Hygienists are NOT Scaling Machines – IC034

Hygienists working without nurses and feeling like scaling machines - it's about time we covered this elephant in the dental surgery. I brought on my dear friends and exceptional hygienists Morgan Williams and Louise Brake - they have faced career struggles in the past in the quest to finding the right environment and have so much to share with us. The biggest takeaway of this episode will be to consider 'leading from the bottom' - if you are feeling stuck and don't just wait around for good luck (I'm such a poet!) - take action. You'll be inspired by some of the ideas from our discussion! https://youtu.be/X7GBKUawq4A Check out the full episode here Need to Read it? Check out the Full Episode Transcript below! Highlights of this episode: 04:32 Morgan and Lou’s Dental Hygiene Background07:25 The Importance of Settings Goals and Expectation10:42 Hygienist as 'Scaling Machines'14:09 The Best Advice to be a Better Hygienist17:40 Good Communication to Improve your Practice21:26 Nurses for Hygienists27:20 Business Models for Hygiene29:54 Preventive Focus in Dental Hygiene34:11 How Hygienist Treat Perio35:52 Optimised, Personalised OHI40:07 Number One Trait to Look for in a Practice Check out Morgan and Lou's Instagram, Dynamic Dental Duo! If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like another episode with Laura Bailey: Why You Need to Take Massive Action for Success in Dentistry Click below for full episode transcript: Jaz's Introduction: What's the best way that hygienists and dentists can work together? Well, when I was in Singapore, I didn't know a single hygienist. It wasn't really a model at the time that was used there. Jaz's introduction:Whereas in the UK, we depend so much on our hygienists. I feel like we work together well with hygienists. However, I sometimes worry and hygienists I speak to worry that all they become is a SCALING MACHINE. And so, I talked about that today with Morgan and Lou. Two lovely hygienists I use to work with in Oxford and they share their struggles, how they had to work in quite a few practices where the environment just WASN'T RIGHT FOR THEM to thrive in as part of prevention minded hygienists. And I think what they have to say, well, if you're a hygienist, listen to this. Or maybe a dentist has said this episode to you, then this is gonna be a real source of inspiration from two lovely ladies who've been in the game for a little while. They know what they want and they're gonna tackle those difficult themes such as HYGIENISTS working WITHOUT NURSES like. Where does that stand now in 2023? My practice now where I work as an associate, only now is it starting to really implement a nurse working with a hygienist. Whereas I've worked with a few practices for where there is no such thing. It's unheard of for the hygienist to have nursing support and I know lots of young hygienists who tell me that they feel really uneasy about working alone and really, is this the best way to deliver ideal patient journey that's safe and effective? I don't think so. But then again, a lot of you will say, 'But Jaz, you are not a practice owner. You are not paying the bills.' And I totally get that. I respect that. As an associate, it's easy for me to say that, but I'm hoping after this episode with Morgan and Lou, though, you understand why it is so important for our profession to work together with hygienists to get the best outcomes, and I do believe that starts with a hygienist being provided a nurse. Now, what I don't want after this episode is lots of hygienists handing their notice or dentist getting pissed off and saying, 'Jaz, what the hell do you do? Why did you encourage my hygienist to think a little bit differently and inspire him or her a little bit too much?' I mean, I want to inspire. I want to get the word out. I want to help these hygienists through Morgan and Lou and what they have to say in learning from their journeys.