Being a hygienist is much more than cleaning teeth. Ever since I was a little girl I was always taught to help others and this is a characteristic that I’ve carried with me throughout my whole life. When I graduated high school I was unsure about what I wanted to do with my life but I knew I wanted to be in the healthcare field helping people. My mom is a dentist in Colombia and she tried many times into pushing me to go to dental school but, that’s not what I wanted. At least that’s not the field I thought I wanted to be in. I wanted to be as far fas possible from my mom’s field as I could. I decided to get a bachelors degree in biology and see where that lead.
Once having graduated college with my bachelor’s degree I still felt a little lost and asked my mom to go shadow a dentist at the office she works at. When I started shadowing the dentist I got bored, and felt as if something were missing. I wanted to be able to work on the patients and speak with patients, so I asked if they would train me as an assistant. Once I started my training as an assistant I quickly adjusted and learned all the ins and outs but what I enjoyed the most was building connections with the patients and seeing what a difference you can make in their lives.
This was the moment I decided to pursue the dental hygiene field. I noticed that one of the hygienists in this office was a little dry with the patients and lacked connections with them, while the other sat down spoke with them and gave them oral hygiene instructions and recommendations. I started noticing that being a hygienist wasn’t just cleaning teeth as patients look for your input on their health and want to hear what you have to say based on your knowledge. Due to that one hygienist being vague in that office the patients would come and ask us the assistants for our input but sometimes the assistants were lacking the knowledge needed to help them.
I love that I’m becoming a RDH and can’t wait to make a difference in many patients lives. I already notice in clinic when my patients leave satisfied with their cleaning or when they come back and tell me they’re happy because of the work I’ve done in their mouth. I love building connections with my patients and making them feel good about their oral health and their smile!
