The Role of The Hygienist in Comprehensive Care

 

The following information is part of an article by Sheri Kay, RDH at the Pankey Institute.

Your dental hygienist can play a significant role in enabling you to obtain optimal oral health. However, in order to reach this goal, there are many questions that must first be addressed:

- What are your core health values?

- How can you discover what is possible in your own mouth?

- How can you be empowered to take ownership of your dental health?

- What barriers need to be worked through before you will choose to move forward?

- What is your level of understanding regarding your current oral health?

One of the greatest gifts that can be offered is to help you search out and discover the answers to these questions. The hygienist provides an avenue by becoming a friend, a facilitator, and a partner in health. The best dentists work with hygienists who create a safe arena where you have the time needed to see the big picture and develop your own long-term goals.

Because the hygienist is one member of the team who will have regularly scheduled appointments with you, the relationship that grows holds a wealth of unique possibilities. Your hygienist can carve out the time necessary to earn mutual trust, to offer acceptance of where you are, both physically and emotionally, at any point in time. In short the talented hygienist will stay with you through your individual discovery process.

The hygienist becomes the liaison between "what is" and "what can be." As the resource for passing trust to specialists, understanding procedures, and clarifying treatment plans, the hygienist can support you in whatever ways you want to be supported.

As you walk through the doors of the dental office, you deserve the opportunity to understand what optimal oral health can mean for yourself. Your hygienist can be a key person in facilitating your personal success.