Hygienist Concerns – Thursday, April 30, 2020 1:45PM

The news of the day is that while many practices are working toward reopening in the near future, the hygienist community is pushing back amidst virus fears.  We’re hearing that the hygiene association is meeting today with the likely goal of extending their return date.  While searching the internet to try to confirm that fact, a much more useful article surfaced.  The article linked below from the Practice Whisperer contains calm, reasonable analysis.  Maybe it will be of some help to you. Here is an excerpt:

“What we must do during such an uncertain period is to step back and understand / weigh the competing risks, then forge a path forward.  Seems to me there are three “health risks” we must assess and balance:

  1. Dental Health of our patients and the community we serve (our oath as providers) 
  2. Team Health (our oath to each other)
  3. Office Health (source of our jobs)

You can think of these things like the heart, brain, and lungs of our professional life.  When all 3 are healthy and in alignment, life is good.  When one is suffering, the whole body suffers.  If one dies, they all die.  And this is the part we need to remember, it does not matter how healthy you keep two of the parts if you let one part die, all 3 die.

So, let’s suspend a focus on either the hygienist or the dentist, and instead look at each part of the overall system we are all part of.”

Read the full article here.  https://practicewhisper.com/hygienists-vs-dentists-take-a-step-back-instead/