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Mar 1, 2024 | 
rdhmag.com | Sonya Dunbar |Katrina Klein |Sara Joyce |Whitney Crist
The shimmer of a senior's smile is often dimmed by the challenges of dental care accessibility. Dental care is a vital, yet often overlooked aspect of geriatric health. The decrease in dental insurance coverage when they retire leaves many seniors vulnerable and facing prohibitive costs. This is a clarion call for dental practices to evolve and embrace innovative strategies that cater to the unique needs of the elder population.
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Feb 27, 2024 | 
rdhmag.com | Katrina Klein |Sara Joyce |Whitney Crist |Barbara K. Tritz
It’s a tough conversation, but it’s a conversation we need to have as a profession. With more than 42% of the population clinically obese and 72% overweight, we have a new obstacle in our dental chairs, and it’s not just the significant increase in chronic inflammatory conditions we see intraorally.1,2 This new, highly correlated obstacle is the size of our patients, and even the size of many of us.
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Feb 27, 2024 | 
rdhmag.com | Sara Joyce |Katrina Klein |Whitney Crist |Barbara K. Tritz
A flexible schedule, competitive salary, and job security are just a few of the many pros that motivate job seekers to consider a career in dental. However, where there are pros, cons are soon to follow. There’s no one better equipped to give honest advice on this topic than hygienists who’ve experienced the ups and downs of a career in dentistry. Here’s a look at what readers had to say on the RDH Facebook page.
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Feb 27, 2024 | 
rdhmag.com | Katrina Klein |Sara Joyce |Whitney Crist |Barbara K. Tritz
Many dental hygienists may recognize Nicole Derby's journey through her dental career. She began with an externship in college, moved to dental assisting, and became a certified dental assistant before working her way through dental hygiene school. She's worked in both public health and is currently in a general, two-doctor private practice in Massachusetts. Nicole caught the eye of the people at Waterpik and RDH magazine for her commitment to excellence in clinical hygiene.
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Jan 15, 2024 | 
rdhmag.com | Tom Viola |Kathy Forbes |Whitney Crist |Jessica Thomas
For many years, dentists and dental hygienists have been on the front lines of the debate over discontinuation of antiplatelet and anticoagulant agents prior to and after dental and dental hygiene procedures.
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Jan 12, 2024 | 
rdhmag.com | Amber Auger |Kathy Forbes |Whitney Crist |Jessica Thomas
I’ve noticed a recent trend in my patients when I inquire about their last primary care appointment. Many report that they no longer have a primary care doctor because they have retired or relocated, or the patient is simply overdue because of the long waitlists to get in.
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Jan 12, 2024 | 
rdhmag.com | Kathy Forbes |Connie Simmons |Whitney Crist |Jessica Thomas
We owe the code D4346 to eight hygienists who came together to create a code that was missing from the CDT Code. At the time, there were two prophylaxis codes (D1110 and D1120) in the preventive category. Therapeutic procedures such as scaling and root planing (D4341/D4342) were in the periodontics category. There were no procedure codes for therapeutic treatment for patients with gingival disease with no attachment/recession/bone loss.
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Jan 11, 2024 | 
rdhmag.com | Whitney Crist |Jessica Thomas |Elizabeth S. Leaver |Amanda Hill
Have you ever wished you could wave a magic wand to get patients to follow your recommendations? You’re banging your head, knowing deep down their oral and overall health would improve if they would just comply. And when it comes to recommendations on nutrition, compliance can be even more challenging.
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Jan 11, 2024 | 
rdhmag.com | Whitney Crist
We are expanding the RCC program to embrace all the communities where an RDH may build a professional connection, whether in a study club, a public health program, locally, or...
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Jun 23, 2023 | 
rdhmag.com | Sonika Masih |Christina McKenzie |Lynnette Engeswick |Whitney Crist
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) reports that approximately one in five US children has special health-care needs,1 which it defines as “any physical developmental, mental, sensory, behavioral, cognitive emotional impairment or limiting condition that requires medical care.” There is a direct correlation between the severity of such patients' health status and the likelihood that their dental needs are not being met; increasing awareness can improve dental hygienists'...
