Patient Void

My Soy milk man is moving!!! One of the first patients I had in private practice was this hot man who is manager of quality control at the soy processing plant in Cedar. He has the most tarter ever!!!! I have convinced him to come every 3 months for adult prophy. His insurance pays for 2 a year and he pays for the other 2. He is willing to pay the cash just so I do not have to pick and pick so much. How nice is that?!? I know he is doing it for himself but hey a girl can dream...Anyway he is moving and will not longer grace my operatory! I am super sad. This sucks. I vow to never get personally attached to another patient again....ha ha ha! He was so nice to say that I had been a great hygienist and that he was going to miss the fun we had together every 3 months. Mr Soy I will miss you too! He said he would have his replacement come to the office just to fill the void! Again how sweet!
Adios Amigos!!!!

Music Update

It has been a long time since I have written about music. I will remedy that today. Right now there are three songs that really speak to me. Whenever I hear them I blast the radio and sing along. They are great songs. And since I am not cool enough to have music on my blog you will have to read about it and click on over.....

First is Avenged Sevenfold's 'Afterlife'. This song speaks to my inner rocker! I love this song and have for about 7 months. The video is HOT. The lead singer wears a lower arch grill for part of it and I just about melt with how sexy he is. He is all tattooed up and pierced. Both guitar players are amazing to me as well. Their piercings and tattoos are amazingly hot and lets not forget their mad skills. So I just cannot be bothered to post pics of them so if you are curious here is a link....Avenged Sevenfold. Thanks AS for producing such a great song that speaks to me!

Second is The Airborne Toxic Event's 'Sometime Around Midnight' (http://www.myspace.com/theairbornetoxicevent). This song is amazing. I have heard it the first time on July 3 on the way to Delta. It touched the sappy love strings in my heart. I am in love with this song. Since July 3 I have heard it on the radio 6 times. Every time I hear it I ask everyone around me who sings this song. No one knew. Finally I recorded part of it on my phone and was on my way to google the lyrics when the radio station finally told me who it was! I was so happy. I listen to SUU's radio station and since it is summer the computer is playing songs and there just is not a DJ there but they have taken the time to record who sings that song and play it with the song. I am so happy! So right now I am listening to other songs by this group from England on U-Tube. Check out this song I know you will love it. It has only been posted for 6 days and only has 531 views. I want to change that. It is a great song. Trust me. I am also digging 'Does this mean you're moving on'.

Third is going to have to be Staind's 'Believe' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMZF1v0Y7DY). This is also a great song that touches me! I am made for chasing dreams!!! I need to remember that when I am feeling down about myself and lack of boyfriends. I mean I am cute-a little chubby; but dang it I am worth dating! To all single males out there...man up and ask me out!

Well that is my blog on songs. They are dear to me and my heart. Thanks for reading....


ps. I must give props to Seether and their song 'Rise Above This' (http://www.seether.com/dashboard/dashboard.asp). During the vedio the lead singer looks sideways at the camera and just about knocks me on my feet. His brown eyes and lip ring are to die for! The song is also noteworthy. It is hard to rise above doubt. I doubt myself everyday while cleaning teeth. I LOVE the line 'I'll mend myself before it gets me' To me it is saying that we are all messed up and all have issues but that he is trying to get over the helplessness and rise above this! And if he can so can I!

So Ut is SWEET

On Thursday I had the opportunity to attend the Utah Shakespearean Festival and see 'Two Gentlemen of Verona'. It was great. I enjoyed the costumes, stage and of course the acting. I had a blackberry tart and humbug lolly. It was such a peaceful night to sit outside and watch this play. Then on Saturday I went to St George to see 'Les Miserables' performed at the Tuacan amphitheater. That too was amazing. The actors sang their hearts out and brought tears to my eyes. I love how Tuacan uses the natural beauty of the red cliffs and rocks to accent every single play they perform. I really love Southern Utah especially during the summer! Cedar Mountain is one of the best places on earth, Panguitch Lake is great and Red Cliffs is super fun! So all in all So Ut is my flavor....

We are the 6th Ward Frogs....

I have recently returned from Girls Camp. It was my first time going as leader. What a chore. But it was a fun chore. I got lots of pics and will only bore you with a few. This first one is of the leaders in our 'kitchen'. For those of you who have not been to Girls Camp before know this....it is the poshest camp ever. We had to have a kitchen, living room, dining room etc. All were covered by EZE-UP shades and all had tables, cupboards etc. It was so organized and just like home. In my opinion it was a lot of work for only 4 days, 3 nights. Oh well. That is the joy of Girls Camp!!!

Out theme was MLB (Mormon League Baseball) We were the Frogs. So a few girls caught a frog. It was quite the scene... anyway it was a fun camp and I am really glad to be home and clean!!

Before Girls Camp I was coming home from a wedding reception up Cedar Mountain and hit a deer. It was so sad. My first road kill-but I am not sure I really killed him. It did a bit of body damage. I was not hurt and either was the bride's mom who was with me in my truck. One day 4 years ago I was at a UDHA convention in Park City when someone hit my truck and dented the back door. So the guys at the Ford Dealership/body shop told me it was consistant with the damage caused by the deer and that I could get the insurance to pay for it. I declined and said, 'I know the damage is consistant and I really want to tell you that but that dent has been there for 4 years. I really want it fixed though so would you fix it and I would pay for it.' A few days later I got a call telling me the insruance adjuster came and said since I was so honest about the back door that I could include it in with all the other repairs. I was so happy! It just proves that 'honesty is the best policy' ha ha ha!

Burn or Build Bridges

As many of you know I am a very loyal member of the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA). I am president-elect for the Southern Component of Utah Dental Hygienists' Association (UDHA). I attend every meeting we have. I pay my membership dues and pray all RDH's everywhere do the same. So my friend and co-worker Candice is an alternate delegate for UDHA. As such she attends board meetings in Salt Lake City which is 3.5 hrs from Cedar. She too is dedicated to our profession. Wednesday she reported what was discussed at the board meeting at our Southern Component meeting. She stated the Monty Thompson (president of Utah Dental Association-UDA) was in attendance. Now I need to give a bit of background. As a So Component we organized (ok Danyelle did) a Spring Seminar the same weekend as the UDA spring seminar in St George. We had 2 speakers and offered 6 CE credits. It was pretty well attended. We had communications with Mr. Thompson and he was very cooperative. He did everything in his power to give us free advertising and helped organize it. He was so helpful. We as a Southern Component appreciate him and his efforts. We also noticed that this years UDA meeting had several dental hygiene oriented speakers. I thought that was amazing. While I was not as enthralled by Ester Wilkins as a lot of people the fact that she was there by invitation of utah dentists was amazing.

From my point of view the UDA has been very accommodating and communicative with the RDH of Utah. I have a respect for this man and think he is doing a great job. I guess I am the one of the few. At this UDHA board meeting the leaders of UDHA did not find him to be open to communication, helpful, etc. He mentioned that the dentists of Ut do not like the new dental hygiene school (UCDH). Now this is another can of worms...in short it is a private school who is graduating about 50 students every 18 months. He brought up a suggestion that the RDH and DDS and DMD get together and go to the Board of Regents and see what can be done about closing the school. The UDHA board was not interested which brings up confirmation to me that they have been integrated by UCDH. I have felt that UCDH played everything very well. They opened the school w/o talking to the RDH or UDA just the Board of Regents. They then ran for offices on the UDHA board and so now when the UDA wants to discuss the future of dental hygiene and the flooded market no communication is had.

I am sadly disappointed in this. I know I should have run for office on the UDHA board but I live so far away and felt that I would not get the votes because everyone votes for their friends...popularity contest all over again. So I am doing my part by holding together the So component. We are embarrassingly small compared to the other components in UT and our percentage of member RDH is small. I feel that when the UDA wants to open communication lines and try to end the animosity between the two groups we should let them. I know there are some strong opinions in the Salt Lake and Northern components. I know they have had to fight for some serious things. But I also know now is the time to mend the broken bridges NOT burn them to the ground. These of course are my feelings and I would welcome any dialog on the subject. I feel being a RDH is essential for the oral health of the world but we need to work with the dentisits. I also feel that we need to govern ourselves and not be under the thumb of the dentists. I guess there is a fine line and I am just learning where I stand.

Yellowstone season 3

Once again I went to Yellowstone over Memorial Day weekend. It was so fun. Daniel and Jo went with me. It rained every day! It was cold. It was wet. It was beautiful!

This is Daniel and Jo in all the steam. Because it was so cold there was plenty of steam from the thermals. It was amazing.


A beautiful rainbow over Yellowstone lake which was completely frozen over...brrrr!!!!

Me at Fairy Falls. This was the only time the sun shone. We actually got our cheeks and noses sunburned during the 6 mile hike.

My Uni-bomber siblings!!

The cute little buffalo were causing quite the traffic jam:(

Well I wanted to add more pics but oh well....My patience with the computer is failing. Anyway, I had a great weekend even though it was frezzing cold. I loved the rain. I loved haging out with my sibs. And most of all I loved not being at work and getting away for a while.

To RDH or not to RDH...

It is hard to be a dental hygienist today. My back hurts, I can still feel the roughness on the root surfaces even though I have scraped and scraped, I do not have health insurance and could really use some, I do not have paid time off--and could use some, I feel crappy. I guess it all boils down to not feeling 100%. I am sure I will feel better in the morning. My office is undergoing a major exodus. 5 assistants and front office girls are leaving. 3 are staying...as well as 3 RDH. But I did get an email requesting a job for M-Th with benefits.....TEMPTING! Anyway it is hard to have such change going on. I feel the stress and do not like it. I am sure the patients feel it as well. So tomorrow I will love being a RDH but for tonight I think I will take a Tylenol and think about it.