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Dental Bun Podcast
Embrace the sassy, classy and messy bits of dentistry with the perfect blend of life and work wisdom.
Dental Bun Podcast
Navigating New Opportunities in Dental Hygiene with Cheryl Calmis RDH, BS, MEd
This episode features Cheryl Calmis, a dental hygienist with 35 years of experience, who shares her journey of evolving from clinical practice to writing and education. Cheryl emphasizes the importance of embracing new technology and networking to overcome burnout, encouraging dental professionals to explore diverse career paths within the industry.
• Cheryl shares her 35-year journey in dentistry
• Discusses the impact of technology on dental hygiene practice
• Highlights her transition from clinical to writing, speaking engagements and working as a clinical educator for Waterpik.
• Talks about the importance of networking within dental associations
• Encourages hygienists to explore career opportunities outside clinical setting
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Thank you guys so much for joining us today. My guest is Cheryl Colman. She is a dental hygienist that has had the opportunity in her 35 years of dentistry to work in several different parts of dentistry, and that is why she's my guest today. She is also going to do a continuing education course for the DEN Study Club. I am so excited to have her today, ms Cheryl Comis.
Speaker 2:Hi, janice, thanks for inviting me.
Speaker 1:I'm so happy to have you. I have people that listen to this podcast that are mainly hygienists, and I definitely want to dive into how you got started, because there are so many hygienists out in this world that are struggling with burnout. They're trying to figure out what they can do to elevate their career and how to just stay interested in our profession. And with your profession. You've done many things. You've been a clinical hygienist, you've been a writer, you've added specialties into your learning as a clinician, and so I want you to review with us on your career and how you got started as a hygienist.
Speaker 2:I'd be happy. I've been a hygienist for gosh. This is my 35th year and I do still practice two days a week, primarily in periodontics, which I absolutely love, and I've been very fortunate in my career. The dentists that I've worked for, the periodontists that I work for, have been very progressive in the types of equipment and training that they've brought into the practice and allowed me to participate in practice and allowed me to participate in. So you know that's been really enlightening for me because even after 35 years I'm always learning. I always embrace learning new equipment. So you know I do voice activated periodontal charting.
Speaker 2:I've been licensed to use a diode laser since I think 2006 was the first time I got my first training on a diode laser. So you know that was very fun. I think that was probably the early days of when hygienists were actually learning how to use a diode laser. So I've embraced that into my practice. In addition to that, I've also done research with that laser. Laser company actually reached out to the office that I was working in at the time and I got to participate in a research study project for a laser company, which was very fun and fantastic that I thought I'd never be involved with, in addition to that, just the plethora of different types of equipment and knowledge base that I've been able to acquire. That really keeps me energized with doing clinical dental hygiene and also makes me really appreciative of what kind of technology is actually out there that can be utilized in dentistry and periodontics where I work.
Speaker 1:For you when you talk about the office that you work at. You are one of the hygienists that most people hope that they get the opportunity to have a business owner pour into them and want them to like expand their knowledge. Was that something that when you accepted this job? Was that something that you you accepted this job? Was that something that you knew was going to happen? Did they already have the technologies there, or did you get that seat at the table and kind of encourage those processes?
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's the latter. When I first joined the periodontal practice, I'd only been a hygienist for nine years, you know, kind of relatively new, and I'd worked in general dentistry and I thought, well, I want to try periodontics, why not? So it was a very still a very old fashioned office when I started there and slowly the dentist the periodontist, you know said hey, I'd really like to have you start using lasers, what do you think? And I'm like sure, because I had used it previous, just not in this practice. So then we got very involved with using lasers and then he said well, what about voice activated charting? So I'm the type of person where you throw something at me. I'm like, hey, I'm absolutely for it.
Speaker 2:The more things I can learn makes my job more interesting for me. So it's really not routine to be doing the same things over and over again. Having new tools, new skills, new equipment makes it more interesting and also, in addition, I think, makes me a better clinician. Because, like you said, patients want to be in this office. They want to be in an office that has cutting edge technology and clinicians that are able to use this technology on them, because that's what people are looking for. They're looking for the best technology, the best treatments for their oral health.
Speaker 1:So do you find that I also work in like a high technology office? Do you feel and this is, if you agree, I feel that because I'm so open to learning and then, of course, the doctor is on board I feel that we're better partners with patient care, Like we're going to like be able to visit with one another. The trust is there. Trust is there, you know. It allows us to have a lot more autonomy and open communication with the doctor because we're part of that learning process, as opposed to, you know, kind of going against it or really not wanting to expand our ability to care for our patients.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, yeah, that is a great point for our patients. Absolutely, yeah, that is a great point. Yeah, I just I do really feel that I am not just an employee, not just a dental hygienist employee, but I'm also a collaborator with a dentist. When he comes in to do the exam, of course, I give him a handoff of what patient I've discussed today, my findings, and then, yeah, myself, the periodontist and the patient get together and then we discuss what happened during the appointment. So, yeah, it really does kind of make me feel like, yes, that I am more of a collaborator than just the cleaning lady. I'm going to clean their teeth and then I'm out the door or waiting for the next patient. So, absolutely, it is a good feeling of that collaboration.
Speaker 1:How many practices? Because you've been in dentistry for 35 years, how many dental practices have you worked in?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, I tend to not skip around too much. Maybe eight I don't know if that's a lot or a little, but Well no, because you've been.
Speaker 1:Yeah, once you get out of hygiene school, you're kind of putting your feelers out.
Speaker 1:You don't really know what you're needing and a lot of times the reason I had asked you about you know whether or not the technology was something that was just available or you kind of had to visit and see if it was a possibility is that when people are looking for a job whether they're in the beginning of their career or a different part of the season of their career they really need to be aware of what type of growth is going to happen for them when they say yes to the job.
Speaker 1:And so I do find that in the beginning of our career we're figuring out what it is we actually want. We don't realize that we You're just cleaning teeth, you are just a cleaning lady, that's it. And of course there's production demands and things like that and you really can't do any much more because they're not giving you the tools to do that. But then also, when you find those other practices that have those technologies, producing for the doctor and providing care for the patient is so much easier because you have all these extra tools to use that you're excited about.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, yeah, and it makes more interesting as a clinician to be able to have these tools. So, yeah, I think it's been about eight different offices that I've been at, so but the last, I would say 20 plus years I've been in periodontics because that's my home. That's where I feel most comfortable. I don't know if comfortable is right. Where I feel most at home, where I feel like I'm doing the most good for my patients, is periodontics.
Speaker 1:And it's also a good way for people to recognize you have had the experience of working at eight different offices and you have those clinicians early on that maybe they were really excited to practice and things are souring and it's okay. There are many places to work at until you find the right one. So with your career as a clinician, you did actually decide that you wanted more. You wanted a little bit more than just being in periodontal health space as a clinician and you pivoted into doing what so I pivoted into doing professional writing, which I started in 2009.
Speaker 2:I was looking for something else to do besides dental hygiene. At the time my son was young. I was just practicing two days a week, but I still wanted to still have my foot into dental hygiene, but maybe not practice a full day. So I started to do professional writing. I found a company that was looking for content creation content creators. They put together websites for not only dentists but physicians, and at first I found myself writing articles on dental procedures.
Speaker 2:I wrote an article on xylitol, for example, was one of my early articles actually explaining to the consumers what periodontal charting is, what are the numbers mean. And then later on they had me transition to actually medical articles. So I wrote articles on Juvederm, for example, which I had nothing no, nothing about. So I had to wrote articles on Juvederm, for example, which I had nothing know nothing about. So I had to do research on Juvederm.
Speaker 2:And in this was 2009, they actually asked me to write an article on telemedicine and I thought at the time oh, what's that? That's never going to happen. You're never going to talk to your physician over your camera or your phone or whatever. But lo and behold, we are doing that. So way back when I wrote an article on that, so I really enjoyed that. That also led me to do more professional writing. So I have written articles for various dental hygiene magazines and blogs and then also I transitioned as a professional educator. So I am a professional educator for Waterpik. I just happened to find the advertisement for professional educator that was in my area, so I am a field educator for Waterpik, which I absolutely love. So in addition to still practicing two days a week, I still do professional writing and I also am an educator for Waterpik.
Speaker 1:It is amazing how we can continue to stay engaged in our profession by just looking outside of the box for just a little bit. There are so many companies and people that are looking for our expertise and we just have to like put ourself out there. We have to just like be open to, like taking that step. When you decided to do that, was there? What was it in your career where you're just like going? I'm it. Was it boredom? Was it just like a random post? Like it's 2009? I mean, social was still and it we, it was going, but I think we're definitely a lot more active now and social. But where? Where was that in you where you're just like going? I'm just going to see where this takes me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, 2009 was when I started to do the content creation and, yeah, I was on Craigslist of all places and at first I thought I was looking for a dental hygiene position. And then I came across this and I said you know what? This is very interesting because after doing periodontics for all this time in dental hygiene, our bodies tend to just kind of give out on me us and so I was noticing some hand issues. So I really didn't want to practice more than two days a week. But then I came across the Craigslist ad for a content writer and I did that for about a year and then kind of took a break. And then, seven years ago, was when I actually saw another Craigslist ad for Waterpik and I had actually done a Waterpik lunch and learn for the periodontal office that it was at, and we did bring in Waterpik into the practice after that lunch and learn. So I was very impressed with the lunch and learn, the quality of the lunch and learn that Waterpik provided. And when I saw the advertisement again I was looking for what do I want to do? Do I want to add another day of dental hygiene to my two? And still the answer was no. And so when I was offered the position at Waterpik seven years ago, I thought this is where, this is where I belong.
Speaker 2:In addition to clinical hygiene, which I still love, I still love working with the periodontist, with the team that I work with, so I love that for two days a week and that's it, and then the rest of the days of the week I'm going to dental offices and their dental offices in my area and I teach them about Waterpik and really, now that I've been with them seven years, there's offices that I've continually come back, I think the office that I was at just the other day.
Speaker 2:I've been at their office for six different times, so they've invited me six different times to just train new staff to introduce new products, and I love that because it enables me to continue to do what I love to do, which is education. As a clinician, I love to educate my patients and as a professional educator, I'm educating dental professionals and it's really nice to see faces over and over again and they really enjoy learning the information. And, as a dental hygienist, that really empowers me to want to learn more about different types of products and I'm a product junkie. If there's a new product, I like to learn about it, I like to bring it to my office and teach them about it. So yeah, working slightly different, that I'm not doing patient care, but I'm still doing the education, the dental education, product education, that I really enjoy doing.
Speaker 1:For hygienists that are interested in that pathway of getting a part-time job with, as an educator for, say, Waterpik, what does that look like? I think that's really a conversation that happens on social media a lot. They're like what do you do? Like how much time is that, what is the expectation? And so if you could kind of go into, if someone's interested in kind of going in that direction, how has your experience been with the company that you're working with?
Speaker 2:I do have a bachelor's of science in biology and in dental hygiene, and then also I decided to get my master's in education because I really enjoyed educating and learning how to create educational content. But a lot of hygienists think, well, I only have an associate degree, so that kind of limits me and it really doesn't. It doesn't really limit you because Waterpik, for example, does require that we're all dental hygienists, but it doesn't require a bachelor's degree or a master's degree. That's something that I just decided to do on my own. But don't be shy. If you have an associate's degree and you want to pursue these opportunities, absolutely do that.
Speaker 2:I found it was really important for other types of opportunities that I have been engaged in is to be really active on social media. On Facebook is where you will find a lot of this information, and there's some great Facebook pages dedicated to getting opportunities outside of the operatory and be active on those websites. For Waterpik. I do get a lot of questions how can I become an educator? Well, you know, sign. If the company has newsletters, sign up for the newsletter. If they have CE courses, take the CE courses, learn about what kinds of things that the company does and, again, being very active on social media, contacting people who are in these alternate careers. Contact them.
Speaker 2:I've found many of the people who lecture, who are educators, are very welcoming to questions. I've reached out to these people myself and you just find a really welcoming community with them is my experience. They get to know you, they get to know your name, your face, and that you're interested in what their company is doing. So I think that's very important. That is absolute. Key is to reach out to these people. Reach out to their websites and keep current about what's going on, and you'll often find job opportunities that pop up and pursue them. Don't be afraid to reach out to the companies and introduce yourself. You never know what's going to pop up as far as opportunities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's always a wonderful thing to kind of hear perspectives on things in our industry that hygienists can look towards, Because I feel right now like the hot topic is temping.
Speaker 1:You know, going out and temping and finding a way to re-stimulate yourself with like out commitment.
Speaker 1:And for me, when I listen to you, I agree with how you have situated your work week, allowing your body to rest. You have two days of clinical care and then, of course, the other days you are still working within our industry, but you're doing something different to allow your body to rest. It's such a really cool way to be able to still get an income in and then, of course, being plugged into different opportunities that you're not going to get through temping. I mean, you're just not. You're going to be doing the same exact thing and your body is going to continue to get used and, of course, over time you know our career does get, can get cut a little short due to the excessive use of our hands and neck and the way that we strain ourselves for certain things, and so I love that that's how you have set up your work week to allow you to continue to work regularly but kind of position yourself to allow your body to heal from clinical practice.
Speaker 2:Right, right. And I also kind of wanted to go back when you're asking me about how I kind of got into this, when I was talking about making yourself known. So the course that I will be presenting for DEN Study Club actually came about because my local dental hygiene component was looking for CE content. They offer CE courses to their members and I had met a couple of. I met the president of the local component and the vice president, the secretary. Just I just happened to go to one of their meetings and they got to know me. And then they reached out and said Cheryl, we're looking for CE courses for our component. Would you be interested in putting one together? And I'd never done that before. And I said why not? Ok, I love doing research, I love reading research papers, and I thought you know what I could put something together, and they left it open to me. They said you pick what I could put something together, and they left it open to me. They said you pick what you want to talk about.
Speaker 2:As I said, I'm very active on dental hygiene Facebook pages and I started to see a lot of posts from federal dental hygienists asking questions what do you think about this product? What do you think about this? And upon reading these different posts and reading the answers, there was a lot of different answers to questions. You ask one question, you get a million answers, right. So this kind of led me to think, wow, this is the course that I need to create.
Speaker 2:So that's why I created the course on social media and scary DIY dental trends as a result of reading these Facebook postings from dental hygienists, and that's how I created the course for my component, and they really enjoyed it. They got a lot out of it, and so that's when I decided well, this is a great course. I don't think hardly anybody is actually really lecturing on it. I see bits and pieces of it, but not a full course on what types of things are our patients looking at on social media and what things are they trying and what does the research tell us. So that's how this course came about is being active on social media, on Facebook pages, and creating this course, and I did extensive research. I think it took me about a year to actually put this course together and, looking at what is the research telling us, I'm really happy that I did it, because, one again, it incorporates what I love to do education, so educating our fellow dental hygienists and dental professionals about scary DIY dental trends.
Speaker 1:Well, that is a beautiful segue to how professionals need to like connect with their peers by joining their local association. I myself have had tremendous opportunities given to me by being in my local dental hygiene association. Those are the ones that like open doors for you. They're the ones that encourage you to just like go for it, and it's. It's really cool experience when you're in a room with people that are already publishing articles and doing those things, and then you're like me, you want, you want me to do that and I'm like you're going to really do it and I'm like you can totally do it and I'm like okay.
Speaker 1:But if people are, if there's hygienists out there that are like I don't know where to start, I always tell them to start by getting connected with their local association, because they are looking for people to do CEs and then I think just by that small connection we really re-energize our career, even if it's just like attending one of their socials or their annual session, and it really helps the clinician to grow without like I mean honestly, you're just growing by meeting people. It's not a lot of effort. You still need to learn, you still need to have continuing education. Why not do it with your dental hygiene association and grow with them and grow your community? So I love that.
Speaker 1:That's where you started. I had another guest on here that she actually started her career with her association as well, who's been practicing a little longer than you, because that's A&B on, yeah, and so you see all these people that are currently out there speaking, they're speaking, they're doing their writing and they kind of start with their association and I'm so glad that I'm just glad that that is that you brought that up, because it is a big starting point for a lot of people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, as you mentioned, I would have never thought about creating a CE course because I was at that point. I was really content with being a professional educator and doing my writing. So that made me think, okay, they're asking me to do it, I really want to help them out. Why not go for it? And, like I said it, really I really I enjoyed presenting it. I positive feedback. I also was able to, in addition, because of the questions that I got at the end of the presentation, was able to realize, okay, I need to add this to my presentation. So, again, it was working with my peers that attended the CE course that I presented and seeing how to improve upon my course Absolutely. So it was they probably didn't realize it, but it was a collaborative event that I was really looking at their feedback and saying, okay, that I missed that part that wasn't clear and really enabled me to kind of improve upon my course Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, With your career, since you have been a clinical hygienist, you've been a writer and then, of course, now you're starting to do continuing education. What would you like dental professionals that are in their career whether they're just starting or kind of in that transitional period what would you remind them that there's more to this than just waking up and going to a dental office, for them to be able to like, expand their mind, expand their scope of practice? What could you offer up as a nugget for those that are sitting here listening to the podcast going number one? I mean, Cheryl, you're pretty amazing. You've been able to continue and continue to thrive through your career with positive change, and if they want to continue to try to mirror that, what nuggets do you have for them?
Speaker 2:Gosh, I know this has been said before, but you know, never stop learning. Like I said, I don't know if I mentioned this earlier in this podcast, but I actually got my master's in education after getting my dental hygiene, my bachelor's in dental hygiene. It'd been 30 years, so you went back to school.
Speaker 1:I went back to school 30 years.
Speaker 2:Yes, holy cow, after not being in school for 30 years and I actually the reason why I chose a master's in education and this is again going to go back to connecting with other hygienists I was actually, I took a CE course actually and it was about hygienists who were doing different things, and one of the presenters was Shelly Brown, hygiene Edge. And one of the presenters was Shelly Brown, hygiene Edge, and she was talking about her master's in education and that she pursued it. And so I reached out to Shelly and I said can you tell me more about the program that you did? It was really very interesting to me. And she answered me and told me where she got her master's, what it was in. And I looked at the program myself and I said this is what I'm looking for.
Speaker 2:I wanted to get my master's but I didn't want to get into dental hygiene because, again, I wanted to kind of be pivot a little bit differently. This master's in education didn't require any kind of educational backgrounds in education didn't require any kind of educational backgrounds. I've never been trained as a teacher, but it did start with different learning styles, so it kind of walked you through the beginnings of what a teacher would learn and so this. So that was way out of my comfort zone because I thought at the first unit when they were talking about different learning styles and I kind of remembered that as being something I learned as an undergrad. And it's kind of coming back to me and I thought, what did I get myself into? But I thought, you know what? This is what I want to do.
Speaker 2:I want to get my master's in education so I can again pivot away from dental hygiene clinical work and do more education. So again, it's still going to go back to connecting with your dental hygiene professionals. Don't be afraid to reach out to them and ask them what was their journey? How did they pivot to what they're doing now?
Speaker 2:And, like I said, I've been very fortunate that people I've reached out to when I was creating this course, I actually did reach out to Anne Guignan and she was very, very helpful and such a mentor to me. Thank you, anne, if you're listening that she just we had a wonderful conversation on the phone and she just kind of helped steer me into this course, because I was looking at some other things I was doing and talked to her about this social media and scary DIY and she goes oh, cheryl, that's a good one. And so again, reaching out to the people that are doing this and they've been very helpful to me and being active on Facebook and your component, as we talked about, is really a way to learn how to maneuver and change if you're going to transition out of clinical or reduce clinical.
Speaker 1:Well, cheryl, I am number one, very excited that you're going to be a speaker of mine. I'm excited to share you to my network. But I'm so happy that you took the time out to be on the Dental Bun podcast today to encourage our hygienists to not leave our industry for nursing that there is more to dental hygiene than just showing up in a clinical setting and if they just take the chance on themselves to just try something a little out of the box, they might be surprised in what their career could turn into. So I'm just so happy that you were able to share your experience with us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it, and I just want to add one more thing. I mean again, you don't have to get a bachelor's, you don't have to get a master's. That's what I just chose to do. If you have your associate, your AS, in dental hygiene, there's still many opportunities that are afforded to you. You just have to be open to them, you have to look for them. Yep, yep.
Speaker 1:I wish they would just drop in our lap, because that would just be very convenient. It would be it would be.
Speaker 1:You have to do a little bit of effort and taking getting that courage to just reach out whether it's on social media or directly on LinkedIn, sometimes to companies and just saying, hey, I love what you guys are doing, how can I participate? So, as you can see, with Cheryl's career, it's a possibility to be able to expand your knowledge as a dental hygienist, to be a clinician for two days a week and then, of course, stimulate your mind outside of the chair with a different part of the industry. So thank you so much, cheryl, for taking the time to share your knowledge with us today.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Janice, for having me and I look forward to seeing you at Social Media and Scary DIY Dental Trends.