Today I want to talk about building and owning your own dental hygiene practice.  As self-initiating hygienists, you can now own your own practice!  This is so exciting and was first passed September 2007.  Lately things have been difficult for dental hygienists, it seems we are being paid less and less per year because our value doesn't seem to be recognized.  Many of us have thought about other alternatives but still want to work as a dental hygienist.  The perfect answer?  Opening up your own practice!


Although it isn't as simple as it sounds, it can be SO rewarding.  Whether you want to open your own mobile practice, stand alone dental office or work with other self initiating dental hygienists, you can make a great income and work for yourself.  The CDHA says to own and manage your own business it is key to analyzing marketing opportunities, researching and selecting the target markets, designing marketing strategies and programs, and implementing and controlling the marketing effort.  Also to understand the basics such as understanding your role as manager, knowing when to consult professionals and what to consult them about, recruiting and hiring the right employee, developing a human resource manual and writing job descriptions.  Sound simple?  It probably doesn't!  We can help :).


Many of you want to do this but have no idea where to start.  At Dentalelle, we do offer a full program to help independent hygienists set up and open their own practice ($108.50). This program guides you through every step from business aspects, financial success, marketing, hiring, management, you name it!  Five courses in total at around 2-3 hours each and you can take this course at your own leisure.  It is all located online so you can stop, and start up again anytime you wish. You will also receive a full resource manual with power points and documents to go along with each course.  A full review session is done LIVE and interactive online when you have completed everything.  We discuss it all and answer any questions you may have.


Let us know if you have any questions :).  We look forward to teaching you!

I am often asked how I studied for tests when I was in school and how did I even survive taking dental hygiene school twice??  Well first of all, what I tell all my students is for tests the main thing is to 'understand' the material and not simply memorize.  Memorizing may help you for that test but then you will have to study that same material again for the exam, and then for the board exam at the end of the school year.  Most of what you learn in school you are learning because you need to know that to become a dental hygienist, so it makes sense to understand it right?!

A good habit to get into is reviewing your classroom notes that night, IF you have nothing else study for.  If you have three tests and projects due that week I would focus on those instead.  Most importantly, I suggest studying for a test 2-3 weeks ahead of time (per topic).  You will find that for the first few days of studying you will be studying 2 hours a night and feel you aren't retaining much.  You actually are!  By the end of the first week you will find 20 minutes of studying a day for that one topic is enough and you are starting to retain that information.  Doesn't that beat studying 8 hours the night before, not getting any sleep and still managing to fail?  I think it does!  This is how I studied in school and I never had to worry about getting a bad mark on the exam or test, I knew I would do amazing and it felt good.  Getting honors in dental hygiene school is hard as we all know but its possible :)

We now have our mentorship program for dental hygiene and assisting students, as well as newly graduated RDH's.  You can sign up with us here and join in on our twice monthly discussions, join our private facebook group to share x-rays, typical day, and experiences.  We also include a free webinar a month to refresh your skills and get those CE credits!  We love helping students and RDH's at Dentalelle so please join us and talk with others sharing your experiences.