9. Your Dental Hygienist Might Save Your Life. Here's How with Jen Sieder, RDH

What if your dental appointment could do more than leave your teeth feeling clean and smooth? What if it could actually save your life?

In this episode of Mouthy Matters, Tosha sits down with Jennifer P. Sieder, RDH, a dental hygienist with nearly 30 years of experience, to pull back the curtain on what dental hygienists are really doing in that chair. Because most patients have no idea. They come in, get their polish, and leave without understanding the level of assessment, diagnostics, and whole-body awareness their hygienist was running the entire time.

Tosha shares the story of a patient whose dental appointment led to a cardiology referral that uncovered severe blockage. The surgeon sent a letter to the practice saying the team had saved her life. That is not a fluke. That is what happens when a hygienist is trained to listen, look, and connect the dots between what is happening in the mouth and what might be happening in the rest of the body.

Jennifer and Tosha talk about how they both found their way into dental hygiene, why the profession draws people who genuinely want to make a difference in healthcare, and what it looks like to go from a routine cleaning appointment to a full oral health assessment that checks gum tissue, blood pressure, lymph nodes, thyroid, airway, and oral cancer screening all in one visit.

If you have ever wondered what your hygienist is actually doing, or if you are someone who just shows up and hopes for the no cavity club, this episode is for you.

What you will hear in this episode:

-How Tosha and Jennifer each found their way into dental hygiene and why the profession drew them in
-Why your dental appointment is far more than a cleaning, and what hygienists are actually trained to assess
-The real story of a patient whose dental hygienist helped save her life by connecting oral and systemic health
-What oral cancer screening, airway evaluation, and blood pressure monitoring have to do with your teeth cleaning
-Why Jennifer goes into middle schools to teach kids about dental hygiene, and what questions they actually ask
-How to find a great dental practice and what to ask your hygienist at your next visit

Connect with Jennifer P. Sieder, RDH:
Instagram: @microbelinkdx
Facebook: facebook.com/microbelinkdx

Website: microbelinkdx.com

Connect with Tosha:
tosh.care | @toshardh | mouthymatters.com

Stay Awesome!
-Tosha, RDH

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only.  Information discussed is not intended for diagnosis, curing, or prevention of any disease and is not intended to replace advice given by a licensed healthcare practitioner.  Opinions from guests are their own.  This podcast and its guests may have direct or indirect financial interests associated with products mentioned.

Transcript

Welcome And What Hygienists Do

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Mouthy Matters podcast. We are here with Jennifer Sider, a dental hygienist for nearly 30 years. And today we are talking about the love of our life, dental hygiene. What in the heck is a dental hygienist? Jennifer, why did you become a dental hygienist?

SPEAKER_01 0:20

My story's a little bit different than yours. Um yeah, I actually, it was funny. How I got started is um I actually wanted to be a teacher initially. And I go to my dental hygienist. Her name's Kelly Henrick, love her to death. And she goes, What are you gonna do? And I said, I guess a teacher. She goes, Why don't you be a dental hygienist? And I said, What is that? And so she actually offered me to come back and she had a period patient. And so I sat with her that afternoon and I said, Yep, I want to do this because I knew at that time, I was a senior, I think maybe a junior or a senior in high school that I that she was really making a difference in that patient. She was coming in.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

So I think what exactly did you see or experience, considering that you before that you hadn't considered being a dental hygienist? So I would guess you didn't really know maybe at that age what what we do, um, how we're trained. You know, many people just think, well, I just go in to get my teeth cleaned so that they feel nice and smooth and shiny. What was it about that period patient that you were like, whoa, this yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

And I re I remember the exact patient. Um yeah, you know what I liked about it, honestly, it was uh it was enough health care to where Kelly was able to make a difference in that patient. So, you know, I couldn't be a nurse. I'm sure I could be, but I I just couldn't go that far in. And so this was where I could really make a difference and patients, um, because to me, everyone, of course, wants a beautiful smile. And I remember being in school and folks said, Wow, your your mouth, your smile is so pretty. And so folks noticed that. And so to may have, you know, to help someone get a beautiful, healthy smile. Um, and this guy that she had in the chair was in his 70s. Um, but he was happy about it, that he was gonna get healthy. And she talked to him about the difference that it was gonna that she was going to make in that appointment. And so that that made my decision. Uh, I want to do this. And Kelly said it's kind of hard to get into the school. And so I think there was about 300 girls that applied whenever, not girls, people that whenever I applied. And it didn't really scare me because that's what I wanted to do. So I was going to do it regardless whether I got in that year or the next year. And so, yeah, it's just it's an amazing career, and you can just make a difference. And especially now in this day and time with the oral systemic connection, all that we know that we can change, but that we can help our

Oral Systemic Connection And Comfort Care

SPEAKER_01 2:48

patients. I love that now taking blood pressure is routine. It's standard of care. It's routine. And you can take their blood pressure, put their hands in paraffin. You so you could take care of them, but also give them a spa type of treatment. And it's it's really all in one. It

Training That Goes Beyond Cleaning

SPEAKER_01 3:05

is.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

I definitely feel like I had no idea how much a dental hygienist knows and learns until I became one myself. I mean, like, I mean, my story is different than yours. From the sixth grade, I remember getting my teeth cleaned. I loved my dental hygienist. She was so sweet. I lived in this tiny little town of 1,500 people, went to the dentist every six months, had way too many cavities as a kid.

unknown 3:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

And so I was no stranger. But I always liked going there because they were so dang nice. And I just remember thinking, you know, I think I'll become a dental hygienist. And I really didn't waver too much. And my our school is similar to yours, very difficult to get in, like 30 spots for 300 applicants. So you needed great grades to really be sharp as attack. And so the hygienists that graduate, I mean, they worked hard to get to their spot. And learning so much about the body beyond anatomy and physiology, and then getting out into practice and looking at that same person's like medical history every three to six months. I mean, we can catch so much in their life. We can truly lives if we know what to look for. And it's so much more than getting your teeth cleaned.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

It is. Yeah, we're healthcare providers. I agree totally. I mean, nutrition, biology, microbiology. So what so going into um elementary and high school, I was I was an okay student. It was fine. I mean, I was B's B student, I would say. I got into dental hygiene school great A's. Like I seriously was just wow, this clicks. Give me more, give me more. And um, I remember making an A plus in A and P. And that wasn't me to make an A plus and A and P. Just because oh yeah, Matt and Physiology, because it just clicked something about it, and I just wanted more. And so um, you you really do learn everything about the body, and um, you know, especially the head especially the head and neck.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yes, I mean the amount of diagnostics that we learn, and I think that's a large disconnect when I when I talk to even my my girlfriends, the disconnect between going to get your teeth clean and what we're actually doing. And I think um, to some degree, sometimes we've almost trained people to just come in and get their teeth cleaned versus what are what is the person actually there for? Yeah, I mean, a cleaning is nice, but that is not the assessment that's preventative, proactive, could truly save or change their life. I mean, that's the really important part is to have that full evaluation, like how how how is your gum tissue health? Let's take a look at that medical history, let's see if there's anything that we can do to help you be healthier. We're we're kind of like a coach. Mm-hmm. For sure.

Dental Anxiety And Building Trust

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Well, and I think um, as a dental patient most generally is a little bit nervous to come in and especially if you've got a new dental hygienist you don't know, you sit there and you are this close to a stranger like that. And so for a patient, they get nervous. And so what they will what they do is because I feel like this always still comes back to when you were a kid, if you got a cavity, you didn't get in the no cavity club, and you were in trouble. I mean, you know how it was. You were always in trouble if you got it if you got a cavity because you were not brushing, you were, you know, not realizing now, you know, we know that sometimes people just get cavities, even if you do you probably were one of those kids. There's other things going on. Yeah, other things going on, yeah. And so we have to remember that that dental that our dental hygienist can do more that, like you said, than just a cleaning. Ask ask your dental hygienist questions and you know, because that's what that's what we're there for.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yeah. And we and we hear their stories and we get to know them so well. I mean, that's one of the things that I think I don't know if I've ever spoke to a dental hygienist that didn't love the the relationships that they form with their patients. They're such true friendships, and we just listen with a different ear. And even having new patients, I mean, I just love seeing somebody new to the practice and welcome them, welcoming them in and really hearing their story.

Life Saving Clues From The Chair

SPEAKER_00 7:02

I'll tell a quick one of one woman that really changed changed my career quite a bit. And well, I'll tell two real quick. So the first one was early career within three years, and there was a woman that came in that had really bleedy gums and she worked so hard on her home care. She spent, I mean, 20 minutes twice a day. Her mouth was so clean and she was diabetic, and she just said, you know, I just think that my diabetes is really affecting my mouth, and I don't know what to do. And when I would clean her teeth and do her what's called a periodonal maintenance, which is for somebody that's had bone loss, the structures of their of their jaw have actually eroded away due to that bacterial infection. And I remember thinking, like, her mouth is so clean, there's nothing else I can do. But the goals in my toolbox at the time was to do a deep cleaning to really get underneath there. And at the time, I didn't understand the bacterial component of it. And so after she did that deep cleaning, she went through everything. She was an A plus patient. She looked at me and because I told her that it wasn't any better and that we needed to refer her to a specialist. And she looked at me and said, But Tasha, I don't want to lose my teeth. And I remember just feeling crushed because I I was, I did everything that I that I knew how to do. Well, that certainly inspired me to figure out like, well, science doesn't always keep up with everyday healthcare. I mean, studies show us that it takes 20 to 25 years for a study to become part of a practice in healthcare in general. That's not just dentistry, just in healthcare in general. So it's not uncommon for professional not just dental professionals, but our medical professionals to not be current on all the science. I mean, it's coming out so fast. And so, fast forward into the future, when I did know what I needed to do, I had another woman and she was in her maybe early 60s and she was on disability and she said that she had very severe asthma and she would wake up in the middle of the night, she couldn't breathe. And I thought, oh my gosh, like it sounds like she's having a heart attack or something. And she was really sad because she was not, she had to go on disability and she missed her friends at work. And so as I listened to her story, to me, it didn't sound like she had asthma. And so I thought, I think you may have a heart condition. And so we made a referral to her to go see a cardiologist. And lo and behold, she'd been seeing her GP, she'd been seeing her asthma specialist, she was hospitalized multiple times, but it took her dental practice, referring her to a cardiologist to find out that she had blockage so severe that that she was just really a walking heart attack. And so she ended up having surgery. And her the surgeon sent a letter to the dental practice saying that we saved her life. And the dentist told me that no, Tasha, you saved her life. Saved her life. I love it. And she went and told all of her friends that her dentist saved and I'll save it. How amazing is that? That I mean she had so many friends come in and they were the best patients ever. Patients ever.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

We

Oral Cancer Checks And Airway

SPEAKER_01 9:54

talk a lot about gum disease, but let's not also rule out oral cancer. You know, we we have we're right there uh for 45 minutes uh with that patient or longer, minimum 45 minutes. And so we can look at all the surfaces and uh make note of any changes. And that is something that's, you know. So it whenever you do go in for your cleaning, we're really trying in dentistry to get away from cleaning, but when you do go into the cleaning appointment, it's not just a polish, it's not just a surface. We're doing, like you said, an assessment, checking for gum disease, checking for oral cancer, also checking the thyroid, the the lymph nodes, um airway the airway, exactly. So um it's it's it's more than just a pretty smile, which it is. It's a bonus a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

And there's so many spots in our mouth that we just can't see. I mean, if we thought think about our our top teeth, our top back teeth, how can you see in there? Like nobody can. So when it comes to oral cancer, I mean, we need to be palpating all over our patient's mouth, having them stick their tongue out and saying and really looking, looking deeper, looking further into there. Because again, if we see anything that's that's of concern, it quite possibly could be nothing, but gosh, wouldn't we want to find out early if it was?

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Right, right, exactly, exactly. So we have a very important job. And I love it. I love it. It is, I mean, you know, you and I both were obsessed with dental hygienists, and my husband, he always says, y'all are all alike. And um, I feel like that is because we're good people.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Um passionate. Yeah, go ahead. Is there anything else that you want that you think that people might not know about how awesome it is to be a dental hygienist?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

I

Job Shadowing And Growing The Workforce

SPEAKER_01 11:42

mean, if you've got listeners that want to, you know, are thinking about going into dental hygiene, what I would do is go to your dental practice and say, hey, can I job shadow the dental hygienist? And it happens all the time. You know that. And it's so fun. We are more than happy to to have someone job shadow and show you around. And I think that's definitely important. Do a couple, do a couple of visits and and reach out, reach out to those folks and just do it. You can get in. You may not get in that first year, but you can do it. You can.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

And Jennifer, you're so passionate about this that you even go talk to the high school or the middle school.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

The middle school, yes. So my daughter is 14 now, but they have a careers class. And so I met with the teacher and I said, Hey, you know, we're we're in need of dental hygienists. It's it's a market to where um, and the reason we are in need is more folks are starting to care even more about their teeth and coming in more frequently. And dental hygiene is a career where it's I would say mostly female. And a lot of times they take, you know, we take breaks and raise kids or so it's just sometimes there's a low in dental hygienist. So we are in need of dental hygienists. And so I said, hey, let me go and talk to the youngsters about dental hygiene. Um, and I don't know about y'all's school, but we don't have health class in medal school. It I don't know why, but they're they don't have health class. So these four kids don't really know that because I know not every one of them wants to be a dental hygienist. So what I do is spend about, I don't know, I've got maybe 40 minutes, and I spend the first half going over what a dental hygienist is and then going over dentistry. And these kids eat it up, they love it. Um, and I see these youngsters around town and they remember, hey, remember you talked about that and or talked about dental hygiene. And so um they and I say, hey, call me, I'll help you get in. I'll write you a letter, I'll do what I can to help you get into the school. And so um it's it's really it's really been really fun. In fact, I gotta go back um this last this last quarter. I think I do this session about five times. So if you're a dental hygienist listening, help me here. Go to your school and um and do your part and you know, praise about our career.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Yeah, it's fun though. I mean, it's that's a good age to educate them too, because I mean, how many teenagers just maybe don't care so much about brushing and floss and they don't understand how important it is? And truly, I mean, you know, for dental hygienists joining the industry, like you don't have to be a girl. We're finally seeing a big turn into having more guy genists out there, male hygienists out there, and we and we need them.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

They're so good. They are so good. They're so good. I love with my business, I love when I have a male hygienist as a customer. Yes, love it. Yes. Um, yeah, and and you know what's also funny, Tasha, I don't know if I've ever told you this, but when I'm at the school, you know, those kids ask me all kinds of questions, like um about different drinks. So we go into um, you know, a lot of them are drinking Celsius, you know, and and whatnot. I'm like, e as a child, like I don't, you know, but um caffeine. But um, you know, they don't know these things that it, you know, it takes 20 minutes for a cavity to form and you know when to brush. So it is it is so fun to see their lights go off. Yeah so much.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

So I mean, even if thinking about dental hygiene, it's such a rewarding field. And as a perk, we have some pretty good hours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

You can really kind of sort of make your own hours. Like if you've got a s what I like is if you do have a sick kid, you can call your patients and reschedule. So and it's it's it's I don't it's it's an amazing career. It is.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

And it's it is dent dentistry, is there we're I mean, because we're so heavy female when with the hygienist, we have kids, we have families, like we all we understand where our patients are coming from. Like we've been right where they are.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

And you you can find a good practice. There's so many good dental practices out there to work for. And even if you want to be an assistant, if even if there's somebody that wants to be an assistant, I love the assistance. Me too. I mean, we could not, we were hygienist, of course, with each other, but we couldn't have done our job without the assistance. We need them, they're so valuable. Bad, they're so valuable.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

I mean, you treat them like it takes all of us there at the demo office.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

It takes all of us, yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

We need each other.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah, we need each other. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

I love it. My pleasure. Well,

Contact Info And Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 16:13

if anyone has any questions about Dell hygiene, you clearly know exactly uh where to find Jen and I. And we are happy to offer any information that we have in our brains to help you decide if you want to be a hygienist. Or if you're just wondering what the heck your hygienist is doing in your mouth, like shoot me an email.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Yeah, we're also on Instagram, or actually on my Facebook on microblink dx, so m-c-r-o-b-e-l-i-n-k-d-x.com. On Facebook, I keep it patient-oriented. So that is a place they could go to. The Instagram is more professional oriented, but the Facebook is patient-oriented. And then on your Instagram, you have a lot of back, you have a lot of microscope slides.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Yep, yep. And on my website, there's a lot of patient oriented information on there as well. Okay, good.

unknown 16:59

Good.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

This is fun. Say I love it. I love it. Well, thank you for joining me again, Jen. I'm sure we'll do it again until then. We'll later. See ya. Bye bye.