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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. But I don't want there to be friction between dentists and hygienists.
I want there to be synergy, and I want us to create an environment where hygienists can be happy at the workplace because a happy team breeds a culture in the practice that's palpable and patients can detect it, and I think it's a big part of the patient journey.
Hello, Protruserati. I'm Jaz Gulati and welcome to another episode. This is an interference cast. It's like a nonclinical interruption. So we talk a little bit about clinical here, but it's more about the bigger picture stuff, how we can work together with hygienist the best way possible. Let's join the main interview now.
Main Episode:Morgan and Lou, welcome, very warm welcome to the first ever hygienist to Protrusive Dental Podcast. How are you, both?
[Lou]Good. Actually excited for our first podcast with you Jaz.
[Jaz]I'm just excited just to see your faces again and then just have this connection and catch up with you. So those of you who don't know, I probably said in my intro, but we used to work together in Summertown, Oxford, and you know, Morgs because you reached out to me on Instagram, cuz I think you heard me mention about how much I loved working with you two.
Right? And then I said, listen ladies, you have to come on the show because like what I do for dentists and I'm a little bit shameful in the way that I do very much make the content for dentists, and I do sometimes feel as though I'm leaving our cousins, our brothers, our sisters, our hygienist, therapists out a little bit because some of the themes I cover are just slightly different to the themes that perhaps you guys want.
But then, what hygienists have been doing, they've been DMing me, saying, 'Jaz, can you just cover this one thing for us about how we can work together better?' And I think, who better than you two? And I'll just start from the top. I guess. Let's have a couple of introductions first before I give you, my introduction. So Morg, start with yourself please. Tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got into hygiene, and you are interest in that regard of working in the capacity with dentists.
[Morgan]So, I was a dental nurse for seven years before I got into hygiene. Yeah, we were talking about this the other day about how we think it's a really great base because you already have that background knowledge.
So yeah. Then obviously met hygienist on route and thought, hang on a minute. I think I would like to do a bit of that. And then lucky enough-
[Jaz]Did you find that jump difficult? Because a lot of dental nurses consider that move and then something comes along and they don't do it, they don't commit. Did you find it a big jump? A big hurdle?
[Morgan]I mean, I was young, I was 21, I was at university, studying hard, playing hard. So, I actually think I had it really easy. We had women on the course that had children, families back home, and they were sacrificing that time away from them and studying, and they were working way harder than I was.
That was for sure. So, I think I did it an easier time in my life, but I have real respect for people that do it later on. And you know what? Great, because I have even more experience. So, yeah, I would say if you are considering it, go for it. It's a great flexible career.
[Jaz] And one of the themes we'll talk about later, is a common theme I've spoken about on the podcast Morgs, which is finding the right place of work and how you have to kiss lots of frogs before you find your Prince Charming. And I know we had that chapter four. I'll talk a little bit about; we'll talk about that. Right? We'll talk about the state of the play and the situation and stuff. But, Lou, let's hear from you. Tell us about your background, how you got.
[Lou]It's, yeah, pretty similar to Morgan's actually. I, after leaving school, I worked as a dental nurse, for a little bit longer, about 10 years.
And I used to always pop in to see the hygienist and see how she worked and offer some help sharpen her instruments and ask if she wanted some charting and everything, because she worked without a nurse. And I really loved what she did. It really, really interested me.
And she said to me, 'Lou, you must gone do dental hygiene. You know, you've obviously got an interest for it.' And that's what I did. I started applying. I was a little older. I was 26, so it was, no, and I've never looked back. It's been the best thing ever. I always knew I wanted to go into some form of dentistry, but I never quite knew why. Or what. It's been absolutely amazing. Never look back and I would never have a different career. I love it.
[Jaz]Brilliant. You know, that shines through when I used to work with you two, like I could say it now, I don't want to offend any hygienist listening at the moment, but you two are just the best hygienists ever worked with, honestly, the understanding, the culture at work, just you two, just amazing, and I want to bottle you two up and spray you around the country in terms of your, just how you work together and this is what this episode's about, right?
Because, and before we delve deeper, I'm getting so many thoughts and questions in my head already, but Morg, you said something really important before I hit the record button, and I guess it's kind of like a disclaimer before we talk further. Do you want to just say it, go on. Just spill it out, get it out your system.
[Morgan]So we work in a really, really lovely practice in Norfolk, Oxford. It's a very affluent area. We were very fortunate to be hired by an amazing dentist called Guy Duckworth who was very, very prevention savvy, forward thinking and the ethos of that was carried on through the practice.
But we are not stupid to know that it's not a cheap practice. What we can offer and the people that come here, a lot of them can well afford what we're offering so we can completely tailor make their treatment for them.
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