wow i want/need this in my life

Hi everyone. Quick question. I’ve been an RDH for less than a year and while I was in school we got our loupes from the company medi loupes (which I would never recommend). I haven’t even had my loupes for more than 2 year and the lense completely popped out. I have superglued it back but I know that doesn’t guarantee that they will stay in place. Every time I have cleaned them with cavi wipes the lens pops out of place due to the alcohol. I was just wondering if anybody knew where I can get these fix somewhere in NYC so I don’t have to go through the company. Please let me know and give me your recommendations.

Throwing this on here to share my solution for annoying light wires. I got a 4 pack of hair ties at dollar tree, a couple of little snips and my wire is staying put! And it looks cute too

Hey everyone! I am currently on maternity leave will be back to work in about 8 weeks. I know I still have a lot of time left on my break but I am dreading thinking about going back to work doing hygiene. I don’t hate hygiene but I don’t love it. I work at an office that is extremely fast paced, by the time I am done with my shift I feel completely drained and my body hurts. In addition, my office takes a lot of crap from patients. We let them control most things and to be 100% honest, now that o have my child I don’t have the effort to deal with people like this. I don’t know how I will handle going back from leave dealing with rude patients. Despite the negatives I have listed off, there are a lot of positives. The pay is good and there are some patients that make me so grateful for being a hygienist.

My question is, for those of you who are parents and cut to 3 days a week, did you find that this made work more tolerable? When I was doing 4 days, I was genuinely burnt out by the end of the week. I went from being a very extroverted person to not wanting to do anything on the weekends. Do you feel that cutting to 3 days was worth it? When I go back I will have 4 day weekends, which will be really hard to beat. I’m trying to have a more positive outlook when I go back to work from my maternity leave but I find myself worrying about it already. I want to be present for my child once I go back to work and am nervous I will be so drained once I get back.

I'm currently trying to whiten my teeth and I thought the whitening gel refils would be a good idea since I have vivera retainers. Unfortunately though after about a week of following the instructions it doesn't seem like my teeth are that much whiter. Perhaps I should not be using the retainers? I know I'm not getting it on my gums because I did it once by accident and literally saw my the portion of my gum turn white from being burnt.

If this is a bad idea then what are some good alternatives to make sure all my teeth are white? I know my dentist can do them, but for whatever reason she seems against whitening them and said at home solutions are much better.

Title. I have good oral hygiene (brush 2 times a day for 3 min with fluoride toothpaste, floss once a day), never had cavities (i have several stainings on my fissures, but my dentist said it's ok for now). My partner also has good oral hygiene (does the same), but either because of genetics, diet or some kind of health problem they still get cavities (all of their teeth have been drilled into).

im worried about worsening the stainings i have from kissing them. is it safe if i kiss without tongue? or if i brush and floss afterwards? if they get somehow their dental health in check then it'll be ok?

Has anyone ever failed out of hygiene school for simply just not being able to catch onto everything, and ultimately not being able to retain/perfect your skills enough and ended up getting dismissed?

I got my first set of miswak sticks from healthylivingco.net and I LOVE them, but they seem pretty pricey at ~$10 per stick. I tried ordering a set from Amazon and found the fibers to be way too abrasive. Anyone have a better recommendation? Please and thank you 🙏

I've suffered for a while with a drug addiction in rehab currently in still cant pick up the habbit of brushing My teeth ive always felt very depressed and had no motivation to get up and brush them I try my best whats not good enough maybe twice a week I feel so disgusting im 16 I don't have that meny problems apart from my gums im 16 and I really don't know what to do any tips?

im currently pursuing dental hygiene right now but im curious about becoming a dentist and wanted to hear both sides of the story. they work the same hours and work-life balance is great compared to plenty of other fields but obviously as a college student i dont have everything figured out with what i want to do in life.

i know some of the other external concerns of becoming a dentist are related to loneliness or financial burden (however i do have a means to pay plenty of the interest off asap and have a decent savings but nothing too crazy). id love to hear your guys’s experiences in dental hygiene or reasons you chose not to pursue dentistry.

anything helps,
thanks!!!!

I have maybe 2 cavities on one side of my mouth but I unfortunately cannot get them fixed because my mom refuses to take me to the dentist. My only option is to try something at home. I used to not take care of my teeth as a kid but in the recent years I've gotten way better. I brush twice a day, use mouth wash, and floss. I really don't know what else to do besides ask you all and I'm really desperate because I've been having some pain when I try to eat. So please just give me advice because I'm probably not going to be able to see a dentist until a turn 18.

I’m currently working on my prerequisites that I need in order to apply to the dental hygiene program at my school. Before I started college I talked to a councillor and long story short they made it seem as if I must get an A on all of my prerequisites in order to realistically get admitted to the program. I’m doing really well so far, I’m still on my first semester but even though I’m doing good so far I know that I most likely I won’t be able to score an A on all my prerequisites. I go to a small community college in metro Detroit and I know that every school is different but my question is, is it really that competitive of a program?

Has anyone taken a deep dive in comparing closys products, especially Closys Ultrasensitive and Closys Silver?

It's my understanding, Closys US is the OG and most reputable. While both have Chlorine dioxide, I'm unsure how Fluoride, sucralose, and flavorings effect the therapeutic benefits of Closys as a whole.

I'm not interested I'm not interested in the CTC (cetylpryidnium chloride) variant.

Thoughts?

i want to apologize to US based hygienists for all of the states that are allowing internationally trained dentists to practice as RDHs without actually going to hygiene school or taking board exams. oh my god.

do i think all internationally trained dentists have poor skills? no. the two wonderful dentists at my practice are internationally trained and absolutely amazing (at being dentists).

but, i had a dentist as a patient the other day, who is not practicing in my country (yet), but went to dental school and practiced in a different country. VERY active loc stage III gen stage II grade B (smoker) perio guys. radiographic calc. lamina dura is fuzzy on rads. this perio is new, post-dental school. it wasn’t a case of being uneducated and then inspired to go to dental school. he said himself he doesn’t floss and skips nighttime brushing when he’s tired and stressed.

i am compassionate, i withhold a lot of judgement. never would i ever allow this man to by MY hygienist or give me any education or advice on periodontology, OSC, physiology.. ANYTHING! not with the active raging perio.

please, please advocate for yourselves guys, for the integrity of our profession, our expertise, our education!

All scrub Wearers, I am looking g to create a scrub brand. I am so sick of scrubs being so expensive and so uncomfortable or only made for one body type!

What do you wish scrubs had?

What do you wish they did different?

What is the most important thing for you in a pair of scrubs?

How much are you willing to pay for nice scrubs?

Someone asked me last week if kombucha was ruining her teeth and honestly I was not ready for the level of conviction she had about it being healthy. She wanted me to validate the whole routine: the apple cider vinegar shots in the morning, the lemon water throughout the day, the kombucha at lunch, all of it. The tissue told a different story than her wellness podcast was telling her.

The thing is I cook a lot and I actually find the food and teeth connection genuinely interesting. Erosion patterns, sugar timing, acidic frequency, that stuff is real and worth talking about. But there is a version of this conversation that goes sideways fast when someone treats you like a registered dietitian and wants a full signoff on their eating habits.

I try to stay in my lane and just talk about what I can actually see and what the pH of certain foods does over time, but patients want a verdict on the whole lifestyle. And when you gently suggest that sipping lemon water all day is not great for enamel, suddenly you're the one attacking their health journey.

What do you do with patients who have built their whole identity around food choices that are quietly wrecking their teeth? Do you go all in on the education or just address what you can see and leave it there?

Ok this might sound like a dumb question but when I use the Cavitron I feel like it loosens the plaque but doesn’t remove it fully out the pockets, if you know what I mean? Does anyone have any advice for this I just find myself having to go back with a sickle or gracey to actually remove the plaque from the pockets although the ultrasonic loosens it from the pockets and gets some out or is this normal?

So I know I need to buy loupes during the program but how expensive are they typically ? I know they are specific to your eyes and such but just curious

I graduated about three months ago, and have been working full time (mon-thurs) at an office for about two months now, after replacing their retiring hygienist. There are no major red flags with this office, their infection control practices are good, the staff is all very helpful and nice, and it is generally a supportive environment.

That said, I’m realizing there are some things that I’m disliking a lot that come up everyday. I feel like they try to put too many things into one appointment, the dental exams put me behind (10-15 minutes sometimes), some of the equipment has been breaking like the in-unit USS and their instruments are pretty dull so I’ve also been using mine from school. Sometimes the dentist will make comments that come off kind of rude to me as well, though normally she and I don’t interact much beyond during the exams.

All this to say that due to those and some other factors and just my personality, I have been having extreme anxiety everyday when I’m working, and I feel like it’s just getting worse if anything. Everyday I think about quitting and I know for the right person this would be a great office, but I don’t think it’s right for me. I’ve been thinking maybe I could feel more of a balance for myself if I went down to two days a week but I know they would ideally have one person for the four days.

Tl;dr: Do you think asking my dentist to reduce my days to two days a week instead of four after only working full time for two months would come off as ungrateful? I also have a retail job that pays me $32/hr that would readily give me more hours if I asked, so if the dentist would rather replace me entirely that would be fine too for now. I’m just worried about giving off a bad impression and I don’t want to burn any bridges but I know I can’t maintain this for much longer.

I am due a dental check up but I super embarrassed about my teeth. Every time I pluck up the courage to go afterwards I think it was fine but then it comes around again and I go through all the motions of feelings.

When I was growing up my parents never took me to the dentist for check ups, it was only when there was problems. I remember early on having to get an injection for possibly a filling or extraction - I can’t remember as the trauma from the injection masked what was actually needed. Anyways from a young age I was left to brush my own teeth but I was also not taught about oral hygiene. My parents teeth aren’t great as I don’t really recall them even brushing every day, they have had extensive work done and I know my brother has had a few extractions too. Because of this I have needed work in my late teens and early 20s including several extractions of my back teeth 😞 . I currently have one that needs a filling or extracted and I really don’t want to go as that my predominant eating side.

As a 34 years old female I am just so embarrassed by my back teeth and I wish wish wish wish that I had money to get a few implants done 😢

Basically what the title says. I had a really strong mouthwash at one point(I think the abv was 27%?), and every time I used it, I'd end up with a sore/swollen throat and a lot of mucus production about 24 hours later. I stopped using mouthwash entirely after that, and it stopped happening. But I just got an alcohol free mouthwash, used it last night, and now my throat/sinuses are acting up again. I've done nothing that would've trigger this, so I know it's the mouthwash again, because it's exactly the same as before. What on earth is causing this, and how do I make it stop?

I heard many great things for the different board review and wanted to ask which was best for studying/what helped you pass?

I'm still not close to taking boards but I wanted to start thinking about it

Thank you!