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WHO MAKES A GOOD RDH
So are you thinking about applying to dental hygiene school?
Would you like to know the qualities it takes to be a good
dental hygienist?
Whether you are taking impressions, scaling teeth, placing
sealants or anything else, you will need to have good manual
dexterity and good hand eye coordination. Playing Pac-Man
when you were little can actually help you after all!
Having a good background in the sciences helps. The ability
to read and comprehend your biology and microbiology textbooks
will give some indication if you will be able to follow some
of the intense vocabulary in the dental textbooks. There are
a lot of diseases, bacteria and viruses, conditions, etc that
have huge, long, hard to pronounce names, so it will help
if you can take a class in medical terminology before getting
into the program.
Time management skills are also top on the list. Having basic
organization skills and the ability to maintain a schedule.
Being on time is a big plus as your day will go a lot smoother
for you and your patients if you are not 15-20 minutes behind
schedule the entire day. Remember when you go the dentist
or orthodontist and they always call you 30-45 minutes late?
Yup, well you should try not being that person!
Another good quality is being a true team player. No one
likes the prima-donna hygienists who think they are better
than everyone with an RDH or DDS after their name. Helping
out the rest of the staff at the end of the day by cleaning
trash, sterilizing instruments, etc.. will go a long way when
you are running behind and need help yourself.
There are other skills that could be beneficial to you. Having
experience in sales and assertiveness is a plus because you
have experience working with the public and in often times
it will be your responsibility to sell treatment to the patient
such as periodontal procedures, bleaching, sealants, etc.
Being a good listener and motivator is key. Dental Hygienists
should be caring and sympathetic individuals with a genuine
care for someone's oral and overall health. Also being sensitive
to someone's needs and realizing that patients perceptions
of needs change depending on their culture.
All in all there are many different qualities that an RDH
should have and this page is in no way all you should possess.
Please fill out the box below to add your tips on what makes
a good RDH! I will add it below for others to see and will
give you full credit for your thoughts!
Submitted content:
A Good RDH gives that extra TLC to all patients and is deligent
about making sure the patient understands their dental status
on terms and words they can comprehend. Also takes the extra
time needed to put a patient at ease so that they enjoy their
treatment and participate in their dental health. Most importantly
is the outcome that words cannot reveal when you see the improvement
and they see the improvement of their own mouths in the mirror.
Taryn Brown
Being an open minded person is a big key to being a successful
hygienist. Sometimes you need to take time to understand the
reasoning for a patient's behavior before you lash out on
him or her for not flossing twice daily, especially if a patient
is from a different culture. I have learned that that has
helped me the most while being in school.
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