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Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

HYGIENE TRIBUNE The World’s Dental Hygiene Newspaper ·U.S. Edition August 2013 — Vol. 6, No. 6 www.dental-tribune.com By Patricia Walsh, RDH Editor in Chief I first met Esther Wilkins quite by accident. It was early in the morning at a Chicago conven- tion. Marginally awake af- ter 12 hours of convention festivities the previous day, I walked onto a hotel eleva- tor. No badge, no makeup, and in search of strong coffee. I glanced at the person I shared the lift with and did a double take. I tilted my head to one side and said, “Aren’t you ...?” There she was, our Florence Nightingale. I was all alone with Dr. Wilkins for a whole glorious eight floors. The love we have for this hygien- ist is palpable. You see it at every book signing. We wish to hold her hand, feel her genuine warmth. Just being near her makes us feel like we are somehow connected to the original intention and purity of our profes- sion. One of the highlights of the American Dental Hygienists Association an- nual meeting was a morn- ing speaker who opened with an unofficial “benediction” taken from “The Book of Esther.” About a thou- sand dental professionals got the joke immediately and burst into wild ap- plause. When Dr. Wilkins spoke to us this year, not onstage, but via the Jumbotron screen, you could have heard a pin drop. She is the “true north” on our profession- al compass. Technology sometimes leaves me scrambling to keep up. I would be lost without regular continuing education courses even if they weren’t a licenser requirement. This was not the case for the first 20 years of my career. But in more recent years, there has been an ex- plosion of change in our profession. My office was one of the first in the state to go digital. Since then, the improvements that have been made with panorex clar- Patricia Walsh, RDH ity and definition are amazing. Its capa- bilities astound me: a concise, full head shot with all the radiation of one set of bite-wings. A pan review course was at the top of my list for the Boston meeting. In other words, we’re seeing so much more detail that it amounts to information overload. A helpful website to assist in lesion Reflections on the ADHA meeting Meeting commentary Esther Wilkins, RDH, DMD, left, visits with an ADHA meeting attendee after speaking at this year's annual meeting via the Jumbotron screen. Hygiene Tribune Editor in Chief Patricia Walsh describes her as 'the true north on our professional compass.' Photos/ By Patricia Walsh, Hygiene Tribune ” See REFLECTIONS, page D2 By Lori Bernardo, RDH In 1906, when Dr. Alfred Fones came up with the idea to train his assistant, Irene New- man, to clean teeth and per- form preventive oral services on children, no one could have predicted how our profession could have evolved. Fones’ early vision of the role of the dental hygienist was revolu- tionary. His goal was to employ dental hygien- ists who were primarily from schools and medical practices. He was quoted as saying: “It is primarily to this important work of public education that the dental hygienist is called. She must regard her- self as the channel through which den- tistry’s knowledge of mouth hygiene is to be disseminated, the greatest service she can perform is the persistent education of the public in mouth hygiene and the al- lied branches of general hygiene.” It was a lofty goal, which became the start of a noble profession whose purpose is to eradicate oral disease and improve overall health of the whole population. I recently had the opportunity to attend a reception sponsored by Crest® and Oral- B® to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of dental hygiene with fel- low hygienists. In the past 100 years, our profession has fought hard to carry out Fones’ mission. As I re- flect on this anniversary, there are two major areas where the dental hygiene profession has made leaps and bounds — the career opportunities available be- yond the clinic and the oral health challenges facing our patients. Although most dental hygienists are employed in the private practice setting, many of us have chosen to take our mis- sion “to the streets” in a variety of ways during the past 100 years. We can still be seen as public health workers, teachers, marketing and sales representatives, re- search professionals, and more. I personally have had a very rewarding career that has spanned almost 30 years in the oral health industry. Although most of those years were spent in clinical practice, twice during this time I left to work in sales for different dental product companies. In my current sales represen- tative role, the commodity that I offer is no longer the work of my hands, but the collected knowledge of 30 years in the dental profession. It is more about what I know than what I do; I believe this role allows me to continue de- livering the mes- sage of our original dental hygienist mission on a much larger scale and make room chairside for new graduates. Sharing information on new products and services gives other dental professionals the tools they need to do their work more efficiently, and in turn, help them reach more people. No matter where we practice, the cause of im- proving oral health unites us all. Dental hygienists have always strived to educate the public on the value of oral health and its role on one’s overall well- being. Today that message is even more powerful as many believe the mouth is an indicator of a person’s whole-body health. In the first 100 years, we have made gains on the improvement of oral health, and the incidence of dental caries and tooth loss dropped dramatically. In addition, there was a steady rise in the percentage of the population that receives regular dental care. However, since the mid 1990s, we may be witnessing an alarming rever- sal in that trend. According to a recent National Health and Nutrition Examination survey, the incidence of caries among children is on Lori Bernardo, RDH Photo/Provided by Crest Oral-B the rise.1 Additionally, research from the American Dental Association indicates the percentage of the population obtain- ing regular care has dropped and the fre- quency of dental visits has declined.2 No matter what challenges lie ahead, I know that we are more than capable to rise to the occasion as we always have. So, my fellow colleagues, I say we pause to celebrate our profession and all that we have done. Have a party. Enjoy a piece of cake. But don’t rest for too long, because if we want to honor the mission that Dr. Fones set out for us 100 years ago, we still have a lot of work to do. Are you ready? Now, let’s get started on another “100 Years of Dental Hygiene!” ▶ References 1. www.nidcr.nih.gov/DataStatistics/Find DataByTopic/DentalCaries/DentalCaries Children2to11 2. www.ada.org/sections/advocacy/pdfs/7170_ Breaking_Down_Barriers_Role_of_Finance- FINAL4-26-12.pdf Celebrating 100 years of dental hygiene Industry commentary CDA BOOTH NO. 1202