79 I Myofunctional Therapy Training for Dental Hygienists: Why You're Already Ahead

Are you a dental hygienist who has been sitting on the idea of myofunctional therapy, telling yourself you're not ready, not clinical enough, not the right fit?

Hi friend,

You are not starting over. You are adding something to the toolbox, and that is a very different thing.

In this episode, I am breaking down exactly why dental hygienists are in a uniquely powerful position when they add myofunctional therapy to their skill set. The anatomy knowledge you have built over years in the op? That transfers. The way you communicate with patients, build trust fast, explain complex things simply, motivate behavior change in a 45-minute window? That transfers too. Your clinical eye, your documentation instincts, your ability to walk into a room and read a face? All of it transfers. 

What doesn't transfer is the belief that starting something new means starting from zero. You are not starting from zero. You are starting from years of clinical experience that most people who want to do this work spend months trying to build. The only real gap is the formal myofunctional therapy training itself, and that has a very clear, very manageable solution.

I also talk about why right now is the time, not because I am trying to manufacture urgency, but because the profession is genuinely shifting. The doctors who dismissed myofunctional therapy are being replaced by airway-focused practitioners who are actively looking for trained therapists to refer to and collaborate with. The tide has turned, and the hygienists who make this move now are getting in before it gets crowded.

This episode is for the burned-out, bored dental hygienist who knows she cannot do this forever and is finally ready to figure out what comes next.

Grab your ☕coffee and your courage — and let's dive in!

Xo,

💙 Carmen

🌐 The Profitable Myofunctional Therapist™ 

https://theprofitablemyofunctionaltherapist.com

Transcript

Burnout And The Permission Trap

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Maybe you've been sitting on the idea of myofunctional therapy for months, maybe even longer. Maybe you're burned out, maybe your wrists are fried, and maybe you have Googled alternative jobs for dental hygienists more than once, more than once in the last 24 hours, maybe. But every time you get close to making a move to get your training, you convince yourself that you're not ready, that you're not the right fit, you're not clinical enough, you're not entrepreneurial enough, and you wait and you wait and you wait for permission, but it's never going to come from somebody else. It has to come from you. So by the end of this episode, you are going to understand exactly why your dental hygiene background gives you a real head start in myofunctional therapy training and what your first step looks like. If you're a burned out, bored dental hygienist who knows that you can't do this forever, or you've already taken myofunctional therapy training but feel stuck on how to actually start, grow, or simplify your business, welcome, my friend. You're in the right place. I'm Carmen, a dental hygienist who once sat exactly where you are: overworked, physically tired, mentally done, knowing that there had to be more, and wanting the fastest, simplest, most organized path forward with someone holding my hand along the way. This podcast is for women who don't want more information. They want transformation. They want clarity, consistent clients, predictable income. Without building a business that takes over their life, they also want support while they do it. So if you're ready to stop spinning, start moving, and finally make sense of what comes next, grab your coffee and your courage, my friend. Let's build a business that works for your life, not one that runs it, so that you can build a life that you're genuinely bonkers about because that's my superpower. Well, hey there, friend, and welcome back to the episode. Now, I have no idea why you're here, but I know you're here for a reason. And maybe you have been sitting on this myofunctional therapy thing for a long time. Maybe it's just new to you. Maybe you found out about myofunctional therapy somewhere, like maybe a colleague mentioned it. Maybe you fell down the ever deep YouTube rabbit hole at 11 p.m. and you just started clicking around and you discovered that maybe this is something for you. Then you got really excited about it. And then after that, you talked yourself out of it because you thought that learning something new meant starting over. Now, a lot of you guys in my community and in my sphere, it blows my mind. But you guys have eight, 10, 15, 20, 30 years in dental hygiene, which does blow my mind. Because if you know anything about me, I got to year 16 and I could not handle it anymore. So a lot of people,

Why You Feel Drawn To This

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when they think about getting into myofunctional therapy, they think that they're starting over. And that is really hard for a stenal hygienist because we're type A plus personality as it is, and we're already good at what we do. So starting with something new is kind of scary. So what happens is you talk yourself out of it. And then here's what I find. If you're listening to this IRL in real life, it is June. It is the heat of summer. And now is when I start to see a lot of your guys' interests pick back up for myofunctional therapy because let's face it, you would rather be living the life that you get to design around your business rather than putting on your scrubs and going to a job every day. No matter how much you love hygiene, it's just a fact. It would be much funner to have that life first business than to be going to a job. Okay. Just gonna say it. So that's what we are talking about today. Um, dental hygienists are in a unique position in that when they learn myofunctional therapy, they're not starting over. You're adding something to the toolbox, which I think um is super exciting, super uh helpful. It helps your patients' lives and it also can help your life too. So that's what we are talking about today. So let me see how many things I have. I think I probably have five or six things that we're gonna talk about on why myofunctional therapy training for dena hygienists makes so much sense. So let's just get into it. First of all, it's in your scope of practice, okay? Um, speech therapist, dental hygienist, dentist. Now, some other allied practitioners are doing it. Um, I know chiropractors, I know physical therapists, I know some naturopaths that are getting into it because it changes lives. But let's talk about you. Yes, the the American Dental Hygiene Association has it listed as part of your scope of practice. So why would you not? Right? That's number one. The next one most dental hygienists do not work five days a week, okay? And if you are, then my friend, you definitely want to learn myofunctional therapy so you can quit working like an ox, right? Um, okay, so most of you guys don't work five days a week. So you have white space on your calendar to be able to build the side hustle. So I always tell people, you don't ever just go, oh, no hygiene. Now I'm gonna be a myofunctional therapist because it doesn't really work like that. However, the gas

Why Myofunctional Therapy Fits Hygiene

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and the break, the gas and the break. So you're putting on a little bit of the gas to start building your business. So if you're not working full-time as a dental hygienist, meaning Monday through Friday, that gives you a step up. Okay. So the other thing is, is it also allows you to build that business without leaving the safety net of your paycheck. So that's good. Um, next, uh, dental hygienists already understand all the anatomy stuff. Makes it super easy. Uh, communication. So your communication with patients, you already have the relationship with them. You're already talking with them, you're already telling them what you see in their mouth. This just um, this communication skill transfers very nicely, but you just it has just a little bit different of a twist. That's it. So you're already good at communicating. Another thing is that you already know how to assess, right? So when you come into myofunctional therapy and you're assessing function, you're assessing the mouth, how the face looks, all of these pieces of the puzzle, which of course you have from clinical training, but that's what makes it so fun. I love it when I go to do an exam and I've got their paperwork here and I've got their pictures here. And I look at their pictures, and I can in my mind, I can create the story that I expect to see on their paperwork. Or if I look at their paperwork, I can create the story in my mind of what I expect their face to look like. And I don't mean like brown hair, blue eyes. I mean I expect based on what I'm seeing as their symptom snapshot on their paperwork, I it kind of gives me an idea of am I gonna see a long, narrow face? Am I gonna see a high vaulted palette? Am I gonna see um tired-looking eyes? Am I going to see a tongue tie? Okay, now, yes, I know you identify tongue ties based on appearance or based on function, not based on appearance, but sometimes, my friend, there's low-hanging fruit. And if you've looked at as many tongue ties as I have, they're pretty obvious. Okay. So I can look at somebody's symptoms and then expect what I'm gonna see in the mouth as far as a tongue tie. Um, crowded teeth, vertical jaw angle. I can look at somebody and say, mouth breather, mouth breather, low posture tongue, mouth breather, mouth breather. Okay. So you already know how to do that. So you have the clinical eye, um, you know how to document, you know how to communicate, you know how to assess, you know how to do all of this stuff, which makes it just that much easier for you. Now, the other thing is, is I think that timing is important here. So the reason that I think this that I wanted to talk about this in this podcast is because now is the time. Not only is it easy for you to add the skills, but now is the time because we're kind of seeing the the turn of the tides, if you will. The older, more antiquated doctors, they're selling their practices, they're retiring, they're getting out of it. So these are the doctors who aren't going to really be cutting edge. These are the ones who are gonna really poo-poo myofunctional therapy. And they're being replaced with doctors. And perhaps maybe some of you guys are working for these doctors who are encouraging you to get into myofunctional therapy because these new cutting edge doctors, they're learning from some of the best. They're going to take courses with Dr. Zoghi. Okay, they're studying at the Breathe Institute. They're they're associated with the AAPMD. So there is so much conversation going on these days between the

The Industry Shift Making It Timely

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left hand, which we'll say the doctors, the right hand, which is like the dentist, when we talk about sleep medicine, sleep disordered breathing, airway focused orthodontists. And it is so exciting because you can't go to a conference without hearing about it. So, in addition to all these other reasons why it makes sense for you to add that uh myofunctional therapy to your skill set, this is a biggie. Okay. So you don't work full time. Most of you guys aren't working five days a week. So you have free time. You're not starting over. You already have the communication skills, you already have the assessment skills. For crying out loud, you have the brains, you can figure this stuff out. You just need to start by getting your clinical education. Okay, I can help you with that with learn myofunctional therapy in 60 days. And a lot of you guys wonder why just 60 days? And the reason is is because you get to choose how long the 60 days is, but it's there for a reason. I want to give you some guardrails so that you're not still trying to learn the skill six months from now, a year from now, because I wholeheartedly believe that myofunctional therapy has to be put to use. You've got to get the car and park or in drive so that you can start to have conversations, so you can get more confident, so you can start to see things, so you can make referrals, so you can help people. So important. So you got to get that clinical skill. Um, but the reason I want it to just be 60 days or as short as possible is because then I'm gonna teach you the business part of it. But I don't want to overwhelm you with the business stuff. Hey, here's how you build a website, here's how you structure it,

60 Days To Build Real Momentum

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here's how you do SEO, here's how you build a Google page, here's how you go tell Google, hey, I'm open for business, send people to me. Here's who I work with, here's what my package looks like, all of this stuff. You got to have the clinical stuff first. So I hope that excites you. I was really excited to uh do this episode just because, like I said, it's summer and so many of you guys are saying, Hey, I don't really like this full-time going to work, putting scrubs on gig that I'm having to do in the summer. What would life look like if I had a little bit more freedom? What if I could be more present with my kids during the summer? What if I was able to control how much I worked and what my hours were and all of that stuff? So now is the time. So, what are you waiting for? Regardless of where you're at, the very best thing for you to do is to book your unstuck call. We're gonna have a conversation, see where you're at, where you want to go, how I'm gonna help you get there. We're gonna answer all the things. So let's land this plane. And I want to tell you, wherever you're listening to this, wherever you're watching it, grab that link, book your get unstuck call so that next summer you can be living a life that you are bonkers about. That's a wrap, my friend. I will see you soon where we will be back talking more, starting, growing, simplifying your myofunctional therapy business. I'll see you then. I hope you loved today's episode, friend. I pray that it lifted you up, motivated you, and taught you something. If so, would you stop right now and go to Apple Podcasts and leave us a review? And lastly, make sure you've joined the profitable myofunctional therapist Facebook community. Links to all the goodies can be found wherever you're listening to this podcast. That's it for now.

Book Your Unstuck Call

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Cheering you on, my friend, and we'll chat soon.