybe it's not a higher standard of care whatever if you're happy you're happy right and i'm not here to judge that but if you're not happy The best thing to do is get yourself curious, get out there, learn some new things and recognize, you know, not every not not one company can make the best of everything. So maybe I'm going to try a few new instruments or I'm going to try a new sealant material. I'm going to try something new because I feel like when people get stagnant, my good friend, Amanda Hill, she lectures quite a bit. She has a lecture called Curiosity. And I think it's like curiosity didn't kill the dental hygienist or something or something about killing a cat. I don't know. But. maintaining that curiosity is so important because that's what helps you keep your bar high with your standard of care, I think. So what's the next big thing, Emily, that they did not tell us in hygiene school? The next one is to not treat any task like it's beneath you. Because I know historically dental hygienists have sometimes gotten a bad rap for acting like, you know, princes or princesses of the operatory. I really think you need to be a team player. You know, if it's the garbage needs to get taken out. Something needs to get cleaned, sterilization gets behind, even stepping in, you know, if a dentist needs another pair of hands to suction while the other dental assistant's falling behind. Specifically from a hygiene standpoint, not being, not acting like that. You can't act like things are beneath you. And I mean, that even extends to the practice owner. I know I worked for a group practice in Manchester, Iowa, man. They were great. They, I mean, we were, we were team. We were always a team. If something needed to be done, it would get done. And it was such a great environment to work in. And I know our patients also appreciated that because they didn't feel like anybody was above anybody else. So the flip side of that kind of practice, which is ideal, a hygienist feels above in stature based on his or her degree than an assistant. And they might be thinking that's something an assistant should do. And that's not something that falls under my purview. That's an assistant's job. I went to dental hygiene school. And I've seen dentists who will say it to hygienists. I've seen a hygienist who will say it to assistants. I've seen assistants who will say it to the front desk team. Is that right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I've seen a lot of layers of this type of behavior. And the important thing is to recognize, like, nobody's better than anybody else, right? Like, taking out the trash is not above anyone, not above anyone's pay grade. That used to be my big... Irritators when people will be like, oh, that's not my job. Well, no, it's everyone's job to get out of here on time. And it's everyone's job to care for patients. And it's everyone's job to follow infection control protocols. And having that understanding, I think part of it is programmed in some school settings. I know when I was at a school, we had an assisting program and a hygiene program. And that was one thing as a program chair that I would not tolerate. Like your program is not better than the other program. The other program is not better than you. Like, no, we're equal playing fields here. We're all trying to create professionals. And I think some of that type of behavior and that type of discussion can start in the school setting. And so if there's educators listening, I just want to put that out there. Please just make sure that that's not being propagated in your educational setting. Let me throw a point into this as well. So a friend of mine who started a dental practice 20 years ago. was really more interested in being respected and liked by his staff rather than being someone who would lay out rules all the time and say, you do this, you do that. So there was one person of the team members that would always turn the music on in the morning and would always take the trash out and would always lock the doors. And the dentist didn't really think much of it, but it was always getting done. Like the music always was on when he came in. The trash was always cleaned up at the end of the day. So all these tasks were getting done, but it turns out one person was doing it. And that is kind of unfair that these tasks were absorbed by one person who was a very much of a team player, but the other team members said, well, Jenny's going to do it. Let's go. We'll leave early. Jenny's going to, she'll take care of it. And then it became an assumed thing and basically unappreciated. So in my opinion, I think it's important as a dental team. that there should be some structure and accountability to each of the team members because you can't rely on everybody being a team member equally. That's just not human nature. Tell me if I'm wrong there. No, there has to be a balance. There definitely has to be a balance. I think having an employee handbook is when that becomes very important. And having job descriptions for everyone on each of your teams. And then including the words and other duties as assigned at the end of every job description in your employee handbook. And other duties as assigned. It's not a big sentence, but it's a big sentence. And that means if at the end of the day, we all leave together. Unless we go to other team members and say, hey, you know, I see you're a little bit behind. Are you cool with me leaving or do you need help? having that check in. And so that's all things that are part of workplace culture. But that has to be, culture just doesn't happen by accident. It has to be created. You have to have that employee handbook. You have to have team discussions. You have to have an openness and a willingness to have crucial conversations with your employer or your manager or whoever is in charge in your work setting. So do you think it's important to have some sort of leadership infrastructure such as? chief dental officer or chief hygiene officer or some sort of leadership hierarchy where employees can reach out to these people when issues arise? I do. I think that's very effective in a larger office, especially. I think that, you know, having a department head is important. And I don't know if I would go so far as to say every office needs to have a leader other than the dentist. Because I've seen some dentists that are exceptional office managers. But how do I say this gently? That seems to be the exception to the rule. So I don't want to offend anyone by saying that. But I've seen some dentists that are just incredible office managers. And they take on the HR role very, very well. In today's team culture and in today's workplace shortage, those dentists oftentimes... have to have something in their hands in a patient's mouth because that's just the way of the world right now. And so right now it's even becoming more important that you have someone who can support the dentist or the practice owner to make things happen because they're so busy doing other things that they just don't have time. There's only so many hours in a day. Right. And also creating, like you said, creating a team culture doesn't happen on its own. And also once you establish a culture. that you want, you have to maintain it. The hard part is kind of getting there. But the second hard part is keeping it there. Okay, so you covered two really good points. You covered the value system and being true to yourself, being a team player, right, treating no task as though it's beneath you. We'll be right back with Emily in a second. But first, If you're on the lookout for a versatile material that serves as both a protective liner for composites and is ideal for direct and indirect pulp capping, let me introduce you to Theracal LC from Bisco. Its unique hydrophilic resin-modified calcium silicate formulation provides a strong, stable liner that reduces post-op sensitivity. It's radiopaque and incredibly easy to apply. Once light cured, Theracal LC is ready for use with any bonding technique. What's even better TheraCal-LC is non-soluble, meaning it won't wash out over time. Plus, it promotes calcium release, which supports secondary Denton bridge formation. and that's perfect for those tricky pulp exposures. When you're working deep in a tooth prep, you want reliable protection for the dental pulpal complex. You want Theracal LC, a top choice among independent evaluators and thousands of dental clinicians. For more information on Bisco's full line of pulp protection products, head on over to Bisco.com. What's the third one? So my third one is, the butt you kick today may be the one you have to kiss tomorrow. That's a big statement, I know. Ministry is a very big, multi-billion dollar industry. However, it is also one big dysfunctional family. Many of us know each other. Every time you leave somewhere, make sure you're leaving it better than what you found it. Like, you don't leave gates open, you close the doors, and if you close the door completely, then you need to make sure that you're 100% positive that you never want that door to be opened back up for you. And it applies to private practice. It applies to corporate. It applies to education. It applies to many of the roles that a lot of us listening to this are filling because chances are your next opportunity in the industry, there's going to be somebody. who knows somebody else that you used to work with. And it's happened to me many times. It actually happened to me in conversation with you before we started the podcast, how you said, oh, your friend Lil speaks really highly of you. You don't know who that person knows in the industry. And it's crazy how many times it's happened to me. It's happened to me a lot of times in other countries too. So I just got back from South Korea and they're like, oh, you're friends with so-and-so from Germany. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I love her. I didn't know you knew her. And it's so crazy. Actually, we just mentioned not only Lil from Premier, who's amazing, but also Linda from the instrument company. Oh, Linda Miller, too. Yeah, we talked about her earlier, too. Yeah, so there's no question. So this point that you're making now, I assume, is don't burn any bridges, right? You just can't. For sure. Yeah, because now I know that's exceptionally relevant in the industry part of dentistry. So if you're working for Densply. and you do something drastically bad, you know, you are really looking to get out of the vertical of dentistry, because within a very short time, every company in the industry will know what you did. That's just how it is. It applies to private practice just as much, because if you're working for Dr. Jones, and he's in the same town, and maybe he's the treasurer of the Rotary Club or the dental component for the county, and all of a sudden, you are chronically late, you are super mean to your colleagues, you're not a team player, you quit, you can't handle Dr. Jones, he's a jerk, and you leave, and then you go down the street and you apply with Dr. Smith, and Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones play golf together, or they're on the Rotary together, or wherever they know each other from. People often think that in industries that are competing, The competitors aren't friends. And it's kind of funny because my brother is actually in the automotive industry. And he is also having a very hard time finding colleagues to work with, finding team members to work at his automotive business. And everyone thinks that him and the other guy in town, there's two real big places in town, they think they're not friends. They think that they're competitors. And they go on vacation together all the time. And it's like this big, dark secret. But it's funny, though, because you... These dentists and the practice owners and the hygienists, if you work with me and you're not a team player and then you go out and work somewhere else for a while and maybe you want to come back or you want to move back to the area after you had left the office, do you think I'm going to want to work with you again? And do you think that practice owner is going to want two people that are disgruntled? I mean, it seems to be common sense, but I feel like people just don't pay attention to that. And that's something that they don't tell you in school. And if you start off burning bridges, man, it's hard to recover from that. No, it is. You have to move, especially in a small town. You have to move because you can't get hired. You know, in the industry, you don't have to move as much. Because you could work remotely. But in a dental practice, you know, you actually are, if you're living in a town, there's only so many dentists. And like you said, they may be competitors, but they also talk to each other. They go to meetings. They go to lectures. They enjoy talking about vacations that they've gone to. They like commiserating about cases that drive them crazy. So they talk to each other. And of course, employees come up and they talk about, oh, yeah, she used to work for me. or he used to work for me and he was just a terror in the office he was toxic both ways it also could be like oh she used to work for me and then she had three kids and she decided to stay home with her we miss her so much man she was the hardest worker and we just don't have room to take her back yeah it can work both ways and i've seen it work both ways and it's so interesting to me um the students they just like i always tried to make it a point to tell my students this But the students who graduate and don't know that and they come into the practice and they're just a hot mess to begin with. It's like, do you know how much damage control you're going to have to do in 10 years when you grow up? Because people evolve. They don't stay that way forever, hopefully. Well, no, I mean, what you're saying is totally true. I mean, it's like someone committing a crime at 17 or 18 years old. And then they realize by the time they're 25 how stupid that was and how it's really set them back. And to reverse that is very difficult. And you're always defending yourself. And of course, they would love to take that day back where they made that mistake. If I had a hygiene school, I would sit everybody down before they get their certificate and say, here's a very important thing that applies to everybody in every job. Don't burn bridges. Don't burn your bridges in a dental practice. The other thing to add on to that that is incredibly relevant in today's society is social media. You can burn bridges without even knowing you're burning bridges. And so I have a conversation before they even like it's on what we call compliance day or when I was in education, we called it compliance day. And I sat him down and I said, here's the lay of the land. This is what you don't do. Like you are a future health professional. This is what you don't do. I also have had public safety come in and public safety would come in and say, this is what you don't do. Like as a human. If you are wanting to stay in the health care industry. And so giving the students the soft knowledge, I very quickly realized when I worked in the school setting that not everyone was raised by my strict Catholic mother. She's a handful, man. I'm one of 11 kids and not everyone had big brothers who would either defend them or beat them up. Everyone had that benefit. Well, I got to tell you that the way you were raised. And family is so important in the development of a human being and how they do in their whole life, their personal life and their career, the way you're raised. And those that don't have the luxury and the luck to be raised by someone like who raised you, Emily, still can be good citizens and make it and do well. They just have to figure it out and learn from a mentor and maybe learn the hard way later in life. harder in the school setting was the students who didn't have that foundational experience what i called soft skills um they were really the hard skills to learn because no one often would feel comfortable on the faculty team approaching it. Like, oh, so-and-so is doing this, but I really don't know how to tell her, you know? And then I was always the one to be like, no, we have to tell her because if she gets in a clinical setting, that is not going to fly. So we're looking at about a third of a podcast remaining. So Emily, what's the next major thing that they didn't tell you in hygiene school? The next of the five things no one told me in school, that no education is scary. It's as scary as dental education. The hardest thing I've ever done. education wise is getting my dental hygiene degree. My second hardest thing I ever did was dental assisting. I mean, I have a double major bachelor's, I have my doctorates, I have my MPA, all these other degrees, nothing was as hard as dental, the Commission on Dental Accreditation approved dental programs. And jumping through those hoops is so hard. Right. And I kind of agree with you going through dental school was the hardest thing I ever did going to endodontic postdoctorate school. at the same school, which was Penn, was a two-year program, much easier, much, much easier than going to dental school. And you're saying you got your bachelor's, you got your master's, MPA, master's in public administration? Yeah, with a focus on health care risk assessment. So my goal was going to be to bring dental hygiene to every hospital. And then the school called me. So I took that job 10 years ago. That's phenomenal. What was your doctorate degree? It's education and an organizational leadership. Point is, don't be afraid to get additional education. I hear a lot of specifically hygienists, because that's kind of the company I keep most of the time. They'll say things like, well, I could never get my bachelor's degree if they went to an associate's program. Or they'll say, oh, I could never teach. I could never get my bachelor's degree. Oh, getting my master's would be too much. And I look at them and I'm like, I would rather get. 20 more master's degrees than go back to hygiene school because there's so many uncontrolled variables. And there's so much like there's so much stress of completing all the clinical stuff and all the academic stuff. When you go back for a higher level degree, it's mostly all the academic stuff and all that other stuff. It just doesn't happen. Without a doubt, Emily, the dental hygiene education is very rigorous. I remember in dental school, the hygiene school was pretty much in the same place. And we would get to talk to the hygienist, see what they were doing. They were studying pathology, head and neck anatomy in great detail and some very difficult courses they were taking. Without a doubt, it was tough. It blows my mind. And I don't know if it's a lack of acknowledgement of what dental professionals go through in school or what, but I always want to make that point. Like if you can go through organized dental education, you can do anything. Like getting a micro-credentialing, like I talked about earlier with an infection control provider or getting a micro-credentialing in lasers or guided biofilm therapy or whatever, it's just another step. Like you already have done the majority of the work. So give yourself some credit. Like you can do it. And acknowledging that I wish somebody would have told me that in hygiene school, because when I got to the end of hygiene school, I'm like, no, I know I have a diploma and I know I got an associate's degree before my hygiene associate's degree, but I'm done. I'm done with school. I waited another seven years before I went back. The last point that really ties into the last point I want to make of these five things that nobody told me when I was in school. Nobody told me that there were other things other than clinical. And when I did my doctoral research, I found out that 93% of dental hygienists are clinical only. The other 7% work in other roles of a dental hygienist. And most of those roles require a bachelor's degree or higher. I'm not saying all of them do, but most of them do. And so you can't be afraid to say yes, whether you're saying yes to education, whether you're saying yes to... Being curious, like Amanda Hill says, whether you're saying yes to being a team player, you can't be afraid to say yes. When people like Dr. Phil Klein ask you to be on their podcast and you're like, I don't know if I want to do that. That's not in my comfort zone. You have to be competent in your ability because nobody ever feels like they're 100% qualified to do something or 100% competent. It's so hard when I see a student who is. not challenging themselves. Most of the things that hold people back, as I've mentioned many times in this podcast, are self-imposed limitations. These are limitations that people put on themselves, even though they're capable of ascending to higher levels. There's no question they're smart. Like you said, they got through the dental hygiene program. That's not an easy thing to do. That's like a vetting machine right there, right? That vets you out as someone who is... diligent, that does the things you have to do to get your degree. I mean, dental hygiene was a rigorous program from what I remember. I'm not sure how it's changed. It's maybe even harder now. I don't know. And it's interesting to me because I used to go to a lot of continuing education meetings and I would hear excuses that people gave, oh, I can't do... You know, I can't recommend more periodontal care because my patients won't like me or my patients won't want to pay for it. You know, there's a million excuses. I used to hear dentists say, well, I'd rather do a five surface filling and see how the patient does with it than do a crown. Whatever, you know, comparison you want to give to this statement. But you have to let people choose to accept or refuse whatever you're telling them. But you have to have the confidence to do that. And I think the confidence often comes from just not being afraid to say yes and try it and fail. Because like I mentioned earlier, I have a couple dental instrument patents. Do you think the first one went all that well? No, no, I didn't. And the more you do things, the more confident, the more people you meet. A lot of it has to do with a company you keep, yes. But ultimately, it's you. And it's your ability to say, you know. Yeah, that that might scare me, but let's try it. Let's see how we do with it. And sometimes in school, I really think that that educators are so busy trying to teach you what you need to learn not to hurt people that they forget to tell you things like that. Like there's other things out there or a dentist might ask you to be the department head for hygiene. And even if you don't think that you can do it. And if you don't feel confident in being a leader, you can go out and get skill sets and you can learn how to be a leader. You can develop new skills and aspirations and you can move your organization forward. You just have to have the courage to say yes. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think everything you've said is really, really valuable. You covered five things that no one tells you in hygiene school. So we're going to end this podcast, but just. Title the five. What are the five things? And then we'll wrap it up. Be true to yourself. Treat no task like it's beneath you. The butt you kick today might be the one you have to kiss tomorrow. No education is as scary as dental education. And don't be afraid to say yes. There you go. OK, so you heard it, folks. Five things that Emily Boge was not told in hygiene school. And probably this applies to you as well through your hygiene education. She's in the process of revolutionizing hygiene, dental education. That's what she's doing right here on this podcast. Yeah, we are honored. Yeah. So, all right. Well, thank you, Emily, so much. I wish we had a video because you have a great smile to show everybody. Thank you. We're doing audio only, but eventually we'll get video. We really do look forward to having you on again. Thank you so much. Awesome. Take care. Bye-bye.