Claire Louise Online

I extracted some audio from this week’s episode of Your Dental Besties podcast (available on Spotify) 😉

The point of this clip is simple: I choose to be a dental hygienist. I don’t want to be a therapist. And that’s OK.

And honestly? I think that’s worth saying out loud.

There’s sometimes an assumption that if you’re ambitious, want to progress or want to take your career further, the “next step” is therapy.

But hygiene and therapy are two separate things.

Me personally? I LOVE being a hygienist.

I love prevention, behaviour change, psychology, optimisation, systemic health, patient education, periodontal care and helping people understand their oral health in a way that actually makes sense to them, or, better still, encompasses the bigger picture.

Could I have trained as a therapist? Absolutely.
Did I think about it? Yes.
Did I choose to? No.

And that doesn’t mean I don’t value therapy.

Therapists play an incredibly, incredibly (I feel so strongly I said it twice 😂) IMPORTANT role within dentistry. It just isn’t the path I want for myself.

I think we need to get better at recognising that there are different ways to build an amazing career.

You don’t have to become something else to progress.
You don’t have to change your title to be successful.

Being a hygienist is being a cornerstone of dentistry.

We need to push the potential of hygienists and continue progressing our field. Because it’s an exciting time to be a hygienist, IF we keep pushing what hygiene can be.

Hygiene, done as it should be, is pivotal to all other areas of dentistry.

I always say: put me and a therapy model together and we’d be a force to be reckoned with.

Optimisation meets stabilisation. 🙌🏼

This isn’t about one being better than the other.

It’s about recognising that both have value and choosing the path that’s right for you.

Much love ❤️

Did you know we are on you tube. Go to Your Dental Besties and don’t forget like, follow, share and subscribe if you enjoy catching up

… a 62-year-old female patient presented with a history of frequent oral ulceration, with lesions typically healing within a couple of weeks.

My initial thought was whether these could be related to trauma from her implant-retained prosthesis. However, on review, the ulcers were healing and the location did not suggest a direct traumatic cause from the prosthesis.

This led to a wider discussion around the factors that can contribute to recurrent ulceration, including:

• Local trauma and irritation
• Nutritional deficiencies (such as iron, B12 and folate)
• Stress
• Hormonal changes associated with menopause

The menopause conversation is an interesting one. Reduced oestrogen can influence the oral environment, including salivary function and mucosal health. For some patients, increased dryness and changes in tissue resilience and collagen synthesis may mean the oral tissues are more susceptible to friction and minor trauma.

This doesn’t mean menopause is the cause of oral ulcers, but it is another piece of the puzzle when we are looking at the whole patient.

I advised the patient to discuss a blood test with her GP to rule out possible deficiencies, and we discussed monitoring the ulcers and seeking further assessment if the pattern changes or any ulcer fails to heal.

As clinicians, sometimes the most valuable thing we can do is pause and ask:
“What else could be contributing here?”

Because the mouth doesn’t exist in isolation

The GBT summit is 2nd October in london. Use code SDA10 to get a discount on your ticket price. Ben and I will be discussing women’s health and effects on oral health. I hope to see you there

Clinic catch up Wednesday looks a little different today. The wonderful Amanda worked with me today as nurses are off on holidays (I also love that they value my work and want to make sure I always have a nurse, which I know it is how it should be, but I’m so grateful that the practice manager put herself forward and worked with me for that reason. That is team work 🧡). She then reminded me how I started working at . Incase it helps anyone else I thought I’d mention it because it isn’t the normal way to get a job

Clinic catch up Wednesday. Basically me rambling on at the camera.

Have you ever thought of side referring to a colleague? Ofcourse the preferred pathway would be referring to a perio specialist or DWSI, but in cases where this isn’t possible for whatever reason, another option is referring to a colleague for another set of eyes and a clinical opinion. Faye has worked alongside periodontal specialists and is incredibly skilled, so I didn’t hesitate to recommend a referral to her as another option for Step 3. To be clear though- this is not an alternative treatment modality to the periodontal specialist/DWSI. That option should always come first. They are simply put, another clinician who may be able to help manage residual disease/sites that have not responded as expected after a couple of courses of treatment.