Catching Up with New Dental Technology

Ok... As you can tell by some of my posts I work in the dental field.  I've been a dental hygienist for 20 years now.  I consider myself a good hygienist.  I'm not the best but I'm not the worst not by any stretch of the imagination.  I take way more continuing education than is necessary to keep my license current. I try to stay up to date on new techniques and technologies and if it were up to me and I ran my own business I would have more of these things. But alas that's not how it works in the dental game.  Hygienists are still under the guise of the dentist so therefore we work for/with them.  Fortunately, I work with a dentist who likes to stay on the cutting edge with his education & technologies as much as he can afford too. Dang it if dental equipment weren't so darn expensive!  Well, anyway...he likes to get new things when possible and can be fit in our budget.  

He recently purchased the lastest Cerec machine which will allow the dentists in my practice to fit a crown for our patients in 1 visit and save them from coming back and missing possibly more work.  It's a pretty cool machine too.  We're also adding a new oral cancer screening tool to our practice called Oral-ID.  Oral cancer is on the rise and  there have been many screening tools that have come to the market over the last few years.  Some require the patient to rinse with this horrid tasting solution and a little disposable light wand is use to look in the mouth.  Then there is the Velscope & Identifi which uses fluorescing technology but they are pricey.  The Oral-ID uses the same technology but is smaller and less expensive to use. Therefore it's less expensive to the patient for their

screening :-)  It's a win, win for everyone around. We have better screening tools beside just our naked eyes and patients doen't have to pay an arm & a leg for their cancer screenings!  Looks like a flashlight doesn't it.  Pretty cool! Can't wait to start screening my patients and offering them a little more peace of mind.  With all the media goings on about Michael Douglas' oral cancer and HPV.  This little handheld device will help dental professionals give better care to their patients. 

Does your dentist or doctor use an oral cancer screening aid?  If not, let them know that there is an affordable way to provide this service to their patients. 

Tiring but Good :-)

Today I had the opportunity to help my community.  I live in a city just north of

Chattanooga, Cleveland, TN.  While I'm not originally from the area I have lived here for nearly 17 years.  As you can tell from my previous posts, I am in the business of dental hygiene.  Well, the Remote Area Medical came to our area today to do dental, medical and vision care for those in need and some of us from my office volunteered to help.  What an experience this was for me.  I've done other volunteer work though my office (I'll tell you about that later) but this was really cool just to see how the pull this off in the cafeteria of a high school.  They have rows of mobile dental units lined up, I think there were about 40+ chairs. I was at chair 34.  They do free cleanings, filling, & extractions.  They use a mobile x-ray unit called Nomad to take x-rays on the go.  Everything is sterilized just like in an dental office by autoclave.  They have rows and rows of dental instruments and equipment.  It's like a well oiled machine.  I was honored to get to help out.  The downside is you have to stand up to do your treatment which is hard on these 50+ year old legs and back but it was worth it to see the smiles on the faces of those I got to give care too. I had one 12 year old girl who just kept laughing at my crazy jokes and she looks up and "says you are just too funny".  Made me feel great that she was at ease with me.  Then I had the shall we call him the "character" what a hoot he was to treat.  Well, I suppose it takes all kinds.  

All in all it was an awesome Sunday morning.  If your interesting in volunteering for RAM check out their website at www.ramusa.org  to see if they are coming to your area or if you want to travel that's cool too.  We had volunteers from many states at our clinic. I met one male RDH from FL and another volunteer who was a nursing student from CO.  So you don't have to stay close to home if you don't want. Make it a vacation with a purpose!