I initially shared this post on the Facebook Group “Trapped in an Op”, but wanted to share it here too. On May 15th, 2020, I finally quit my full time clinical job. I worked there for 12 years. The pay was excellent ($48.20 per hour). The benefits were excellent (health insurance, 4 weeks paid time…
When I was a young lad at 18 years old, I started my first real job—an auto mechanic at a Ford dealership in New Bedford, Massachusetts. On the morning of my first day, the service manager told me, “You’ll be working along side Harry for two weeks. He’s our most experienced mechanic”. I looked…
The other day, out of curiosity, I googled “Do dental sealants save money long term?”. I wanted to see what my fellow dental folks had to say about the topic. I scanned the search results and found the following excerpts from two dental office websites, a dental insurance company website and an oral hygiene product…
Based on a true story The Midas mechanic walked into the waiting area, looked at me and called out my name. With that familiar look on his face, he said, “I have a few things to show you”. He laid out his findings. My battery terminals were corroded and needed cleaning. The main belt had…
This is another example of using two HVE sources to reduce aerosols. In this case, it’s the DryShield mouthpiece (connected to the Kona Adapter DS) and a Nu-Bird Suction Mirror. It’s obviously impossible to completely eliminate aerosols in the dental environment, but I think it’s possible to reduce them significantly. And in my option, using…
In this video clip, I’m using a medium Isolite mouthpiece (attached to a Kona Adapter 2.0) and a wide HVE tip. This is the setup I used in the past, but only when air polishing. But post COVID-19, this may become my setup for ultrasonic scaling too. DryShield mouthpieces (my preference) can be used in…
Many years ago I remember watching an episode of the tv show King of Queens starring comedian Kevin James. In one of the scenes, Doug (character played by Kevin) was in the bathroom brushing his teeth. As a dental hygiene student at the time, I remember thinking, “His brushing technique is awful!” Fast forward to…
When I graduated from dental hygiene school in 2007, the job market in my area (Massachusetts and Rhode Island) was pretty favorable for us hygienists. If you had a license (and a pulse) finding a job was relatively easy. But then the 2008 recession hit and the strong demand for hygienists suddenly dropped. And the…
A few weeks ago, while browsing my Facebook feed, I came across a news story about a male dental hygienist who recently had his license revoked. The reason for losing his license? He was guilty of “sexually abusing” a patient. What did this monster do you may ask? According to the article, he had the…
Jerry Seinfeld has a great joke that goes something like this. According to a recent study, the two biggest human fears are death and public speaking. But here’s the most interesting part. Death came in second place. Second! Public speaking beat death for the top spot. Which means……people rather be the person in the casket…