Good Morning Saipan

Early Tuesday morning Crystal and I went live on Harry's Radio show 103.9 to promote National Dental Hygiene Awareness Month for the month of October. I was a bit nervous considering you never really know what Harry will ask you! Its good though because he keeps you guessing and I have to say that he's very professional on air! Needless to say we had a great time talking about the importance of proper oral hygiene and coming in regularly for dental checks every six months. We also discussed topics like how periodontal gum disease is linked to systemic diseases like Diabetes, Cardiovascular disease, Stroke, Low term prebirth babies, and Pulmonary disease. Your mouth is truly a window of your health. Hope we got the point across. Of course we had a couple of minutes towards the end to talk about diving as well.

Anyway I just realized that I have been a Registered Dental Hygienist for four years! Holy Cow! Time has flown by and I can't believe I have been in this profession for that long. I have learned so much about life and people in this profession. Many times I have taken the role as a counselor in the chair where people would vent about anything from marriage, work, and real life concerns. Personal discussions don't ever leave my dental office. Its amazing how much people will share with you though. I may not offer advice but I do have great ears=)

Monday Madness

I had a great weekend but more on that later. Mondays seem crazier than any other day of the week at work. Here’s my first patient of the week. On some of my patients I take before and after pictures to show them the progress they have made. Oh and I also post to show my family and friends back home that I am working HARD and not just on a two year long vacation in paradise!!






It’s another fine example of my typical Betel nut and periodontal challenged dental patient in Saipan. Looks scary huh? I’m not grossed out at all since most of my patients look like this anyway. I like working with patients like this because you get to see the progress they go through as you work with them. After the stain removal I plan to do four quadrants of scaling and root planing with anesthetic. There’s a lot of bone loss though =( Hopefully this patient will respond well to the treatment otherwise its off to the Gum specialist they go.

Every October is National Dental Hygiene Awareness month and we are trying to focus on educating the public on the health risks of Periodontal (gum) Disease and the systemic implications. Fortunately I get to have some radio airtime on the Harry Blaylock show in October to talk about the health risks of Periodonatal (Gum) disease and why seeing your dentist and dental hygienist regularly can save your life.

Did you know that 75 % off Americans have some form of Periodontal (gum) Disease and don’t even know it? I’ve been reading up on a lot of studies that show a strong correlation between Gum disease and certain conditions like Heart Disease, Diabetes, and respiratory ailments. A lot of these health problems exist on Saipan. The other condition we always check for is oral cancer since Saipan has a lot of Betel nut and tobacco chewers. You'd be surprised how many cases of Oral Cancer go undiagnosed. Its scary.

More exciting news! I’m leaving this rock island for San Francisco for a week in September. I can’t wait! I’ll be attending the American Dental Association Annual Session to take some continuing education courses to maintain my RDH license. Dentists and Dental Hygienists fly in from all over the world to attend this huge convention! Besides meeting new people and seeing the guest speaker, Lance Armstrong at the convention . . . I can’t wait to hang out in downtown SF! Plenty to see and do in the bay area.