Financial Freedom with Education and Mentorship

Can overcoming socioeconomic barriers truly pave the way to a fulfilling career in healthcare? Join us as we explore the remarkable journey of kristal Robinson, an inspiring dental hygienist, high school teacher, and devoted mother. Crystal shares her path from a high school career technical program to graduating from Tennessee State University and giving back to her community by teaching health science classes. She reveals the significance of representation in healthcare careers, the common thread linking initial interests in nursing to successful dental hygiene careers, and the generational encouragement that fueled her professional achievements.

Discover the profound impact of  kristals upbringing by a hardworking single mother and how technical education played a crucial role in breaking the cycle of poverty. We dive into the struggles high school students face due to financial constraints and the importance of accessible educational resources. Through heartfelt anecdotes,  Kristal emphasizes the power of mentorship and preparation for future responsibilities, urging students and parents to recognize the value of perseverance and dedication in achieving success.

We also tackle the influence of social media on contemporary trends, particularly in the dental world. From the rising popularity of veneers to the risks of unqualified procedures, kristal sheds light on the ethical dilemmas faced by dental professionals and the need for standardized regulations. As we conclude,  kristal shares invaluable strategies for graduating debt-free and the importance of financial mentorship. Tune in for an episode filled with insights on overcoming challenges, the importance of representation, and the critical role of education and mentorship in shaping promising futures.

Transcript

Career Choices in Dental Hygiene

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to Dental-ish season three everybody . I have Crystal Robinson on here . She is a dental hygienist . She's also a high school teacher , so that is one of many things . She's also a mom and she's just here to give us some outlook and perspective on . You know how you can go from dental hygiene to teaching , to doing other side hustles and things outside of work , but most importantly , giving back to her community , her students , seeing her daughter and her family graduate and move through their journey , and just the generational encouragement and success that we have here . So welcome Crystal .

Speaker 2 0:35

Hello .

Speaker 1 0:35

How are you Good ? I'm good , so I gave a little snippet about who you are , how you came about finding about Brown Girl RDH . Drop some little nuggets on here , because it's not a lot of times you hear about hygienists who are also high school teachers . Like , that's my first , so let's talk about that .

Speaker 2 0:53

You know people ask all the time why don't you just do hygiene ? It's a balance . So I got my start . I got my start in high school . So here in Texas I'm sure in other states they offer career technical programs . And that's how I got my journey , my start in dentistry . First it started out with nursing and my teacher introduced me to the bedpan and I said and you know I wasn't the one that really wanted to go to college , but I wanted to make money if that made sense . So my mom , she wanted to like break the generational curses . So she's , you're going to college . I went , I went for dental hygiene , ended up graduating from Tennessee State University , hbcu , love , and moved back to Texas and started my career in dental hygiene . So it's always been , since my senior junior year in high school , like part of my journey , which I love and so fast forward to teaching . I'm able to , like you said , give back by also teaching the same classes that I sat in when I was in high school .

Speaker 1 2:02

The same classroom .

Speaker 2 2:03

The same classes . Oh , the classes , so I teach it , so all the health science classes that they take now .

Speaker 1 2:10

So I spoke with someone because we're doing a lot of mentorship and we both discussed our program with Brown Girl RDH in our high school to hygiene pipeline that we're working on and I talked to a lot of the local guidance counselors here and they said a lot of the girls want to do cosmetology and hair and I'm like all these wigs that I see and crochet styles and like as to , I did want to be a cosmetologist . So I don't know why that is the program that a lot of that is . I don't know if it's advertised or that piques everyone's interest , but more times than not , I think growing up you know in our communities hair braiding right and styles and you know doing it yourself . Those are the type of things that come naturally for us . Oh , I know how to braid , I know how to just dye , I can make some money doing that .

Speaker 1 3:00

So people are like oh , I'm good at it , I know how to do it , I can make money off of it . Why don't I choose that as a career field ? But what people don't understand ? Not people , but the kids that kind of don't have an idea . They're just doing like what's familiar , right , to show that there is representation there , like you have to show up , you have to have something that's going to make them look the other way . And every single dental hygiene genus that I talked to has all said like yeah , I thought about nursing first , so that interest was there , right , so they have to have the interest . And then they're like oh , I just went to dental hygiene because I saw the bed pin , or I didn't like blood , or I didn't want to wipe feet .

Speaker 1 3:41

I just didn't want to be wiping nobody's butt like I was like no , that was my thing and me too I thought I was gonna do nursing . First it was either nursing or hair and I was like I guess I don't want to just do hair like everybody else , so I'll just do . You know , everybody has teeth . Let me do go with teeth . So when I thought about it , it was all an instant like that's not gonna work because of the cost , right ?

Speaker 2 4:06

like I don't have the money .

Speaker 1 4:09

So I went back to early childhood education and that's what I thought I was gonna be doing , because it was easy , right yeah and I'm like mom had 10 kids .

Speaker 1 4:19

I was changing diapers . I know I can do early childhood education . I know , derma , I don't have no patience for no children , for no kids . I don't even know why I thought I would do early childhood education . I know , derma , I don't have no patients for no children , for no kids . I don't even know why I thought I would do that . But I'm glad that I'm here and you know this was meant for me and my calling . So tell me about how you know what you see . The triggers or the influence is where students are or maybe aren't choosing . You know the career dental hygiene and I know you preach it . I know you're in there , you know trying to persuade them , but do you see an influx in that ? Are they interested or what are they interested in ?

Speaker 2 4:50

So when they first come to my class , of course the first week which is , you know , scheduling and schedules changing , so you don't do much but you find what they are interested in A lot of them want to be in the healthcare field because you know their families want , want to be in the healthcare field , because you know their families want them to be in healthcare , while others want to do nursing because that's the field that they know . Many times I get , I'll say , in a class of 30 kids , 25 to 30 kids , I will say . Two may say dentistry , and so typically it's like they want to be an orthodontist because they have braces or had braces , you know , so they're familiar with that . But after I speak to them and you know I still tip , so I stay relevant in the community of dentistry , you know , and I'll go back and share my experiences when I come back from break . That piques their interest .

Speaker 2 5:46

And then they then want to apply for the career technical center for dental assisting . Typically they have no clue . I mean , like me , I had no clue about dental hygiene until my teacher told me about it and so I said , okay , I'll declare that my major . But so many kids I would say , let's say , out of 25 to 30 kids , two initially wanted to have that peak of interest in dentistry , and then after that it may double . So you know , out of six classes I may end up having 10 kids that are interested in dentistry by the end of the school year , which for me that's a win .

Speaker 1 6:19

That was my other question , like does that change throughout it and what type of things change there ? Why does it change your mind , like , what influences that change ?

Speaker 2 6:28

So I start out with I mean I do hype the field , you know . I tell them it's more out there to nursing , because I do feel like in high school everybody is doctor . They go rotation to rotations at the hospital . They may , you know , have a rotation at a nursing home . A parent may be in the you know field of healthcare in some capacity , but nobody really has a family member in dentistry and those that do it may be an aunt or uncle . And so after me telling them about hygiene , and they see the flexibility that I have , oh , she still travels and she teaches and she does hygiene . And I mean I'm transparent with my students . I tell them , if you mismanage your money , no matter the field , it may not be a good field for you , but at the end of the day I think they see , like you said , the representation , the . Oh well , if she could do it , so can I . And I tell them my journey and because I think my journey was similar to their journey , they fall more on track with it .

Speaker 1 7:33

What was your journey ? Pretty much for them Like what's the

Navigating Generational Challenges and Technological Addiction

Speaker 1 7:36

relationship ? So ?

Speaker 2 7:36

I came from a low socioeconomic . My mom had three kids but you know she worked at a daycare so she didn't make a lot of money . So that whole generational curse . She wanted us to be able to provide for ourselves well and our families . That helped my brother and sister and I get out of poverty , the things that she had going on . But I mean she's a great mom , we had a great upbringing and everything . It was just hard .

Speaker 2 8:02

So , with the pathway that I had in career , technical , being able to go through the dental assisting program , thus college I ended up having debt , of course , in dental hygiene , but I ended up what I tell my students , it's a short-term setback for a long term gain . So at the end you have to work hard . You know , financially it may , you may have to invest in it . Financially it may cost you . However , at the end of the day , especially now what we get paid now you know it's definitely a benefit . So having that struggle early on , having that connection with them , coming from an environment that they you know my mom may not have a lot of money , so they , they understand that and seeing that , oh well , she's brown skinned , she's , she's a black woman and I'm a brown skinned person . She could do it , so can I .

Speaker 1 8:54

Like , as you're talking , I'm thinking back to when I was in high school and got out . And I'm thinking back to when I was , like , in high school and got out and remember . Do you remember back then when they were trying to get people to sell cutco , the little knife , the knives do you remember that ?

Speaker 1 9:07

yes , and vacuums and kirby vacuums , cutco and kirby vacuums and they would come and cut the penny up with the with the scissors and you had to go to door-to-door selling finger hut they called it finger hut back then and I I remember like , oh , they were saying you can make all this money and you know , $18 was a lot of money back then and you can make up to $18 . And I was working at Rainbow working in . North Carolina making $7.25 . When they said $18 , I was like oh , I'm about to sell .

Speaker 1 9:35

I'm about to sell this stuff . But it was like you're out there going door to door , literally knocking on doors , demonstrations on how to either vacuums , knives or whatever it is that you're doing , and I remember I needed money to get started . You had to pay to get started for this stuff and I remember going to my mom and I was like I need money to get started . And my mom , she wrote me a check and the freaking check was bad . But she just wrote me the check and I remember she didn't have the money and I felt guilty . I felt guilty because I needed that money to start that job and I don't know if the check bells not , but I know she didn't have the money to write a check . I'm just thinking back at I wonder how many high school students feel like I know I don't have the money to go into these type of programs and I don't want to put that burden on my family , so I'm just not going to do it .

Speaker 1 10:26

You know , when education should be . You earned it . If you can dream it , you can achieve it Like it doesn't matter . There's no limitations . You want to be that , that's what you . You know , that's what you do , but it's a sense of I don't want to put that stress on my mom . She's already single mom . There's already . You know what I mean .

Speaker 1 10:43

So , it's kind of like , when we're trying to help these students and mentor them , we have to give them the resources to like . I know who you are . I was the same thing . I made it and this is what I did . This is what you can do too , and , by the way , oh , I want to do that . Missed on so , but you know I'm pregnant , so I don't know .

Speaker 2 11:01

Well , guess what ?

Speaker 1 11:02

We have a resource for that , you know , don't give up , you can . You can try a certificate program online . That's dental assistance through your whole pregnancy . It's a four week program , that'll , you know , introduce you to dentistry and then , when baby gets older and goes to daycare , go ahead and apply for that dental hygiene school .

Speaker 1 11:17

Like that is always something , it's always something . So I think you know the position that you're in . You're actually there for a reason and you're like I got into teaching and it was a segue and a side hustle and it's a good break . No , it's not a break , it's where you were supposed to be .

Speaker 2 11:33

It's where I'm supposed to be . Sometimes I wonder . I'm like well , how am I here ? And you know , at the beginning of the school year , we had to write down our purpose . My purpose is always the same , and that is to make sure that the next generation is prepared , because , think about it they're going to be taking care of us and , honey , we need good people to take care of us .

Speaker 1 11:51

We need people that are . I think about that all the time . So my daughter just started driving and she had to order food and my at mcdonald's in the . My son was in the background and he couldn't . He was like what do you want ? He's like I don't know . She said , come on , she was getting nervous . She said she was actually getting , she's got anxiety . We tell them that's not real ordering the food and we're just like I'm looking at her , like you're gonna be the new adult , like you cannot get anxiety but we have to walk to the corner store and get a whole grocery list . We used to have a you know paper writing in the back of a piece of mail go get this at the corner store and you used to have to walk and go get it and take money .

Speaker 1 12:28

My kids would never . They'd be like huh , want me to do what ?

Speaker 2 12:32

you order it and I'll pick it up . I can't you just door dash it , it's like yeah action in the century that we're in now .

Speaker 1 12:40

It's like all computer generated on a meeting . These are the people , like you said , these are the . This is the generation that's going to be taking care of us , and I feel like they're . We are disconnecting more and more from human interaction and I was laying in the bed thinking about why the hell is Facebook free ? And I was like I know why Facebook's free . Why are they not charging ? Facebook is free because it's a way to control . Facebook is addicted . I deleted the damn app off my phone and I was still looking for it . I said what the hell ? It's very addictive , just that little blue app . And I'm just like , hmm , but what is it ? What is in it ? Why am I going to it ? And then I didn't have that on my phone . So what did I do ? I went to Instagram and I caught myself and I'm like this is exactly why Facebook is free because they can use that to control , control you the minute Facebook .

Speaker 1 13:34

What people do they get on social media and they like ?

Speaker 2 13:37

why my Facebook down ?

Speaker 1 13:38

right , what's going down ?

Speaker 2 13:41

I go to google what happened to facebook ?

Speaker 1 13:45

right . So facebook is , and they said it , they , they said it , they said it is very addictive . And at this point we're going , we're going to , you know , facebook , and we're implementing , like artificial intelligence in there . Now you can't even write a post . All right , correct my spelling and grammar . Yes , what the word felt wrong . You know , you don't have to think I'm feeling like this , write a post about this . It is not even your thoughts . So they're trying to get people to stop thinking and stop interacting and start stop making their own decision . And it's very scary for me . It's very scary and I'm not saying I'm woke or anything like that , but I'm paying attention .

Speaker 2 14:22

Let's just say I'm paying attention , like , hmm , this is pretty strange , you know so , but you know what in class is very hard because you have students that are always on that social media . But then when you or even google , but then when you ask them to look up a medical term or what does this mean , I asked what does localized and generalized mean ? The other day , and they're all looking at me , I said Google , go , go look up Google . And so I gave them a you know a few analogies and everything . But they look at you like , okay , you tell us no , go Google it , go on TikTok . Tiktok can tell you what localized and generalized is .

Speaker 1 15:02

Got to take that away .

Social Media Influence on Veneer Trends

Speaker 2 15:05

You know I just my daughter asked me one . Well , I told her I said I'm bored . When she first went off to college I said I'm bored . She was like get on TikTok , it'll last you about two hours . I downloaded TikTok . I got on there . It lasted .

Speaker 1 15:17

I stayed some sometimes it's informative , but I like is that I'm paying attention . I'm like we're not even supposed to be . This is not . This is not right .

Speaker 1 15:33

It doesn't feel something doesn't feel right about it .

Speaker 1 15:35

Something doesn't feel right about you seeing somebody's family member pass and they putting up a go fund me and you just like okay , scrolling to the next one , like it's something is not , it's like the news .

Speaker 1 15:47

You know , every time you turn on the news there's something bad or something bad . And then guess what , after a while you stop watching the news but you open up that facebook hurricane mark , say , from this shooting , all this political stuff , people being racist on here , people mad at the little mermaids , black , like it's always something negative . And then on the flip side you see , oh , this person's on vacation and you know I started a new job here and you know this cute picture here and it's just like you , either on this side or that side of it , you know . And what are you going to choose ? To look more into the positive ? Oh , I want my teeth done , I want to get veneers , I want to go on vacation . So then that stuff that you start to see just like the kids becomes you , you know yeah you know , it becomes you because you're like I don't want to see the negative stuff .

Speaker 1 16:32

So they start showing you and feeding you things that you want to see and , before you know it , you like dang , I want to be in Puerto Rico for three years you know like I need to get , get on this .

Speaker 1 16:43

And then it just goes back to what you want we're going to put in front of you and what you need to be doing is the whole distraction . Go to school , go to college now . So everybody's trying to get the bag . Before everybody was trying to scam , now it's just like lord . I don't know what's happening now .

Speaker 1 16:58

We hear about the veneer stuff like oh my gosh well , now we hear about the people that are not dentists doing veneers . Well , guess what ? Every time I turn on social media , it's somebody with some doing veneers . Well , guess what ? Every time I turn on social media , it's somebody with some new veneers .

Speaker 2 17:11

Every time and it's scary because I try to I tell my kids all the time if you're going to somebody's house to get your teeth done , it's wrong . And the students ? One student said my aunt . She said my aunt , she used to clean our teeth at home and I said , really , she's a hygienist like you . I said , oh really , where does she practice ? She said , oh , in Texas . I said , honey , be quiet , don't tell any more of your aunt's business .

Speaker 1 17:39

Right . You know , I thought you know , she practiced somewhere else , maybe in another country or something like that I'll say I blame the economy first , and then I blame social media , and then I blame the dentist , because you see all of this , oh , celebrity dentists we do veneers come here and kids are on social media Instagram , tiktok , and they're watching . Oh , veneers , veneers , veneers . This doctor does them . Okay , that doctor's going to charge $20,000 , right .

Speaker 1 18:03

Well , I want that because I keep seeing that on my feet . I want veneers . So what are they going to do ? You don't have money . You don't have money to get an exam . You don't have twenty thousand dollars .

Speaker 1 18:11

You see your favorite celebrity dentist posting these veneers so you can go to your cousin that got the certificate to get these veneers , but you're not even educated enough to make that decision to say , oh , this is not a dentist , but you know you can afford it . But I want a dentist , but you know you can afford it , but I want to look like . I want to look like the people you know , my favorite celebrities that have them . So there's a couple things that social media is the dentist like . They're promoting veneers on their social media . Who do you think is watching these ? These are the kids . They're not other . You know these are people who are influenced , who don't have money . I want to get that done . Oh , I did this celebrity's veneer . Okay , well , I don't have that celebrity's money , but I know I can go over here and get them done and then they end up getting hurt , they end up getting dental infections , they end up , they end up losing all of their teeth .

Speaker 1 18:57

So you know , everybody has to take responsibility . They can't just be yelling at the veneer tech . Why did that veneer tech think that ?

Speaker 2 19:05

they could do that you know , and and with the whole marketing thing and the dentist , like you said , reaching out to social media to market more and using the trends that the young people or , you know , teenagers are , you know , grasping to it makes it more influential . Okay , well , they're doing

The Veneer Tech Dilemma

Speaker 2 19:29

it . But I can go to somebody else . Of a near tech , because you have that low health literacy you're not even aware that of a near tech is no such thing right , my mom doesn't even know , she'd be still calling me a dentist .

Speaker 1 19:39

She'd be like , yeah , my daughter's a dentist . I'm like I'm not a dentist . But she doesn't know the difference . And again I say I blame dentistry . Because guess what , dentistry divided dds , rdh , rd , um , da , certified , da , cda , right , expended functions . And the regular dental assistant can just get a certificate from a , from a six-week program , so that's a certificate . So if I'm a regular person who doesn't know the difference , of course I'm gonna think certificate , oh , you can get a certificate from a community college , can you not ? Yeah , so I'm not gonna know the difference . And it's very sad , but dentistry divided , that how about ?

Speaker 1 20:19

we are the licensed professionals . And then these people . These are not the licensed professionals . How about not giving them a certificate at all ?

Speaker 2 20:25

it's just on the job , especially coming out of high school , and if I mean when they turn 18 , they can apply and get their state licensure here in texas for their after they complete the program for dental assisting . You have to teach them . You cannot do veneers at home , you know , because once they get once a dental assistant gets pretty good at something they can . They can do a lot more than people think .

Speaker 1 20:49

Oh , they see it . You're watching it for hours , every single .

Speaker 2 20:54

Yeah , they can do a lot more work than people actually think and I feel that you know that also separates a veneer tech from a real dental assistant . A real dental assistant will , I think , go the extra mile to okay , let me figure out how to do this , do whatever I want to do in a legal aspect . But then you have some dental assistants that want that extra money , that will go out and compromise ethics over anything just to make extra money .

Speaker 1 21:25

I remember they were getting the grill .

Speaker 2 21:27

Oh my gosh .

Speaker 1 21:28

They would have the pawn shop or the person doing the jewelry with the jewelry store over there making grills . You would see people with gold grills and they did not go to the dentist , they went into a jewelry store and I still see some of those jewelry stores today . But having gold teeth is not trending as much as the veneer stuff is . And it used to be the whitening , remember . Everybody was doing the whitening . Now it's like all right , I don't have to do whitening , I just get white teeth . Well , they can just put some veneers on and actually I don't know if you knew this , but it was a hygienist that was doing composite veneers . Somebody posted in a group and was like she's a Brown girl member and she's doing composite veneers .

Speaker 1 22:04

So I went and looked it up and , sure enough , in the state that she's in , it says she can do composite veneers under the prescription and supervision of a dentist . So as long as the dentist says , do these veneers , she can do them . It's no different than placing a band on a tooth because it's removable , oh , wow . So she's like , yes , I can do them , and I do them in my dentist's office and my doctor lets me do them . And I was like , oh , she's like I don't put them on people's teeth who have cavities or anything like that . And I looked up the law myself and for sure it said composite veneers written in that law . They can be done by a dental assistant and a hygienist under the prescription of a dentist .

Speaker 2 22:45

Will the dentist have to do like the prep work or anything ?

Speaker 1 22:48

There is no prep . They're not shaving any tooth . They're literally bonding material on top of the tooth .

Speaker 2 22:53

I just feel that it needs to be across the board . You know like in Texas you can and can't do certain things . Well , let's just say can't , because everybody else is running circles around Texas . But I feel like it should be across the board . If this said dental hygienist in our case went , got whatever certifications they needed to get to perform said treatment , they should be allowed to do whatever it is that they got the extra certification for it boils down to money .

Speaker 1 23:25

Obviously you know that the minute you start making , they can start making money off of it . They're going to figure out a way to change it . So is it affecting the the dentist ? I don't know , because I heard one dentist tell me I want them to go on somebody's basement and get braces because they just got to come to me so I can fix the teeth .

Speaker 1 23:41

That's what he said he's like , yeah , they got to come to me to fix it . And then I saw another dentist on social media this has nothing to do with the dentist that the patient went to a veneer tech and got veneers done . But she was like , yes , they went there and got this done and I did her transformative thing and it was just so sad and you know how sad that she went there . I guarantee you she's not doing it for free . You're not like , oh , this is such a sad case , let me fix it for you for free . Like no , she's gonna redo it , she's gonna give her real veneers and then she's gonna advertise it .

Speaker 1 24:13

You know what I mean ? What goes back to like , you do things because nobody's watching . Are you just doing because you're doing it , you're not trying to make a whole sad story about it . The purpose of this patient , this person , went to a veneer tech and got these veneers on and everything was terrible , went from . We're gonna fix it . So let's make a sad story about it and share it on social media . That's like feeling person and taking a picture with them .

Speaker 1 24:35

You know this is not good , but again I'm at it different Somebody might talk to me and say well , no , no , no , no , You're just creating more business for you . Like , let's not get it twisted .

Speaker 2 24:46

Because if somebody sees that you go from one extreme to the next , they're going to want to come to you .

Speaker 1 24:51

Both , whether they get messed up or not , they're going to be like , okay , she fixed that , she can face me .

Speaker 2 25:02

But what most people don't understand it's more costly to fix the mistake than actually like go initially . Go to the dentist , get those veneers from a licensed professional in the first place , and then it's going to be cheaper . Yeah , it may be 20,000 , but imagine if you have to do all that other restoration yeah , it meant the psychological aspect of it too .

Speaker 1 25:18

I just don't know how I feel about it . I just feel like and my aesthetically .

Speaker 2 25:23

Do people even think that's cute ?

Speaker 1 25:25

they don't look good , do they ? They do ?

Speaker 2 25:27

not look good .

Speaker 1 25:28

I haven't seen one set that looks good but you know what I showed barry a picture of what veneers are supposed to look like and what you know . Somebody did he was like the other way looks better . They're white . I was like they're not supposed to be white like that . Real teeth are not white like that like right , terrible .

Speaker 1 25:46

But to him somebody who's not dental it looked great and I'm like , okay , that's what it is right . And guess what , if I see my favorite celebrity and they got speed parving teeth , I'll be like , okay , maybe , maybe they're supposed to look like that .

Speaker 2 26:00

Right .

Speaker 1 26:00

They're supposed to just look natural , like they're supposed to be imperfections in it . Right , they're supposed to .

Speaker 2 26:06

I wonder how much these celebrities are paying , because if I was a veneer tech and a celebrity came to me , oh , I'm charging you .

Speaker 1 26:14

You know they do them for free . I have a lot of dentists who are friends and they said they do not want to work on no celebrity because they're just paying their picky like . They just don't want that . They don't want to work with them , they'd rather work with regular people . A lot of the celebrities that have had their veneers done , they've had them redone . So Cardi B , she had her veneers done . She had hers redone . She said she went to a different dentist and got them done . A dentist that I know of that did Glorilla's teeth . She had hers redone . It was like I didn't like them . I kept having to get them redone and redid them . But I say all that to say like these dentists are like , oh , I did this celebrity and I'm this person's dentist , but it's just like they don't see what the dentist did as good .

Speaker 1 26:53

They see what the veneer tech did as good .

Speaker 2 26:55

Yeah we talk about dentists and I don't follow a lot of dentists . I follow a couple on social media , on Instagram . But the team here in Dallas that does oh , like , works so amazing . Dr Rose , the whole staff , like he literally picked good people to be on his team because the whole staff , you can tell they put all the care in the world . And what I like about him , he like transforms the people that got the gold grills back in the day , those permanent grills . He's transforming them . So not only is he not judging them , you know , for having it , he's just wanting them to like have a better smile and he gives them a really , really nice smile .

Speaker 1 27:38

The last Brown Girl RDH magazine that we did , I featured him as one of the top influential dentists in the community . Dr Rose also has a nonprofit leg that he gives a lot of stuff back to the youth and he does smile makeovers . So he's definitely one of those people that I don't put in the celebrity dentist category . He's just a good person .

Speaker 1 28:00

Like he's a great individual and you can really see his light through his work and through other people that talk about him . Like you , that know him , I respect him a lot and it's good to see that he's influencing and inspiring other dental professionals that see him like wow and then pouring into his staff members , as you said , because I didn't even know that .

Speaker 1 28:19

I just followed him . Barry knows him because Barry does music and Dr Rose is in the music industry , so I think he's probably the best one that I've seen out there that's doing it . So that's good to hear that the team that he works with reflects it , you know .

Speaker 2 28:33

I even show it to my students . You know we're on social . I share with my students brown girl , I tell them if you are going into hygiene , you know , or not sure if you're going to any dentistry . I share with them Brown Girl's page and I say , go like . And Dr Rose's page . I always tell them here's a dentist . I mean because I feel like he's trending for them to see a dentist outside of scrubs , but actually , you know , performing good work . I feel like he just has that fun demeanor about him which you know . Like you said , they're influenced by all of that anyway . So you may as well go with somebody that's more positive .

Speaker 1 29:10

Right , right , right right . I do agree . Let's turn into , let's start talking about getting out of dental ig . Didn't talk about veneers , but it needed . The conversation needs to be had , definitely now . Where can people follow you find you get some more advice , any gems you want to leave ?

Speaker 2 29:31

I would leave .

Scholarships and Financial Mentorship

Speaker 2 29:32

We talked about a little bit about debt free me graduating , me graduating with my bachelor's and my master's debt free . That was a sacrificial situation . I saved . And then I said , okay , I'm taking all my savings and getting my degree , so I didn't do much with like scholarships or anything like that . So it was a hard thing . And then you know , to come back from that , I said when my daughter went to school , I did not want her to have student loans . So you know we work as a team .

Speaker 2 29:59

Go on social media . We talked about Facebook . How you know imbalanced that could be , but I follow certain pages on online , on Facebook , primarily because there's more dialogue , I feel , on Facebook the zero debt project and I follow that website . So if anybody's going back to school , they have so many scholarships and so many people talking that you could find , you know , financial gems . So , with that said , go online y'all , find scholarships . Tell your students , tell your kids , tell your friends' kids . You know how to go out there the United Negro College Fund , thurgood Marshall Foundation .

Speaker 2 30:43

I help students all the time . I don't mind helping looking at essays . I write my kids recommendation letters . So if you're that mentor , when a student comes to you . A person comes to you and say , hey , can you write a reference for me ? Stop what you're doing and write that reference , because we were once there and , you never know , we may be there again . But if you want to follow me , you can follow me on Instagram at TSURDH that's Tennessee State Registered Dental Hygienist and Facebook is Crystal Robinson , k-r-i-s-t-a-l Robinson and TikTok is TS Robinson , k-r-i-s-t-a-l Robinson and TikTok is T-S-U-R-D-H-1 . And you'll see me as my alias K-A-R-A .

Speaker 1 31:27

Not the aura .

Speaker 2 31:29

Yes , my coworkers named me that when I get out of line , sometimes they say K-A-R-A , all right .

Speaker 1 31:36

Well , this was a really great , great , great , great episode . I thank you for being on .