The Survival Guide

Drop school stress at the door.

The place where studying feels safe.

Hygiene school hands you a firehose and a $5,600 instrument kit and expects you to figure out the rest. This is the rest. None of it is behind an email, none of it is a sales pitch, and all of it is the stuff I wish somebody had handed me.

Free · nothing gated · no signup
01Boards

When to do what

The single question I get asked most, answered plainly. Everything below assumes you are following your own program's guidance first, because programs differ and yours knows your cohort.

As soon as you are eligible

Sign up. Some programs encourage students to take their boards before graduation, so based on your school's recommendations, sign up for boards as soon as you are able and then start studying.

Six to eight months out

Start studying. Not cramming, starting. Six to eight months sounds like a lot until you are in clinic, in practicals, and trying to find patients at the same time.

What you are preparing for

The NBDHE is a long exam that you will take all the way through. You want to feel like you are prepared for anything by the time you walk in.

If you want a read on where you actually stand right now, the 75 question diagnostic is free and it builds you a study plan from your results. It is the honest starting point whether you buy anything or not.

02Clinic

Free study sheets

One page each, made to be printed and taken into clinic. Keep them in your kit, share them with your cohort, use them during patient conversations.

Fluoride Counseling
Mechanism, varnish protocol, the talking points for a patient who has done their own research, and informed refusal language.
View & print →
Syncope
Prodrome recognition, the management sequence, EMS criteria, differentiation, and prevention.
View & print →
Dental Anxiety
MDAS scoring, SSRI oral health effects, Tell-Show-Do, the stop signal, and documentation language.
View & print →
Oral Cancer Screening
Risk factors, the systematic head and neck exam, suspicious lesion features, the two week rule, and referral.
View & print →
Perio & Diabetes
The two way street, HbA1c thresholds, 2017 staging and grading with modifiers, and co-management.
View & print →
Medical Emergencies
PABCD, the emergency kit, and the right first move for each emergency, from hypoglycemia to anaphylaxis.
View & print →
03In progress

What I am writing next

These are the things I actually wished somebody had handed me. They go up as I write them, and they will always be free.

  • Creating rhythm and flow during an appointment. The one I have the strongest opinion about. How to stop running out of time, and what to do when you already have.
  • Instrument sharpening. Properly, not the version you get shown once in a lab and never again.
  • How to manage the stress of finding patients. Three and a half hour appointments are not exactly glamorous, and finding people to sit in your chair is its own job.
  • How to manage difficult patients. Until this one is written, the Anxious Patient case covers a lot of the same ground and it is free.
  • What to look for in an office to work for. For when you are close to the end and starting to look.

If there is something not on this list that nobody has explained well to you, tell me. The ones that keep coming up get written first.

Where do you stand?

The 75 question diagnostic is free, takes one sitting, and builds a study plan from your results. It is the fastest way to stop guessing about what to study.

Take the free diagnostic →