 Hello, everybody. Andrew and Maeski here with Dental L. Basically, I want this channel to be your one-stop-shop for all things dental, whether it be if you're a dental hygiene student, a dental assisting student, a dental hygienist, a dental assistant, and even patients. And more importantly, what I want to do is to show you guys how to have passion and how to love the dental profession, whether you are in it or if you're a patient. I want people to start to love dental again as silly as that sounds. And this is what brings me actually to the video today. In the video today, I want to talk to you guys about why a dental professional, so either a dentist, a dental hygienist, a dental assistant, why they wouldn't want their kids to do what they do. Okay? So that kind of contradicts everything that I just said, right? About me wanting to show you guys how amazing this profession is. And for all of you guys to have passion towards the dental profession, especially those who are working in it, because I completely understand that patients can't have a passion for dental really, right? Unless they really like teeth. There are those patients out there. There's probably 10% of them that come in and say, hey Andrea, I am so excited to have my teeth cleaned today. I just told everybody how excited I am. They looked at me like I was a weirdo, but I can't wait. You know, there are those patients out there. But the dental professionals that are kind of the talk of the town right now are the ones that are shocking everybody by basically saying, yes, I like what I do, but I wouldn't tell my kids to do it. If my daughter or son wanted to get into this profession, I would say hell to the no. But let me tell you guys this. So first, I completely disagree with all of that. If my son or daughter wanted to be a dental assistant, a dental hygienist, a dentist to start their own dental office, I would say go for it. I would say go for it. And let me help you. This would be the most amazing thing ever. The dentist that I used to work for, he has three kids. They all became a dentist. One of them is an orthodontist soon. The other one worked at Sick Kids Hospital, and she's now studying for pedo. And the third one is a general dentist. And you know why they all decided to do that? Because he would come home and not complain, complain, complain. But he probably talked about how great his day at work was. And no, things aren't always perfect. Trust me, I have some days where I think, why am I doing this? I want to quit. You know, that patient didn't really appreciate me. They were mad at me for being five minutes behind. Yet I had to use the washroom. Sorry about that. You know, I have days like that too. But why would other dental professionals say that they don't want their kids to do this? And this actually came up from a Facebook group. Actually, I forget which one, but I wouldn't tell you anyway. But it's a group for dental professionals. So I don't want to call anybody out. I'm not going to mention names, of course. So I'm not going to mention the group either. But I was really shocked. Somebody posted something about my son or daughter wants to become a dental professional. I don't even remember if it was a dentist or a dental hygienist or a dental assistant. But they said, and I really don't want them to. Am I wrong for telling them, heck no, do anything else? In fact, I won't let you do what I do. And everybody posted saying, yeah, no way, my son or daughter will not be doing this. Or no way, my son or daughter knows how much I hate this. And I actually posted. So I actually commented. So usually I leave these things alone because we all know I have very strong opinions and they don't always, you know, the average person doesn't always agree with them. But passion for this profession is something that I have 110 percent, which you can probably tell that too. I've been teaching now for about 14 years. I've been a dental hygienist, a dental assistant, a receptionist. I became a restorative hygienist about four years ago. And now I do have my own practice. So clearly I love what I do. But everybody posted and said, yeah, no, we wouldn't want that. I hate this. I posted and said, ha ha, am I the only one who actually enjoys her career? I would love for my children one day to want to walk in my footsteps. I think one person commented and said, yeah, you're the only one, you know, and I'm thinking, wow. So why is everybody saying that people? Well, this is what they were saying. They were saying it's because, you know, we have to do more and more and more and more for less pay, which is kind of true. Back 10 years ago, even dental hygienists got paid a lot more than they do now. They really do. Depending on where you live though, so I can only speak for my area. But I know a dental hygienist who have been doing this for 30 years and they started off making $40 an hour. They had paid lunch breaks. They would get like benefits, no problem. Whereas now in my area, you start off at $30 per hour. In my opinion, that's pretty good. But that's only because the office where I used to work at, I started off making, oh my goodness, now I can't even remember. I think 25 per hour. At the time though, I felt amazing. I thought that was great. Because I went from a dental assistant at the time, so this was like 14 years ago, making $13 per hour to making 20 something per hour. I was like, woo, I'm rich, you know, I loved it. But I tend to see the positive side of everything. So even if I made a measly $5 more, that's $5 more, and I'm doing what I love to do, so I would have been happy anyway, to be honest with you. But these days, you're lucky to start off at $30 per hour. But back when I was a hygienist, so too, things were still, you weren't being paid as much as you really should be or as much as you used to be. But I kind of think things are changing a little bit now, especially where I live. I have hygienists who are just starting out and they make like $5 less than I do. And I've been doing this for 14 years. So I'm thinking, how are you making like $5 less than me? I should be asking for like $10 more then. If I've been doing this for 14 years, plus I'm a restorative hygienist, I'm like, gosh, I should be making way more than this other person. Honestly, that's what I'm thinking, right? But it's because where I live in Kitchener, Ontario area, we need hygienists. Like I took a week off because my grandma was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. They couldn't find one hygienist to pick up a shift. How insane is that? So they had to cancel everything. Trust me, they would have paid anything too to have that hygienist come in because when they cancel the day, that's a lot of money that they're losing, right? But anyways, sorry, I got a little off topic there, but I'm just being real with you all, right? So we get paid a little bit less. We start off making less than what we used to like 20 years ago, but you know what? News flash for everybody, we still make good pay. If $30 per hour isn't enough for you, then you should really be something else because I think that's pretty good. Would I make $30 per hour now? No, but it's because I have 14 years experience for me to be comfortable as a dental hygienist. It probably took at least two years. But after that two years, you bet I did ask for a raise. Not a tiny one, I had asked for a big one. I said, I want $5 per hour more and I'll tell you why, but I'll talk about how to ask for more money in another video. I can give you so many tips, works every time, okay? I do actually have some videos on that, so do a search in my YouTube channel and you will see that. But another reason why people wouldn't recommend this profession to their sons or daughters is because we don't always get benefits. It's very rare for somebody to get benefits. And let me tell you, benefits is a big thing. I used to have them when I was at my other office, but when I moved to Kitchener, nobody gives benefits. You know how sad that is? It makes a big difference, you guys, especially when your husband doesn't get benefits either. Pain for things like chiropractor massage is just too much money. It is, it's too much money. So I tend to not go, okay? I do still see a chiropractor every month. He does say you should come every three weeks or so, but I kind of stretch it to every month because I do notice a big difference. I've been seeing him for about six months now and I have noticed a big difference. But when I had benefits, I used to get massages once a month and now it's like once every six months because hey, $90 is $90 and I'm cheap. So I prefer to spend that on other things, but that's why. We don't get benefits, we get paid less. So yes, those are pretty good reasons, but nobody ever mentions if this is what you wanna do, this is what you wanna do. Nurses don't complain, at least not that I've heard, and I do know a lot of nurses about having to wear 12 to 16 hour shifts. I couldn't do it, hell no, which is why I'm not a nurse. But nurses understand that's part of the job. Nurses don't complain about things that we would. Oh, for sure, there's no way I could be a nurse. Even when my grandma was in the hospital, she's been suffering from dementia for a while now. She was very aggressive towards those nurses. I had never seen her like that. But they said, you know what, it's not her. We don't take it personal and that makes sense, right? But if that nurse didn't love her job, she would have been like, okay, she's being rude, I'm not touching her. Meanwhile, she's this old lady who needs help to be fed, but she was being very aggressive actually, but you have to take some and leave some, right? So those hygienists that are saying that they wouldn't tell their sons or daughters to be in this profession, really shouldn't be in this profession. They should be long gone. They should be retiring. And I say that because the ones that posted, not everybody, but the majority of them, have been doing this for 30 years. And it's probably because they're making the same amount of money, if not maybe a little bit more than they were 10 years ago. So I'd be kind of bitter too, right? But I always say, if you don't like it, change it. I don't always like the politics of dental offices either, but that's why I started my own practice. I love working for myself, so it's perfect. But yeah, guys, so benefits, we don't get paid as much, and we're not appreciated, you know? And then I do get, you know, I find a dental hygienist can work, work, work so, so hard. She's always on time. She's amazing with patients, you know, him or her. And the dentist doesn't say thank you. The staff doesn't say thank you. If that hygienist doesn't help with one instrument trade because she's 20 minutes behind, the dental hygienists get mad. And she's like, whoa, I have done all of my trays all year. I miss one tray and the assistants are getting mad. It's brought up at the next staff, meaning that I'm being a diva and I don't like helping with trays, you know? So that I get. I'm sorry, I'm not saying everybody. I'm not saying every office, but that's the consensus. We don't do one thing and everybody notices. Yet other members of the staff of the office slack off, but nobody notices. The hygienist is always held to a certain standard. Even the assistant is held to a certain standard. If you're not perfect, people notice you get yelled at and then you're like, what do I do? So that's another reason. And people have been saying too that it's very hard on your body. I have not been doing this forever. I work part-time. Have I noticed it's hard on my body? Not really. Not as much as other people have. But if I worked eight hours a day every day, oh, I would notice. In fact, I worked about seven hours the other day. I was more sore than usual. I don't feel we are meant to work eight hours a day because we are bending over and it's a high stress environment sometimes. And that's another reason. There are a lot of offices that need you to sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. See a patient every half an hour, be on time. Don't mess up, don't miss the calculus, be on time. I can't even tell you, be on time is a big one. A little tip for you. I'm never on time. I'm always behind with my patients. It is what it is. I try not to worry about it, but that's just a little side note. Yeah, so we have to do so much. We're not always appreciated. We don't get paid as much. We don't get benefits. We don't get a pension. So I get it. I get why they're saying this, but to take it as far as to stop your son or daughter from doing what they might love to do, a dental career, like a dentist, assistant, hygienist, I would not do that. Like they were talking so strongly. And I thought, am I missing something? So I think it does depend on the office where you work too, you guys. So all in all, I love this profession. I would recommend it to anybody. But if you want benefits, if you want a pension, if you want to not have to deal with crazy patients sometimes, this isn't the profession for you. If you don't like teeth, this isn't the profession for you. If looking in a dirty mouth creeped you out, this isn't the profession for you. You know, it could go on. But do you guys get the idea? So please stay away from those negative Nancy's. If this is what you want to do, do it, own it. That's what I've been doing, you know, even I remember when I wanted to become a dental hygienist, people kind of wondered why, but I was also 10 years old. So people are thinking, why would you want a clean teeth? That's weird. You know, I didn't even know how much they made. I didn't know anything else behind it, but that's what I wanted to do. When I kept that up through high school, college, the whole works, people kind of said, but there's no jobs out there. Is that something you want to do? Which was true back then. There was no jobs. I was lucky to find one. And now we need hygienists. So if this is something you want to do, don't listen to other people. I am so afraid that that post is going to hinder so many potentials, you know, because there are students in that group. I don't want them to get a negative L look, right? If their teachers in their program are saying, yeah, you're not going to like this career, that would not go over well. Really bad, right? So yeah, I hope this helps. Think positive, love this profession like I do. I've been doing it for 14 years. Is it getting better? I wouldn't say better, but you know, there's good, there's bad to every job, but I wouldn't change anything for the world. So thank you guys so much for watching. Comment if you have any questions. Make sure to hit subscribe because I have been uploading videos often because people like to see them, which is so nice to hear. So thank you guys. Have a good Saturday. It's Saturday today and I'll see you guys in the next one.