I had a great Zoom meeting this morning with Liisa Moore, who is an Orthodontic Dental Hygienist, a QA Coach with us and our Ortho Trainer.

I wanted to share a bit of her story, our meeting, and how we met, as I think it will inspire many to have you 'Think Outside the Tray' and look at possible opportunities that are out there!

Liisa will be presenting in the Dental Hygiene Quarterly 2023 Fall Edition and is also presenting at Spectrum, Friday, October 20th. Her Dental Hygiene Quarterly presentation is on an Intro to Orthodontics and her Spectrum presentation is on health and wellness and what we can do in our op to maintain our energy and feel good at the end of a clinical day.

She will also be presenting 3 Ortho programs at rdhu this Fall: Orthodontic Fundamentals for the Dental Hygienist (2-day program at rdhu on September 16th and 17th), Advanced Orthodontics for the Dental Hygienist and Clear Aligner Therapy; Aligners, Attachments, and AI on October 14th and 15th. The latter are two new hands-on programs at rdhu.

One of the slides in Liisa's presentation is on Investing in Yourself, both Professional and Personal Development. She shares her story about how she was (and still is) a rdhu member. She invested $500 on a Quality Assurance Package with Beth Parkes. They spent one year together getting Liisa's QA records ready to submit as she was being audited that year. Over the course of the year, Beth saw some qualities in Liisa and knew she had a passion for education and sharing her knowledge and skills with her colleagues. This transformed into Liisa putting together programs for rdhu! She is a lifelong learner and has a thirst for learning new things. She is supported by the Orthodontist she works with and her team as well. She has written for Oral Hygiene and was really excited to have her first article published. She shared how she went to work one day and her Orthodontist had the Oral Hygiene Journal open on his desk and was so happy for her. Doesn't that just elevate her as a professional in her practice as well?! She is currently working on her second article. All this while working 4-days a week as a clinical orthodontic dental hygienist! I am just so darn proud of her to see how much she has grown over the last few years.

She mentioned that some of her colleagues thought she shouldn't bother spending the money on a QA Coach, that she could figure it out herself. At the end of our meeting today, she said that if she hadn't put herself out there and invested in herself, she most likely wouldn't be doing what she is doing today!

Maybe this means attending a dental hygiene conference and networking with other dental hygienists. Perhaps it is sending out a message to someone who you would like to meet while at the conference or meet for a coffee. Or it might be attending the soiree at night even when you are tired and would rather go to bed. It could mean participating in hands-on programs to learn a new skill. Whatever it might be, it is all about investing in yourself and putting yourself out there. You never know what will become of it!

Thank you for reading! Please take a look below for upcoming courses, career postings and our partner specials.

Have a great week!

Kathleen