The Tech-Savvy Hygienist: How Technology is Redefining the Dental Hygiene Role

A lot of the insurance companies that we are now submitting our claims to are using these same technologies to assess our claims. So if we're not doing that, we are doing our patients a disservice when their claims are denied if we're not integrating these technologies to support our recommendations for therapy. Welcome to the Phil Klein Dental Podcast. In today's episode, we're exploring the transformative role technology plays in elevating the patient experience, helping create more meaningful interactions, better outcomes, and stronger trust in the care being delivered. When dental hygienists actively engage with cutting-edge technology and the clinical tools that come with it, they not only improve patient education, case acceptance, and compliance, but also help streamline insurance claim approvals and help overall clinical efficiency. In doing so, many hygienists gain a renewed perspective on their profession, often leading to greater career fulfillment and satisfaction. Our guest today is Alicia Murria. She says that by developing a diagnostic mindset and approaching dental disease proactively rather than reactively, hygienists become powerful problem solvers. Alicia covers this in more depth in her full webinar, Tech Savvy Hygienist, Transforming the Patient Experience with Cutting-Edge Technology. You can find that webinar on VivaLearning.com. Alicia is a registered dental hygienist with a master's degree in dental hygiene. She is a sought-after educator, speaker, and passionate advocate for clinical excellence. She's a member of the hygiene faculty at Align Technology, an associate hygiene productivity coach with Inspired Hygiene, and an alumna of the Forsyth School of Dental Hygiene. Before we bring in our guest, I do want to say that if you're enjoying these episodes and want to support the show, please follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You'll be the first to know about our new releases and our entire production team will really appreciate it. Alicia, it's a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you so much, Dr. Klein. It's great to be here. So you've given some really good webinars on Viva Learning. We thank you for that. And I know you lecture in quite a few places. One of the recent webinars you did on Viva was Tech Savvy Hygienist, Transforming the Patient Experience with Cutting-Edge Technology. I think that's extremely timely and very, very relevant to... every team member in the dental practice. Technology is doing so much in so many verticals, and it's certainly affecting dentistry at a very rapid pace. So it's great that you're out there teaching about it. To begin this episode, Alicia, let me ask you this. How is the changing landscape in dentistry, specifically the advancements in technology, an opportunity for dental hygienists to leverage their role as healthcare providers? That's an amazing question, Dr. Klein, and I'm so glad that you asked. For everyone who's listening, I just want you all to know that when I transitioned from being a clinician to a dental hygiene coach, it was a shift in my mindset. And I started to understand from a provider's perspective just how important it is to fully engage the patient. So when a dentist or a practice owner continues to make investments in technologies, they're not doing it to add one more thing to the mix, right? They don't want us to do one more thing. They're doing this in hopes that we have another opportunity to fully engage our patients. So to answer your question, dental hygienists have an opportunity to leverage a lot of the technologies that are being offered in practices all over the country to fully engage the patient, let them know who we are, what health is. what their level of health is, and how we can actually get ahead of any potential risk or diseases that can prevent them from having optimal health in the future. And all of the technologies that we'll discuss this evening will definitely point towards that. As a follow-up to what you just said, do you think there are dental practices out there in mass where dentists are buying the technology and using it themselves as dentists and not... getting the hygienist involved with that technology. Is that happening? Yes, I've seen it where there are scanners that are just resting in corners and they're only being used for crown and bridge work. They're not being used for a patient engagement or patient education. Partly to blame, you know, is... integrating this technology without a fluid workflow or a standard of care letting everyone know what your idea is and how this is going to transform the patient experience but the other part is taking the initiative and the ownership you know at 2025 with the landscape changing if we want to ensure that someone can't come along and take our role as a dental hygienist and provide a prophy, we should be able to integrate this technology into our workflow to provide a risk assessment for our patient that's going to give them more information, help them improve their oral health in the future. What does it take to get the dental hygienist more involved with the technology? Dental hygienists don't get the training in dental hygiene school on all this new technology, right? For the most part, they have to learn it afterwards. So what is the... journey that the dental hygienist needs to take in order to be proficient with these technologies and establish themselves as healthcare providers that are more than just, like you mentioned offline to me, the warm body that just prophes all day? Oh, that's a powerful question. So in short, I would say that everything that is associated with dental hygiene assessments, all the way from medical history down to dental hygiene therapy, there is some level of technology that can be integrated to fully engage the patient. Dental hygienists have taken an oath as dental professionals to continuously learn and stay current with the latest advancements in technology. As long as we are dental professionals and our license are active, we have a duty not only to ourselves, but to the public that we are interested to care for, to stay well and aware of the advancements that can help the patient be aware of their oral health. Some of the examples that we have to offer in terms of technology for dental hygiene is voice automated perio charting. We can also integrate digital scanning. There's AI radiographic interpretation. And then there's something as simple as intraoral photography. around for ages. And if a dental hygienist is unfamiliar with how to integrate that into their workflow, the first place to start is understanding your standard of care. What are we doing when we start to see periodontal disease? How are we making that determination between health and disease in this practice? And how should I be documenting that? And if you're unsure of how to use these technologies associated with period charting in terms of photographic documentation, there are representatives that are associated with a lot of these companies that are willing and able to represent you and support you in education and training so you can better flow in your standard of care for period management. Yeah, so you're very involved, you're very immersed in the technologies. Now, what would you say to someone that says, well, you know, I've been practicing dental hygiene for 15 years and I have a good rapport with my patient. I don't need all these newfangled gadgets and all this new stuff that they're trying to sell me. The bottom line is I see them twice a year and things are fine. And what do you say to that? Well, one thing that I will say is I've been a practicing clinician for 12 years. And in my experience, every time the patient presents for a dental exam, their risk factor or their risk for disease may change. So it is up to me as a clinician to fully evaluate my patient, especially when I have a great rapport with them and let them know where they are on the spectrum of health and disease. All things considered, A lot of the insurance companies that we are now submitting are are using these same technologies to assess our claims. So if we're not doing that, we are doing our patients a disservice when their claims are denied if we're not integrating these technologies to support our recommendations for therapy. That's a really important point. I mean, that's a tremendous value that the dental hygienist brings to the practice if they're proficient with the technologies that are used by insurance companies for approval, because that's money coming into the practice. It's certainly a good negotiating point for the hygienist when they're talking to the dental practice owner about their salary, their hourly rate. And there is obviously a shortage of hygienists. So having the skill set of technology plus the shortage of hygienists out there, dental hygienists is in a good position to utilize that to advocate for themselves regarding their compensation. If you would, Alicia, talk to us more about AI and how it's so integrated into what dental hygienists are doing on a daily basis. Thank you for introducing that concept. So in addition to... the AI radiographic interpretation helping us to identify dental anatomy, like the periodontal ligament that shows us that there's current inflammation, right? They help us to stage and grade our patients. In addition to that, we have voice automated perio charting. So not only does the patient hear us calling out, periodontal measurements that may be periodontally involved they are also having an opportunity to create an assessment at the end of the periodontal examination that is ai calculated and it will also help you to stage and grade your patient in addition to staging and grading your patient it can also provide you with the appropriate treatment recommendations per the stage and grade so again utilizing these technologies not only helps you to have legs to stand on and And your patient's going to trust you because we all know patients trust AI more than they do humans these days. But the insurance will also have an understanding of how we made this justification for the treatment that we're recommending for the patient because AI is saying it with us. So if that's the case, a dental hygienist who's not utilizing this software is left in the dust. I mean, they're at a major disadvantage, are they not? I agree with that. And then you will also have the patient who trusts you because when you submit the claim and you say that you only owe $40, you know, as an out-of-pocket expense, that's all they owe. They won't get a denied claim and now they have to pay the full expense out-of-pocket. So it also increases patient trust. So when you make another recommendation in the future, the patient is more likely to say yes and they'll show up for their appointment and follow up. Yeah. I mean, what you're teaching as far as getting dental hygienists more engaged with technology makes so much sense, Alicia. It's like anything else, you know, you're going to get the early adopters. and then you're going to get those that come on a little bit later, and it's a process. But eventually, we're in a state now in dentistry where dental hygienists are being redefined, and those that take advantage of the technology are certainly going to improve all parts of a dental practice, revenue, trust with the patient, and overall patient experience. So let's talk about the patient experience with this technology. You lecture quite a bit, and you talk about how somebody... In your life, a dentist that you worked for in Detroit many years ago, I think his quote was when he was talking about the patient experience, he said, this is their experience. Don't take it away from them. And then you went on to elaborate saying that, you know, the patient's coming in only twice a year. You see patients as a hygienist eight to 10 a day, but for them, they're only there twice a year. So you want to make it something very special for them and they learn something from each visit. Elaborate on that for us because I thought that was very interesting. Oh, I love that. And I was a very young dental hygienist when I had that encounter with Dr. Krawick in Detroit, Michigan. He's a very special dentist. All things considered, he would call me the laughing angel in his office because I was just very gregarious and I never met a stranger. And there was a point where he would come into the laboratory for an exam. He'd ask, you know, what have you guys been talking about? And just very green and being a dental professional, I would tell him what we were talking about. And it would be anything from the weather to what was current in the movie theaters. And then he pulled me to the side and he said to me, Alicia, every patient is here to learn something new about themselves. I love that you're making these relationships with the patients, but you can't rob them of their experience. They're paying to have information about themselves. So when I come in and I ask you, what have you all been talking about? I'm really asking, what did you find on this patient? How did you assess this patient? Where is this patient in terms of health and disease? And how are we treating it? And what are we going to do to prevent it from coming back in the future? And from there, my life has really never been the same. So when you say your life has never been the same. What does that mean as far as clinical dentistry for you as a dental hygienist? You know, growing as a hygienist in my practice, you have to get clever because if you're a hygienist and you've been seeing these patients for 20 years, even two years, you know, that's four times. How do I say the same information four different ways? And this is where the technology comes in. Yeah, so this technology is phenomenal for case presentation. There's no question about it, case acceptance, because it shows things that visually that... patients just never got to see before. And we're seeing hopefully more case acceptance, that's what I hear, and also higher compliance. What about those offices where the budget doesn't allow for the necessary investment in some of these key technologies? So you have a hygienist who's working in a practice, they want to engage with some of these technologies, but the dental office is just not buying into it right now. You know, that's a great question. I believe that every dental hygienist has an opportunity to make an impact and fully engage their patient by just letting them know what we're doing. So when we're updating medical history, we're letting them know why we're updating medical history and where they are in terms of periodontal risk based on their medical history. Once we update the patient's perio chart, whether we have voice automated perio charting, we have an assistant in there helping us, or we're doing it ourselves. Once we've completed that perio chart, if there's a second monitor in the operatory, we can now slide that perio chart over to the second monitor. And even if we don't have a second monitor, we can now print this perio chart out or make a copy of the perio chart. If you're still using paper charts, God love you. You can print it out or make a copy of it and share that with the patient and highlight her. areas where there could be a potential concern in terms of perio risk or perio involvement. And then in terms of your AI radiographic interpretation, even if you don't invest in that AI digital scan, I'm sorry, the AI technology, you can still use your second monitor, share with your patient where bone levels used to be, what health should be, and where they currently are. So all things considered, using the second monitor, using your adjunctives in the office, like a copier, a Xerox copier, this can really help you to transform the patient experience and really just let them know. Our goal is to be proactive and not reactive. So once the assessment is made and you have a good idea of where the patient is with their dental health and what issues they're facing, now you can begin to communicate with the patient what you need to do from the procedure standpoint and the product standpoint to address their issues. Talk about that with us. As I'm walking through the assessments with the patient, I'm essentially building up a case for why I would make a recommendation. So if I see the patient has recession or clinical attachment loss, I also see that the patient is at risk for decay due to incipient lesions, or I see that the patient has malocclusion, which is leading to... chipped teeth and they're now you know lisping or they have sensitivity then I can now wrap all these things together and I can say to the patient I can see that you would benefit from a product that can slow down the rate of sensitivity And some of the products that we know and love are offered by the dentalist, Voco. And one of the things that I usually offer when the patient is at risk for decay or even sensitivity is one of their great lines of fluoride. It's actually one of their advanced products called Profluorid L. And they really just transformed the formulation in that they've taken this super sticky substance of colophony and made it really thin and clear and super adherent. to the teeth so it makes it super slick and it doesn't feel like it's disrupting the patient's experience at all. The other thing that I really love about this product is that it has over 5% fluoride and it releases in the first 15 minutes so you get more effective time. You know, based on what you're saying, Alicia, it seems to me that using these technologies should be standard of care. for clinical dental hygiene practice in today's modern dental office. Absolutely. And I just have to say, I'm not reinventing the wheel here. The American Dental Hygienist Association has revised their standards for clinical dental hygiene practice. And if the listeners haven't taken a look at that, I would encourage them to do so because it truly does outline every process of care within the dental hygiene workflow. And you'll see how technology truly fits in there. And if you haven't already, I would encourage you to take a listen to the podcast, I'm sorry, the webinar, The Tech Savvy Dental Hygienist and Transforming the Patient Experience with Cutting Ed Technology, because we do touch on it there too. And to our audience, if you're interested in finding that webinar, just go to vivalearning.com, type in Alicia's last name, Murria, M-U-R-R-I-A in the search bar, and you'll see all of Alicia's content, podcasts, webinars, et cetera. And that one is really worth watching. Let me ask you this, Alicia. We're talking a lot about technology, but we haven't talked about lasers. Do you feel that lasers are an important part of the dental hygiene armamentarium? And do you think it's important for dental hygienists to be skillful and certified in laser therapy? Yes, that is something that I recommend. It's something that I use. So as a dental hygiene coach, one of the things that I notice is dental hygienists typically have this, would you like fries with that? kind of mentality. And before they even get through the assessments, they're asking the patient, and do you want the laser today? It's going to be $54 and the patient doesn't even understand why this is important to them. So the process of care, if it's followed, can truly outline the importance. for adjuncts like laser bacterial reduction or even laser-assisted periodontal therapy because this can truly be beneficial, but it does take patient buy-in. And if you're skipping steps along the dental hygiene assessments, then you're really shortchanging the patient's experience and their opportunity to say yes. That's on a state-by-state basis as far as the legality of hygienists using lasers or most states accept or approve a hygienist to use a dialed laser. I'm here in the state of Maryland. It is legal here in the state of Maryland. I cannot speak to every state, but I can speak to the state of Maryland. And that's a diode laser? Correct. Okay. And once you get into the other lasers like CO2 or erbium YAG lasers, that's not part of the armamentarium for a dental hygienist as of yet. You're absolutely correct. Yeah. So it sounds like to me, Alicia, you would be a proponent of including laser therapy as standard of care in the dental hygiene operatory. If I had my magic wand and I could create a standard of care that all dental hygienists followed in terms of patient care, it would definitely include laser bacterial reduction for all patients. Yes. So as we wrap up this podcast, Alicia, and it's been really very enlightening, I'd like you to, if you would, make a recommendation to those hygienists that feel like they're in somewhat of a rut. They may not be in burnout, but they're heading in that direction. They're not excited about their job. They might be working in a place that has a reputation of being what they call a pro-female. Some of us do work in these kinds of places. They exist, and it's the reality. What would you recommend to a dental hygienist who wants to expand their role, wants to get more involved with technology, wants to move into the realm of dental hygiene the way you teach it and the way you mentor dental hygienists to be? which is what we discussed on this podcast, what would be your main recommendation to that person? If there's a dental hygienist who feels like they're stuck in a rut and, you know, something that we said on this podcast really stood out, I would encourage you to just get really curious with every patient and ask yourself why. Why has this patient been chronically bleeding? Why has this patient chronically had pockets? Why does this patient continuously get cavities? Why do they continuously have root canals? Why do they keep losing teeth? Get really curious and ask yourself why. And then when you figure out why this is occurring, ask yourself, as a dental hygienist, can I help prevent this in some regard? How can I educate the patient on how we can prevent this? in some regard. So I would just start really slow and just start getting curious with every patient. If they're, whatever the chief concern is, if it's chronic plaque or chronic stain or decay, get really curious. Why is it like this? And what can I do to prevent it from coming back? And how can I engage the patient? What can I use in the office? What do I have today that can engage the patient? Just start small. Very powerful advice, Alicia. I'm glad I asked that question because that answer was fantastic. Very inspiring, the things you say. And I think the important thing is that everybody's got to find their own path, but they need to be open to learning the root cause of what they're actually treating. And it gives everything more meaning. And it makes us want to get out of bed in the morning. And then we could take advantage of all the things that you talked about today in this podcast episode, the technologies and everything else that can help us bring better care to our patients. I certainly hope you could be on future programs with us, and I'm very happy I invited you on the show. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. It's been an honor.