Frustrated

I just need to vent some frustration. I'm a dental hygienist, and I understand that some people don't like what a hygienist does to them when they come to the dental office. I agree, its a very uncomfortable experience to let someone get into your personal space(but hey, it's my personal space too), and put instruments into their mouths. Maybe it hurts to have a cleaning, maybe that person doesn't want to hear that their not brushing good enough, flossing enough, or coming often enough for cleanings? Has anyone ever heard of personal responsibility. It's like if the oil in a car is never changed, and the engine is ruined, is that the manufacturer's fault?

In our office we perform periodontal evaluations, which is basically measuring and checking the gums for infection and bone loss. We check for bleeding, mobility, recession, suppuration(pus) etc. We always inform the patients of the condition of the gum tissue and discuss how they can get it healthier if infection is present. Treatment can range from a combination of the patient doing better home care i.e. brushing and flossing daily, more frequent/regular re care, scaling/root planing therapy, or refer to a periodontist. It just depends on the severity of disease. You think most people who are coming to the dentist by their own volition would want to know what's going on in their mouth and how to make it healthier. Like if you went to the medical doctor for a physical, and your cholesterol was high. Wouldn't you like for the Dr. to
A. tell you
B. disc what lifestyle changes would help control/alleviate it
C.make a treatment recommendation? Why else would you go? Apparently most people don't consider their mouth a part of their body. If it's healthy or infected doesn't it effect their overall health.

This rant started because of what happened this evening. I went to a bar with some coworkers this evening, had a few Pepsi's and some fried mushrooms. About 9:30 p.m. in come some guys who know my coworkers and one guy, amazingly enough, is a patient at our office. He has an appointment on Fri, Jan 26. I don't know him, he doesn't know me. He starts whining and griping to my coworkers that he's coming in on Friday to get his teeth "scraped on." and she(the hygienist) better not be the same one he had last time. He stated of course it's going to bleed when "she" pokes and scrapes. In his opinion, he knows more than a hygienist does. Even though, I don't think he was a RDH(registered dental hygienist), and he sure the hell didn't spend four years in college learning about mouths etc. I attended Wichita State University for my degree, here is a list of the required classes to become a dental hygienist.

Prerequisite courses for admission to dept. of dental hygiene

Engl 101- College English (3)
Chem 103- Intro to Chemistry (5)
Biol 220-Intro to Microbiology (4)
Biol 223- Human Anatomy & Physiology (5)
Psych 111- General Phychology (3)
HS 331- Principles of Dietetics & Nutrition (3)

23hrs

plus the following

Speech 111- Public Speaking (3)
Soc 111- Intro to Sociology (3)

6hrs

DH Courses

DH 101- Preclinical Dental hygiene (5)
DH 104- Clinical Radiology (4)
DH 201- Dental Hygiene Concepts (3)
DH 202- Clinical Dental Hygiene (3)
DH 206- General and Oral Pathology (3)
DH 290- Oral Anatomy (1)
DH 295- Oral Histology and Embryology (2)
DH 301- Dental Materials (2)
DH 302- Clinical Dental Hygiene II (2)
DH 303- Dental Hygiene Concepts II (2)
DH 304- Dental Hygiene Concepts III (2)
DH 307- Ethics and Jurisprudence (2)
DH 310- Community Dental Hygiene (3)
DH 314- Intro to Periodontics (3)
DH 316- Pain Management (2)
DH 323- Clinical Dental Hygiene III (3)
DH 324- Clinical Dental Hygiene IV (4)
DH 409- Intro to Research for Health Professions (1)
HS 301- Clinical Pharmacology (3)
HS 315- Head and Neck Anatomy (2)

52hrs

I really hated my two years of actual dentally related classes. The anxiety and stress were horrible. When I die and if I go to hell, my hell will be the dental hygiene program. I, and my fellow hygienists, worked really hard to get where we are. We don't want to hurt people, but if the gums are unhealthy, it does hurt to have them cleaned. Is that my fault that some lazy person doesn't take to the time at home to keep their gums and teeth healthy? I love it when people say, "My parents had bad teeth, it's hereditary, and there's nothing I can do." So I ask them why are you brushing and why are you here if there's nothing that can save your teeth? People like that are idiots. I think they just want an excuse/justification not to floss or do further treatment to keep their teeth. I understand they may not have the finances for treatment, but floss is cheap and it just takes a few minutes. At least do the best you can to keep it healthy.

I know this guy was probably drunk and so more verbal. But even so, this is what many people think but don't say. In any case, he wasn't even chagrined when my coworkers informed him that I am a hygienist, and I will probably be the person working with him on Friday. He may not remember any of this on Friday, but I will. If his perio eval reveals crappy home care and infection then I will inform him of the condition of the gum tissue, recommend daily flossing, discuss re care length and recommend scaling/root planing if needed. He can do whatever the hell he wants from there. I know criticism and negative comments aren't fun to receive, I obviously don't like it. I've tried many different ways to broach these subjects with patients but it never fails they take it as a lecture and that the hygienist is "yelling" at them even if it wasn't like that at all. They must not have ever really been chewed out or they would know the difference. I could go on for hours on this subject. I just needed to get this off my chest. I think what it really comes down to is personal responsibility and most Americans are definitely lacking in that area.