I felt like I was expected to drink from a firehose the second I walked into orientation.
"Next Friday you will receive your instrument kits," the orientation leader says, as anticipation and excitement fill the room. "Make sure you bring cash or check for the amount of $5,600. We do not do payment plans for this." And the buzz immediately dropped.
From the very beginning, dental hygiene school was a large source of stress in my life, and the next two years were a testament to the gut feeling I had on orientation day: this shit is about to suck.
What changed
My clinic coordinator offered us a small incentive for when a patient no-showed in clinic. We had a limited number of chair hours that we could make up by completing case studies. Like many other students, I really struggled to get people in my chair. Three and a half hour appointments are not exactly glamorous.
However, after a few rounds of case studies I realized how quickly I had memorized things like the blood pressure classifications and periodontal staging and grading. Almost by accident I discovered a hack for my brain. Learn to treat the difficult patient and you will in turn learn the information you need to pass your exams. When I was able to integrate the firehose of information into a clinical example, it clicked. The blaze of uncertainty was put out.
At the time, I did not recognize what I was doing differently. But now I do, and I am here to build it for you to use.
Our mission
The goal is to help bring confident and competent hygienists into the workforce. Passing boards is a necessary step in that. Quality studying makes quality hygienists, and I stand by that.
Who is behind this
I graduated from Idaho State University in 2022 and have worked in private practice and now in public health at Peak Vista Community Health Centers in Colorado Springs. I have been doing the job you are training for, which is the only reason I am qualified to tell you what matters on the way in.
My dream someday is to teach at a university dental hygiene program. Right now I feel I can present the information I want to present better without the added stress of being a professor.
Content is written by a practicing RDH, mapped to the current NBDHE blueprint, and reviewed by an advisory board of licensed dentists and dental hygienists. The full standard is here.