 Hi, everybody. How are you guys doing? Okay, we still have a couple minutes here. I just wanted to come on right away to get things figured out. You gotta love YouTube. Sometimes it takes a moment, so I just wanted everybody to get situated here. This is a new thing where the first of every month, I'm going to come on live and answer everybody's dental questions. YouTube is crazy. I mean, crazy in a good way where I'm uploading videos twice a week. It's fantastic. They don't always get a chance to comment or answer the comments for everybody. So I wanted to make sure to have a thing now where I can come on live. And if you guys have the time, you can come on live with me to ask your questions. I do have a bunch of saved questions as well. Anytime somebody emails me or even for you guys listening now, if you guys have a question you really want answered, feel free to keep commenting, of course, with any video. But if I'm not getting back to you, just send me an email. My email is on the main website. You all have that here. dentalel.com. Check it out there. But you can either chat with me through that website where you can leave a message for me, even if I'm away, or you can send me an email, whatever works for you. And just ask me any questions you have. It could be dental related. Well, I mean, it makes sense to be dental related, but dental related, but it can be about the dentalel courses, teeth whitening training, or it can just be any tooth questions you have, whether, you know, you might be wondering, I've been getting a lot of questions lately about crowns, people asking me things like, Oh, this, this one tooth, my dentist has told me I need a crown, but do I need a crown? Can I send you a picture? You know, things like that. That's why I'm here. Yes. Hello. Yes, there will be a link for this live video afterwards. I'm going to actually post it up as soon as it is available. Usually I come on YouTube live for about 30 minutes. I mean, I say usually this is the first time I've done this in a while, but I'm going to start doing it on the first day of every month. It's going to be 30 minutes. The timing might be slightly different. Like today it's 11am central time. Next time it could be the evening. Next time it could be earlier. It just depends on your time zone and it will be different every month depending on what day of the week it falls on because I tutor, I see clients with my own mobile dental business always busy doing something. So the timing might be slightly different, but yes, this will absolutely be posted. Okay, you guys. So what I'm going to do, it is 1101 now central time. I'm just going to go through the list of questions that I do have from people who have emailed me over the past month. And they did say they wanted me to talk about it, but anybody can pipe in since you're here live. In fact, I'm going to say hello in the chat as well. There we go. I said hello in the chat. Feel free to pipe in if you have any questions, if you need anything. So that's why I'm here. And just to mention before you can always reach out to me by email. There is now a new chat feature on the website as well. So if you go to dentalel.com, if you're here, if you're here for tooth whitening training, um, teeth whitening training, it is whiteteethschool.com. But either way, you'll be able to reach me. So don't hesitate to do that because I really like being able to answer people's questions, you know, dental questions. I, I can just imagine things can get very overwhelming sometimes things can get confusing, but I am here to help. For those of you who don't know me, I have 19 years experience as a dental professional. I was a dental receptionist, a dental assistant, um, a dental hygienist. Now I'm a restorative dental hygienist with my own practice. I'm a mobile dental hygienist where I go into clients homes and I really enjoy doing that. You're not able to do that in every area, every province, every state, but if you can, it's the best thing ever. I can't imagine working for a dentist again. It's just so much nicer having your own business. Okay. So I'm going to just check my notes here, you guys, to go through those questions. Um, let's see here. Okay. Now, and if you guys have any questions while you're coming on live, just feel free to let me know. Oh, I highly recommend if you guys aren't yet, definitely join my channel on Instagram at dental L. So definitely join because that is where I have all of the updates you kind of see behind the scenes. You would have known about this YouTube live from Instagram as well. Any course updates, I have all of that on Instagram just as a way to keep in touch with everybody. Okay. So question number one. So I've been getting actually a few people emailing me about this asking about gingival recession. So likely this was something that I posted on Instagram. I was writing a blog article about it. Um, gingival recession. So what is it? How do you treat it? And how does it happen? So basically, actually, I have a photo for you guys. Let me just grab that from my iPad real quick because I was using this on Instagram the other day. So I'm curious who here knows what gingival recession is. Most people do not actually have a couple different photos. I want to show you guys the best one. Okay. So here's an example. Okay. If you guys don't like seeing tooth photos, look away for a moment. Okay. So gingival recession. Do you guys see how this tooth, the gums are hugging the tooth? Sorry. The gums are hugging the tooth very well. Notice this tooth, there's this yellowing area here where, well, the gum should be covering this yellow area, but it's not. This is what happens when you have gingival recession. That means that the gum has been likely brushed away too hard. So there's no gum there anymore. As soon as you see this yellow area exposed, this could cause sensitivity. So if your teeth are sensitive, if they're cold sensitive or something just doesn't feel quite right, it could be something as simple as you have what's called gingival recession. Now there's a lot happening in this mouth here, a lot more than recession. It looks like bone loss. The gums should be more of a triangle shaped in between the teeth, but they're not. So there's more happening here just FYI than gingival recession, but that happens. So how does that happen? That happens from brushing too hard first and foremost. So have your dental hygienists show you how to brush properly because most people don't know if they're brushing too hard or not. I mean, how could they know? You all probably thought brushing harder is better because you're taking away the plaque, you're taking away the tartar and that brings me to my next question. In a little bit, I'm going to talk about the differences between plaque and tartar. So by brushing too hard, you wear away the gum and then the gum isn't there anymore. That second layer of tooth is exposed and that can be sensitive. So how do you treat this? Well, first of all, you want to stop brushing too hard because if you can stop that now, it won't get any worse. But what we could do is there's a thin protective coating that's clear that we can brush over that area to prevent further sensitivity. It's kind of like think of a really good conditioner treatment for your hair or any treatment. It's protecting the area. It's not allowing the outside elements to come in. So what it does is it protects the tooth against sensitivity, but it's not going to look any different. To make it look different is we would actually put a tooth covered filling material over that area. We can't bring the gum back unless you have gum surgery where we take the gum from the roof of the mouth and place it where it should be. But around here, it's not that popular. Maybe where you live it is. It's not considered an invasive surgery, but patients that I've known that have had it say they would never get it again because it's extremely painful. It doesn't always work as it should. So we tend to steer away from that around here. But so that's an option too is getting gum surgery. But around here, we just don't do that. So the gum can't come back. That is something important to know. So to cover up that area, as I was mentioning, we would have some tooth colored filling material placed over that, and then you're good to go. That's the best we can do, but at least we're covering up that yellow spot. So that is gum recession. Does anybody have any questions about that? I hope I answered that properly. And then moving on to the next question, which I'm actually going to bring up another picture for you guys, is plaque and calculus. So what is the difference? So calculus and tartar mean the same thing. So sometimes you might hear me refer to it as tartar. Sometimes you might hear me refer to it as calculus. Calculus and tartar mean the same thing. It's just different words for the same thing. Okay. So you might have seen this photo on Instagram that I posted like a cartoony type of photo. So as you guys can see, there's like yellow, white areas there. Okay. If you look at your teeth now, if you notice any off white yellow or brown areas, it could be stain. It could be plaque and it could be calculus. So one more photo and then I'll explain it a bit better for you. Here's another one. This, I don't know if you guys can see that my ring light is kind of right there, isn't it? But I have these on Instagram as well. So definitely check out my Instagram. Actually, they might not be there yet. I'm going to upload them later because I was working on some blog articles, but definitely come onto my Instagram account. You will see these photos by at least the weekend. But see this white, actually I have my little apple pencil here. See this white area here, you guys? That is plaque. But then if you notice like yellowing stain, that is either stain or calculus or both. So let me talk about that a little bit. So plaque happens any time you eat to drink anything. It forms right away. It's kind of like that sticky, fuzzy, if you will, white, off-white, yellow stuff that you can brush off. And even if you take your nail to your tooth, you can scrape that off. Yes, you can. That is plaque. Plaque harbors a lot of bacteria. That's why we tell patients to brush every day twice a day. Make sure to floss in between the teeth, either with that string floss, floss picks, or my personal favorite is the water pick. Get something to clean in between the teeth because brushing cannot reach in between the teeth. So you're brushing, doing a good job, so you think. But if you're not getting, let's say, the water pick in there to clean in between the teeth, that plaque is still sitting there. And that plaque can spread to the other teeth. Plaque harbors bacteria. Bacteria causes cavities, causes gum disease, causes pain. So plaque is not good. That's why we say to brush every day twice a day as best you can to get rid of that plaque. But then what is calculus and tartar? So calculus, also called tartar, is when plaque has been left there too long and becomes hard. It becomes hard and you can no longer take that off with your toothbrush. Calculus is not good either because it's the same as plaque. It's basically plaque that has gotten more bacteria in it, has stayed there, and has now become hard. You need to visit your dental hygienist to take that calculus off with our specialized instruments. So remember the last time you had your teeth cleaned, how we were scraping away at the teeth. For lack of a better word, we are essentially scraping it away. That is us taking that calculus away because if we are to leave it there, that's what causes gum disease. That's what causes what's called gingivitis, but then also periodontal disease. So if things get really bad, it spreads even further and that can start to take away the bone support that's around the teeth. So not good. It can damage the gums, it can damage the bone, and then eventually your teeth look so bad and so rotten, if you will. And then you lose the teeth. So that sounds horrible, doesn't it? So the best prevention is to brush and floss. I say use the waterpik. They're amazing. It's just like a high steady stream of water to that cleans in between the teeth. It's amazing. In fact, I'm gonna get you guys a link for the waterpik right now. Like I do have it on my Amazon store. So in the description of all of my YouTube videos, you will see my Amazon store link. Check it out. There's a lot of really good dental materials and things there for you. I'm just looking up a water flosser right now. I have a water flosser in nearly every bathroom that I own because they're just so awesome and they're so easy for anybody to use children, adults, and it keeps away that plaque and calculus, which in turn keeps away gum disease. It just makes the teeth healthier. It prevents against cavities. So using the waterpik and brushing is the way to go. Okay, I found the link. Can I leave it in the chat here? I think I can. Okay, so I'm just leaving you guys a link for the water flosser in case anybody's curious. I highly recommend a water flosser. Okay, so did that help to explain plaque and calculus? Anytime I see a new patient, I explain these things to them as I'm cleaning their teeth, and it still amazes me how a lot of people just don't know what plaque and calculus are probably because they've never been told. If you're dental hygienist, dental professional, dentist, dental assistant, dental, you know, whoever we are, if they don't tell you about it, you know, how are you supposed to know? And it's true. You know, how are you supposed to know? You're not a mind reader. So, but if you know the basics, you can prevent things. And if you can prevent things, that means your teeth look great. You have no cavities. Your teeth are healthy. You have no sensitivity. It's a win-win. Okay, does anybody have any questions about that at all? And while you guys are doing that, I'm just going to look up my blog link here because there was an article that I've been getting a lot of questions about as well that I want to talk about. And I'm going to leave the link for you guys down below in case you want to check it out while I'm talking about it. Okay. So, I've been, if you guys have seen my, you know, day in my life YouTube video that I had recently uploaded, I talk about writing a blog now. So, I am writing a blog, two articles a week. I started doing that because I found my patients always had the same questions. And of course, I talked to them about these things while I'm seeing them. But I like to be able to refer them back to an article. So, I will say like, look at my blog here. Here's the article that I want you to read, or I just simply send the link to their email. This will help to explain things further. So, the most recent article I did, well, maybe not the most recent, I think I did it last week, was choosing a permanent lingual retainer over a removable one after braces. So, I'm going to leave the link for you guys in case you want to, because I don't think I can share my screen here on YouTube Live. Can I? I'm sure I can. I'm just not sure how and I don't want to mess anything up for you guys. Article here. So, I'm just leaving you guys the link. Oops, there we go. So, a lot of people have been asking me about this. So, after braces, your orthodontist, they're the ones who are putting the braces on for you. They're going to ask you or your parents, depending on how old you are, if you want a removable retainer or a permanent one. And a lot of people don't necessarily agree with my opinion when I say it should be a permanent one. And I say permanent because a removable one is just too hard to take care of. People forget to wear it. It doesn't matter if you're a child, teenager, adult. It's just better to have something permanently placed inside the mouth so you don't have to worry about taking it out. You don't have to worry about putting it in because if you get a removable retainer and it's not being worn, those nice straight teeth you have after braces won't be straight anymore because they're going to shift. Your teeth are going to move. So, here you just spent $6,000 on braces and things are going to have to be fixed because you weren't wearing your removable retainer. Okay, so check out the article. I have some pictures there for you but I suggest a permanent retainer. It goes on the inside of your teeth, bottom and top, so nobody can see it. You can feel it like you'll be able to feel it with your tongue but you get used to it and this will prevent the teeth from shifting. You or your parents just spent $6,000 on braces. You don't want the teeth shifting, right? And this is a guaranteed way that they're not going to shift. So, I tell people get that permanent retainer. If you have a choice, some orthodontists actually don't give you the choice. They will just put in a permanent retainer because they know how that's the best one because then you don't have to worry about people not forgetting to put it in. I mean, people don't forget to take it out but they'll forget to wear it at night. But if it's permanent, you don't have to worry about it. So, I mentioned a little bit. My stepson is getting braces now and there was no question. We all said, no, he's getting a permanent one because that's just the way it is. That's the best thing to do and I'm indental as everybody knows. So, I thankfully get an opinion on this matter, right? Like, they trust my opinion. So, if you're getting braces, if you're getting the braces off soon, read that article about why a permanent retainer is so much better than a removable one. And technically, in 10 years if you wanted or sooner, if you wanted that permanent retainer removed, you can do that. The dentist can do that for you. All it is is it's basically cemented to the teeth with either a composite filling or a cement. It depends on the dentist. But that can be removed with the high-speed handpiece. It doesn't hurt the teeth at all. So, if you really didn't like it down the road, it could be removed. But usually, people just leave them in there because then the teeth will not shift at all. So, does that make sense to everybody? Is everybody good? Okay, I did have a question about the Board Exam Prep Academy as well. Actually, starting today, we have our new cohort system. So, in the Board Exam Prep Academy, if you guys go to the website at dentall.com, the VIP Board Exam Prep Academy, we have new pre-recorded classes every six months or so. So, there is a new one starting today where it's week classes over 12 weeks. This is week one, and we happen to be talking about the tooth and tooth surfaces and nutrition. So, it's like two topics combined into one. It goes over 12 weeks because that's what you have to know for the Board Exam. I don't teach you too much. I don't teach you too little. It's just exactly what you have to know for the Board Exam. And yes, you can sign up anytime. So, if you're coming across this video tomorrow and say, oh, I would love to be a part of her Board Exam Prep Academy classes, but February 1st was yesterday or last week or whatever, the good news is you can sign up anytime because once you log in, you will see all of the weeks there for you, but then at the top, you will see the new weeks as we go through them. So, it's fantastic. So, people love it for those who want to go step by step week per week, but then there's also some people who say, I just want to study everything at my own pace. I want to do weeks one, two, and three this week because I have time, but then I'd like to take it off next week. You can do that. So, there's different things you can do inside the course, either step by step or skip ahead and see all the weeks at once. The nice thing about the VIP Board Exam Prep Academy is there's case studies. There's mock exam classes where I teach you guys those multiple choice questions, answers, we talk about them so you know why the best answer is the best answer, and there's also new interactive quizzes inside the course. So, definitely check it out. If you're looking to pass the Board Exam, either for dental hygiene students or dental assisting students, you want to take the VIP Board Exam Prep Academy because I'm right there with you, teaching everything, going over mock exams, case studies, the works, you always have it. So, that was a question that I had, was how often do I update the course? Well, it's actually probably updated more than every six months, but the pre-recorded videos are new every six months. So, you don't have to worry about seeing PowerPoints from 2016. They are always updated that year actually. So, I am just doing the new PowerPoints now. So, that is 2024. So, everything is always updated because I believe in new material. I believe in updating things. You won't see old teaching videos from 2016 or 2020. It's all within that year. So, this is my full-time job, you guys. So, I'm a tutor full-time, but I also see patients in my mobile dental hygiene business. So, this is what I like to do. So, definitely check it out. Oh, I did have a question of what is the best way to do it? What is the percentage of passing for students taking the board exam? It is still 99.7%. So, I know I can help you pass. So, definitely check out the VIP Board Exam Prep Academy. And you get full access for one year if you need it. So, you don't have to think you get access for 12 weeks only, and that's it. No, you get full access for the entire year because I do understand you might want to sign up six months before you take the board exam because you want to study slowly and over time. That's the best way to do it. But then there are some people that do sign up a full year before they take the exam just so they can start studying a little bit at a time, which is awesome. But then there's other people who might sign up two weeks before they take the exam, or sorry, two months. Two weeks, you'd have a lot to study, but you can still do it. So, I have that available for you guys. So, you don't have to worry about time running out. If for some reason you do take the board exam and you are a part of the VIP Board Exam Prep Academy and you don't pass the board exam, you still have full access to everything. So, I will grant you an extension until you do pass. So, there is a guarantee because 99.7% of people pass with the VIP Board Exam Prep Academy. But if for some reason you don't, something happened, you need extra support, I am there for you. So, that's all so important to know. How has it been 25 minutes already? That's insane. Time goes by so fast. Does anybody have any questions about anything? Those were the main things in my notes. I'm just double checking. I will continue to do these live classes on the first of every month. So, the next one is going to be March 1st. I don't know the time yet. That's usually decided a couple of weeks before. March 1st is on a Friday. So, that's cool. It will probably be around the same time, like 11 a.m. Central time. But maybe people prefer evening. So, feel free to comment. Kind of let me know what time might work best for you. And if you think I should be doing these lives more often, let me know. Because like I said, I try to comment to everybody when you guys comment on my video. So, please keep on doing it. But sometimes it's really hard to get to everybody. YouTube doesn't make it easy to see all of your comments. Like sometimes it keeps showing me old ones that I've already answered. And I don't know which ones I haven't answered. So, then I have to click and go into them. And it's a little harder. So, I like doing these YouTube lives. But also, you guys definitely join my account on Instagram at dentalel. So, that way you can see all of the updates and all of the new things that are coming. Because there's always something new, always something exciting. I'd say the most exciting thing lately is just the new VIP Board Exam Prep Academy. The new classes that we are starting again today for 12 weeks. So, that's about three months of full Board Exam Prep. And don't worry, you can sign up any time. You will have everything as soon as you log into the course. I would say teeth whitening training is still very, very popular. People like to run the show, have their own business, create their own hours. Teeth whitening and tooth gems is very popular. So, definitely check out that website at whiteteethschool.com. I'm the owner of course of that as well. And just me writing my blog articles. Because I just, I wanna spread the word on as much gentle information as possible. Because I feel like the more you know, such as plaque and calculus is a great example. The more you know, the better prepared you can be. The healthier your mouth is going to be. As a dental hygienist, we really focus on prevention. You know, I don't want you to get cavities. I want you to prevent cavities from happening in the first place. But then of course, if you get cavities, we treat them. But then we have to go back and say, okay, how did these cavities happen? How can we avoid this from happening again? And you might not know. You might just think, oh, I guess I was eating too much sugar. That's my fault. That's not often the case. It's not as simple as that. So as a dental hygienist, we are all here to help you in preventative as much as possible. Which brings me to my next point. If anybody wants to schedule a virtual consultation with me, I am available for that. I do those online. I'm just going to get the link for you guys right now in case you're curious. In case you want a second opinion, if you have a lot of questions, you just don't know where to start. I am definitely here to help you. Sorry, I'm just getting the link here for you. You know, nurses, doctors have online consultations. I want to be able to offer the same thing to people because I know how helpful it can be. So I'm just making a note of that for you guys in the chat. There we go. Okay, if you guys have any questions, let me know. Thank you so much for being a part of this. And feel free to comment. If you have any questions, I'm going to make it a point to check these comments so I can answer them. Thank you for coming on this morning. You guys have a great Thursday and stay tuned for more videos being uploaded every Monday and Thursday. So more are always going to be coming. If you need anything, just email me anytime. If you're looking for any courses, look at www.dentalill.com and make sure to join me on Instagram. So click like if this was helpful for you guys and I will keep on doing them. Thank you for watching. I don't see any more questions. So thank you guys for watching and I'll see you in a month when I do the next live. If you want to see me more than that, definitely join me on Instagram. Okay. Bye for now, you guys. Thanks for watching.