 Hello, everybody. I am back. Andrea Maeski here with dental health tutoring. I just did a video previously about how I've been in dental profession for 14 years and What I feel when people ask me, so should I become a dental hygienist? Is it a good thing to get into yes or no because you will always hear people say yes or No, do not do it. So I did share my own opinions in the last video So have a look at that if you would like to see it But yeah, so in this one what I want to talk to you guys about are things that I have learned the past 14 years what I love about the profession and what I don't love and just kind of how it is Okay, because I know when I was this when I was a student I became a dental hygienist at 19. I loved hearing about what other dental professionals said You know what they loved about it what they didn't love so then maybe I could learn a thing or two from them So just quickly a quick recap So I started dental assisting. So I became a dental assistant when I was 19 I became a dental hygienist about four years after that maybe five years. I'm not sure something like that Yeah, about five or six years I became a dental hygienist after that because I did work in the office for a while being a dental assistant And then I said I kind of would like to be dental hygienist now that is always what I wanted to do But I was just kind of taking my time making the money to save up for dental hygiene Um, I took the program twice because I did not fail But my first school went bankrupt three weeks three weeks before I was supposed to graduate So I took the program twice, but I do I talk all about that in one of my other videos So we won't go into that too much and then I became a restorative hygienist a little while after that So I've been doing restorative hygiene for about four years. Okay, so a lot, okay So I've been in the profession for a while. I became a tutor I I started my own tutoring company at 19 So as soon as I became a dental hygienist, I started or I'm sorry a dental assistant I started tutoring dental assistants because I just loved it And now when I became a dental hygienist, I started tutoring dental hygienists and then now I tutor dental assistants and dental hygienists So collectively, right? So I have owned dental L tutoring since I was 19. So a long time But what I've learned in my 14 years in this profession is you guys it's normal to have ups and downs Okay, as with any occupation you will love it some days You will want to quit the next day You will love it the day after that and then you'll want to quit again the day after that You will work in healthcare, which means you will see all kinds of patients Okay, you see patients who love you. You see patients who hate you You will see patients who you can just tell they're having a bad day because they walk in and they're like, okay Just so you know, I don't like seeing the dentist So don't hurt me. Do not clean too much. Just clean my teeth. I have a meeting at 10 I gotta go, you know, you will see weird patients like that You will see patients who come in and they love you. They won't stop talking They they just love you so much, but you're thinking, okay, I gotta stay on time here Can you please um, breathe up? Do I have to clean your teeth and get you out of here? To see my next patient. So I'm not too far behind So you will see tons of people you work in healthcare So that means you will have good days and bad days Your good days and bad days depend on the patients you see if you're half an hour behind schedule Because your first patient of the day was late and then your second patient likes to talk for another 20 minutes You will that will probably be a bad day for you because you will be exhausted by the end of the day You will probably miss miss lunch. Your patients don't care. They don't think that you haven't had lunch They don't know they they're they're mad at you because you're running behind But it just it is what it is and then you will have amazing days where you're early for every single patient You are running on time your next patient cancels. Yes, we don't like when patients cancel But we also love it because it means we can take a break We can take it easy. We can stock up the room whatever So good days bad days that comes with the territory. I have worked full time Six days a week when I was a dental assistant and then as a dental hygienist also you will work evenings I don't like working evenings, but that just is what it is. You work in healthcare people want to come in the evening times Um, I worked full time for a while. Um, I couldn't even tell you how long I'd say until I was maybe 29 I'd say so I started age not age 19. I was working full time I'd say up until about age 29, but then I became Not tired, but I just I didn't want to work full time anymore My tutoring business was picking up. So I found after work. I was working on tutoring Prep and then I would tutor live on the weekend. So I was always working always doing something So then I said to myself. Well, why don't I just tutor more work from home? It's a lot less taxing on the body I'm not dealing with people all day every day because you're exhausted, right? So then I decided to Tutor full time. So I was not doing hygiene at all You guys I loved it. I did I loved it. I could wake up when I wanted to wake up I didn't have to worry about not eating lunch because I was behind I didn't have to worry about Crappy patients. I didn't have to worry about politics at the office like, oh, you want to take a day off Well, I need two months notice. Okay. No, I can't give you too much Um two months notice because this is just what it is, right? Um, if you're sick I didn't like the politics of oh, can I call in sick for work today? Oh people are going to be mad People are going to be talking about me because I'm sick again. Yes. People get sick more than once a week, you know, you know Just whatever Um, or, you know, yes people are sick But then they need three days off not half a day and then to come back to work No, it doesn't work that way, right? So I did love not having to deal with the politics of it But then I quickly realized I think it took six months that I missed hygiene I did I missed hygiene. So now I work two days a week and every other Friday. I tutor full time. I love it Okay, I love it. I love it. So The moral of that whole story is is you have to be happy If you are working full time even six days a week and you're burnt out and you're exhausted You can't do that to yourself Cut back your hours. You are in dental hygiene even dental assisting You can do that if you're in the office where you can't because just whatever reason Quit, okay Hand them your letters saying whatever you want to say I could help you with that if you want to because that's what I did Um Quit you guys and find something where you're able to work full time I do understand that you might not be able to quit because you can't afford it But then you have to look at other things because if you're stressed if you're tired if you hate your life What's the point? Honestly? What's the point? So in my 14 years in the dental profession? That's what I did learn Honestly, if you don't like the office if something isn't working for you if the hours aren't working for you Quit find something else or at the very least look for something else Look for something else until you find That office your first office will not be the most amazing office You have worked in your second office might be horrible That you're thinking why am I in this profession? Keep looking for that office you guys. I have worked in Um, just off the top of my head. Maybe six offices Two of them in particular were so bad That I tempt once and I didn't go back. I couldn't believe that an office could be run like that You know half an hour appointments. They sterilize their instruments, but you know not properly Um, they just didn't care about patients The dentist didn't talk to you or the patients just a bad vibe, right all around You will find offices like that. That's not the only office out there. Look elsewhere Okay, look elsewhere until you find that office because you can work full time if you want to You can work part time all of it Um, another piece of advice Ask for that raise. I do have um, at least two or three videos on how to ask for a raise Watch them. You will get a raise. Okay. If I can say this I have had a 100 success rate getting a raise. I'm not talking about getting a 20 set raise I'm talking a five dollar raise. Okay And the people that I have helped, you know The staff in my offices that I have helped They have all gotten a raise so watch those videos ask for a raise every year Every single year. I'm not saying ask for a five dollar raise every single year But ask for a raise every single year If you don't get that raise ask for another sick day then Ask for two extra sick days Ask for some extra vacation time Ask for some type of incentive if you don't get that raise You should be getting something every single year. Okay, it's called inflation. Okay, those dental those Dentists who own the offices their fees do go up a little bit sometimes not every year But they do go up they are charging their patients enough they can afford to give you a raise If they can't leave Leave if you haven't had a raise in five years and they won't give you one leave Or if you don't want to leave then negotiate say, okay If you can't give me a raise and I would like a day off or I want to work in extra five hours a week How can we make that happen negotiate? But I talk about all of that in one of my other videos. So have a look That is something that I have learned Another thing is if you have crappy staff excuse my language If you have Have staff that you don't like that are negative nancies that are that are mean to you that are rude to you Quit look elsewhere Seriously, I'm not even kidding look elsewhere because I have been there. I have done that Where just a staff member doesn't like you it's one thing to not like you But you know because we all can't love everybody, right? But we can be civil I would never treat anybody With any disrespect in any way, but there are people out there that would Talk to your office manager talk to whoever you you you can who can actually make the situation change If it doesn't change quit it's not worth it. I'm serious It's not worth it if they want to keep a member. That's that's mean That's a negative Nancy that doesn't do his or her job. You don't want to work there. Okay If you need help with this, let me know because I am a firm firm believer on you don't want to work somewhere every day where there's a Negative Nancy that you are like, oh, I have to go to work again. She's She is going to be there or oh, he's going to be there. Oh my god. You don't want to do that You are in the position to quit if you can't afford it. Okay. I do I do understand that Look for another office and keep trying. There are a lot of negative Nancy's out there So even if you've worked in 10 offices Six of them probably have had those negative Nancy's. Okay um, let's see Those are kind of the main ones. Those are the types of things that people ask me about like Oh, can you talk about if there's a mean staff member? Oh, can you talk about if I haven't had a raise in like 10 years? What do I do? Is dental hygiene a good profession? You know, these are the types of things that people ask me So if you have a question if you would like to ask me something how I feel about this After after 14 years, let me know. I am happy to talk about it So feel free to comment below if I get a lot of the same question a lot of the same comment Then I'll make another video. So thank you guys so much for watching as always. I've been totally honest with you So thank you for watching and I will see you guys in the next one. Bye