We have an extra Friday this month so we thought we would bring you something different!
Andrew has been on the Crest Smile Council for a few years now and invited his friends Sarah Thiel, Rafael Rondon, and Deborah Carrier on the podcast! They give a few quick tips for students and new grads!
We hope you enjoy this week’s TIPisode!
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For your viewing pleasure this TIPisode has been transcribed:
Michelle Strange: A Tale of Two Hygienists presents this week’s TIPisode: Quick and easy tips to keep you up to date, and presented by the experts in the profession. Now, get ready for your unofficial TIPisode.
Andrew Johnston: So this is a special edition of the TIPisodes. We had an extra week here, and we wanted to give a little bit of acknowledgement to Crest + Oral-B for being such a good partner with the podcast in the past. One of the programs that they have is called the Smile Council, and the Smile Council is made up of members of the hygiene community who weigh in on very important decision-making from — anything from marketing to what events they should attend and what things that the hygienists are interested in, what things the hygienists need to know, where can we put some educational pieces, all that. There’s — it’s a nice wide scope of what the Smile Council does.
So what we did today is we are here at ADHA, and we gathered some of the Smile Council Members that were here helping support Crest + Oral-B and supporting their individual companies that they work for. We put this together in hopes that it would help the new grads and the students take a little bit of advice from some established veterans. So we hope you guys enjoy these tidbits.
Michelle Strange: This is going to be a TIPisode brought to you by Smile Council.
Welcome, Sarah Thiel.
Sarah Thiel: Thank you. Thanks for having me, guys.
Michelle Strange: Absolutely. So we’re doing a tip for our students and for new grads; correct?
Andrew Johnston: We want your number one expert-opinion tip.
Sarah Thiel: So one of the things that helped me through school was a schedule. Every time at the beginning of the year, I’d go through my whole schedule, and I’d put every single test in, and I’d highlight it in red; every single quiz in, highlight that in yellow; any project due, I’d highlight it in blue — Andrew’s freaking out over here.
Michelle Strange: I love it.
Andrew Johnston: No. No, it’s good.
Michelle Strange: Speaking to my nerd soul.
Sarah Thiel: But it worked for me.
Michelle Strange: Yes.
Sarah Thiel: Because that way I could look at my schedule overall and be like, “Okay. I can slack off until this date —
Michelle Strange: [Laughing].
Sarah Thiel: — and then I got to study here, here, and here.” So it was — that saved my life. I don’t know if I could have made it through.
Andrew Johnston: A.k.a “preparation” is what she meant to say, not slack off.
Sarah Thiel: Oh, I meant —
Andrew Johnston: She wanted to really prepare for the exams.
Sarah Thiel: That’s what I meant. Totally. Yup. So that’s for students. That was quick.
Andrew Johnston: Yeah. That was good.
Sarah Thiel: For new grads, obviously I’m going to say make sure you start working on CE Zoom —
Michelle Strange: Yes.
Andrew Johnston: Of course.
Sarah Thiel: — and getting all your CE — getting them lined out so you know exactly what’s required and allowed in your state so you can make sure that you stay licensed as a hygienist and keep your education. Like, that’s another thing — sorry. I’m going to go off on a tangent here. I feel like when we graduate, we’re so sick of studying, we’re so sick of books, we’re so sick of conferences, but stay in the know because it changes so fast.
Michelle Strange: Yes.
Andrew Johnston: Mm-hmm.
Michelle Strange: Good recommendation.
Andrew Johnston: Those are some good tips, Sarah.
Rafael Randon: Well, my name is Rafael Randon, and Andrew says that I’m awesome.
Michelle Strange: You are awesome.
Andrew Johnston: You are awesome. Yes.
Rafael Randon: I just Rafael. I’m the founder of Mr. RDH. I get the opportunity to be working with a lot of hygienists out there, mentoring and coaching, and a tip that I give to students, it will be that don’t give up, work hard, embrace the profession that you’ve chosen, and just do the best you can. Get ready for those boards because it is a great profession.
Michelle Strange: Yes.
Andrew Johnston: Yes.
Rafael Randon: Now, when it comes graduates, I will say envalue [sounds like 00:08:40] what you embrace or the program you went into when it comes to hygiene. Value — and everywhere you go, make sure that you’re doing the right thing for the patient. Make sure that you create that value of the services you’re rendering to your patients and ensure that you are giving yourself a value that you’re doing something really awesome for your patients that are going to be saving a life or making them feel good or just enhancing their smile. It’s just about keeping that focus all times.
Debora Carrier: Hello, everybody. I’m Debora Carrier. I am a hygienist of 40 years. I’m a member of the Crest Smile Council and owner of Twice as Nice Uniforms.
The number one thing that I think — the advice I would give to a dental hygiene student is I know how incredibly stressful hygiene school can be, and overwhelming, but just hang in there. Pay attention to everything everybody says. Absorb it all. Once you get out, it’ll all make sense, and it’ll come together.
And then for graduates, this is something that I learned very early on. When I graduated, I went into a program — or I went into a group practice with a lot of experienced hygienists, and then there was me. And I learned that if I dressed the part and I dressed really professionally, I looked like I knew what I was doing even though maybe I didn’t always know exactly what I was doing. That really gave me a leg up and got the attention that I needed to succeed in that office.
Andrew Johnston: My name is Andrew Johnston. I am co-host of A Tale of Two Hygienists and proud member of the Crest Smile Council for the last three years. I also have some words of advice for students and for new grads.
My number one tip for students is be nice to your educators. I had an opportunity recently to go back to my alma mater and, luckily, profusely apologize to — who — to our — I’m not going to say what her position is because it’ll give it away — but to one of the instructors who is still working there. I was not nice to her at all during the program. Fortunately for me, she forgave me, and she said, “Well, you weren’t event he worst one we’ve had.” So that did make me feel better. So just remember — look, don’t be entitled. Be nice to them. They’re there to do a job, and the job is to really to protect the public too just like what you’re trying to do as well. So that’s my number one tip for the students.
My number one tip for new grads: sharp instruments. I cannot say this enough times. And maybe this is a good one for the students too because you need — like, when you’re taking your boards and stuff, you need really sharp instruments.
Here’s my thing. You have two options for sharp instruments. You can try some of the never-sharpen, forever-sharp, sharpen-free type instruments or learn how to sharpen appropriately — and Michelle loves the Gleason Guide, so I’m going to put a quick little plug in for them, for PDT — and you cannot do great work taking care of your patients effectively if you don’t have sharp instruments. Those are my two things.
Michelle Strange: We hope you enjoyed this week’s TIPisode. Be sure to reach out to our guest experts and let them know how helpful their tips were. Follow A Tale of Two Hygienists on Facebook, Instagram, and head over to ataleoftwohygienists.com and subscribe to our newsletter. You can also email us at ataleoftwohygienists@gmail.com, and keep listening for more awesome content from your unofficial dental hygiene podcast.
