Dental Hygienist Experience

I remember clearly as a young boy, going to my father’s work, to visit for a routine checkup and people asking me, “are you gonna clean teeth like your daddy?” I would look at them with the utmost confusion, as to why I would want to put my fingers in another person’s mouth. All my life I had been raised around the dental field with my dad asking me every morning and every night if I brushed my teeth and flossed, or standing right behind me watching the brushing strokes to make sure I wasn’t cutting the cleaning short. As a kid I did as I was told but it was never my dream to be a dentist, dental hygienist, or be involved in the dental field in any way. When I was in eighth grade, I fell in love with history and archaeology, and my dad as one
The usual people are outside on their morning cigarette break as they say to me in broken English, “ah back again for more teeth! Take them all. I want new ones”. I smile and say good morning, looking for my participant. After finding Carlos, my survey participant for the day, we head over to the sunroom to begin the survey on his perceptions on oral health, his hygienic routines, general health, and demographic information. What Carlos told me, and many other participants told me this summer, only offered a small window into what was going on with dental care and what was being done to provide services to those who cannot access it effectively? Was their barred access due to their language, ethnicity, income, or something else entirely? My father, a dental hygienist and educator at UConn Health, informed me about the correlation of dental care and overall health, and this summer I saw what he meant in full force. I saw many who had poor dental care combined with high cholesterol/blood pressure, diabetes, mental disorder, cancer, and at least one type of heart procedure done to them. Nutrition and education seemed to be a theme that I observed as well. Simply doing surveys, however, did not allow me to paint a full