On my second post I promised to write about personalities of the staff in dental practices and how they may affect the dental practice and the treatment given to the patient. I’m going to fulfil this promise today. And on my next post. And the next.
I am going to write a series of posts about this topic. Each post will have a viewpoint of one dental professional. Today it will be the hygienist’s.
I’m Not Going to Play with You
As long as there have been dental hygienists there have been dentists who are afraid of losing their living because of them. These dentists either refer only the simple scale and polish to the hygienist or do not refer at all.
They treat the patients with advanced gum disease themselves as it requires more visits. More visits equals more money per patient. And the money is the only motive they have for this silly way of practicing the dentistry.
The problem with these kinds of dentists is that most often the hygienist would have better skills to treat the advanced gum disease than the dentist and this is revealed when the patient sees the hygienist six months later. Often there is subgingival (invisible) calculus still left even though it should have been removed on the first course of treatment. Plus the patient has no clue how to clean her teeth effectively.
Big Ego
It is a fact that the oral and maxillofacial surgeons have a big ego. Or to precise – they have a huge ego. But in my opinion they have all the right to have one. They NEED one to be able to perform all the talent requiring hocus pocus on patients mouth, jaw and face. Plus they don’t use their ego against co-workers or the patients.
But when a dentist has a big ego it rarely is attractive or talent enhancing. I will give you an example from a real life.
A dentist does a check-up for a patient. Then the patient sees a hygienist for a scale and polish. Whilst scaling with curettes the hygienist notices there are potential cavities in three different sites and she checks the patient’s x-rays. The x-rays confirm the suspicion.
The hygienist checks the dentist’s notes for the check-up visit to see if there is a treatment plan to fix these cavities. There isn’t. It appears as if the dentist has missed the cavities when doing the check-up.
The hygienist sends the patient back to see the dentist. When the dentist sees the hygienist’s message about the cavities he acts as if the patient has come in unnecessarily.
“I’m sure there’s nothing there”
he says to the patient. He quickly checks the sites with a mirror, sighs and continues by saying
“One of these suspected cavities is a borderline cavity. We could do a filling for that so that you didn’t come this far for nothing. The other two we can still monitor.”
The hygienist sees a patient for another scale and polish couple of weeks later. She checks the dentist’s notes and realises that only one cavity has been filled. She asks the patient if the dentist has asked her to come back to have the other two to be done. Negative.
The hygienist is baffled. She checks again with her curette the other two suspected cavities. The instrument goes between the filling and a tooth and sinks deep into a soft area – it is a cavity for sure.
The hygienist decides to ask another dentist to come and have a look there and then. The dentist confirms the two remaining cavities and recommends the patient to have them filled.
At this point the patient is very confused. Who is not doing their job properly? Who to believe?
This was just one example. There are plenty more but I won’t write them down as I am not writing a novel. But my point is that when a lower ranking dental professional finds something the almighty dentist didn’t the ego goes before the patient’s best interest.
Not good. Not good dentistry at all and everyone who recognise themselves from this should be ashamed.
But why the dentist did not notice the cavities even from the x-rays? That is completely another story.
Hygienist’s Difficult Role
It is tough to be a hygienist. They often have skills to make the same diagnosis as the dentists but only the dentists have a right to make one. The hygienist must always remember to add a question mark after their findings or the hell will break loose and she is quickly put back to her place by the dentist who kindly reminds her that she has no right to make a diagnosis.
And when she finds something that the dentist missed she will be between rock and a hard place. Especially if the dentist does not agree with her because of the big ego problem. The confused patient often thinks the dentist was right which makes the situation even more difficult.
But the time is on hygienist’s side. She has recorded every finding on the patient’s dental records – with the question marks! She has recorded that she has consulted a dentist. Sooner or later the cavity (or whatever her finding was) will get worse. There will be pain. Or the crown will come off as the cavity has eaten the tooth under it and perhaps so much so that it is beyond repair.
The dentist can only hope the patient do not file a complaint.
Lonely Rider in a Cupboard under the Stairs
Another side of being hygienist is the fact that they are often quite alone in the practice. It is often so that the practice has only one hygienist. This means they don’t have peer support in the practice. Peer support is something that every dental professional would need.
Also the hygienist is given the oldest dental unit in the practice and the smallest room, the one without a window. Or perhaps the room under the stairs. Not sure if the Harry Potter fate has happened for real – perhaps it was just sarcasm from a hygienist that I once knew?
Conclusion
Why do the dentists feel so threatened by hygienists? Why is it hard to be wrong or admit that you have missed something? Why do they need to feel and let others know that dentists are at the top of the command chain?
I’m afraid I do not have the answers. One dentist once said to me that the dentists are non-qualifiers for medical school which means that the dentistry was not their first choice of profession. Are these kinds of dentists letting everyone else suffer for their disappointment?
I will remind you that not all the dentist are like this of course. But in my current workplace two out of four dentists are. That’s 50%. That’s a lot!
I hope practice owners will start to value their hygienist more than before. And get them the brand new dental unit, a saddle chair (or whatever chair the hygienist prefers) and curettes the hygienist wants so that there would be even a small chance to work in an ergonomic position during the treatment. After all they bring in steady flow of cash with very little expenses.
And dear dentists, we are all equal human beings no matter what our profession is.
You might also like these posts:
Part II: Just Another Day at the Office
Part III: I’m Sorry but I Did Not Get Qualified So That I Can Make Coffee for You
Dental Revelations 