As this year comes to a close, one truth stands out. Our profession carries a level of preventive power that dentistry has not fully honored, and the medical world urgently needs us to claim it. Reflection is not a pause. It is the foundation for a reset. And every meaningful reset begins with an honest look at where we are and where we want to rise next.

We see patients more frequently than any other provider.

We have been educated and trained to identify inflammation long before it becomes a medical diagnosis.

We have been educated and trained to recognize systemic risk before it becomes a crisis.

Together, we hold the ability to shift healthspan across an entire population.

Yet while science pushes us forward, some policy decisions pull us in the opposite direction. The recent effort to promote legislation for Oral Preventive Assistants (OPAs) rather than strengthening registered dental hygienists' clinical expertise moves us away from proper prevention. It widens disparities, weakens public health outcomes, and fails to help our medical colleagues understand the profound impact of our work.

Dentistry cannot expect to be taken seriously as a medical partner if it continues to elevate models that minimize the very providers trained to detect early disease and support systemic wellness.

If we want our profession to be free to practice at the level of prevention that prevention demands, our collective actions in the operatory each day matter and shape a shared future.

Looking Ahead

As we step into a new year, here are five steps every dental hygienist can re-integrate into their workflow to confidently move our profession forward and make prevention impossible to overlook.

1. Begin with a thorough medical health interview.

Go beyond the intake form and have a real conversation. Understanding medications, diagnoses, sleep quality, inflammatory conditions, and family risk reveals the systemic context for oral findings.

2. Take blood pressure at every adult visit.

Hypertension is often silent. Early detection saves lives and strengthens dentistry's role in systemic health. Periodontal inflammation is strongly associated with cardiovascular disease, and multiple systematic reviews from 2020 through 2024 confirm that individuals with periodontal disease have a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and vascular events. Treating periodontal inflammation has also been shown to lower systemic inflammatory markers, such as CRP and IL-6, both of which play a central role in cardiovascular risk.

3. Perform a comprehensive oral cancer screening and airway assessment for every patient.

Including extraoral and intraoral evaluation, lymphatic assessment, careful observation of tissue changes, and a focused review of airway and sleep patterns. Airway compromise and untreated sleep apnea increase cardiovascular risk and can lead to severe and preventable health consequences. Early identification in dentistry is one of the most powerful contributions we make to public health.

4. Assess periodontal inflammation with intention and accuracy.

Bleeding, tissue texture, periodontal pocket depths, recession, furcation involvement, and mobility are foundational indicators of inflammatory burden. This assessment is essential, not optional.

5. Disclose biofilm for every patient at every visit.

When patients can see their disease, they understand it. When they understand it, they change. Visibility is the catalyst for a behavior shift.

These steps are not extras. They are the foundation of effective prevention and the most straightforward path to elevating our profession, supporting our medical partners, and protecting patients from avoidable disease.

Yet I hear many professionals express the same concerns:

How can this be done in a forty-five-minute appointment? There is no time.  

My equipment is outdated. I cannot remove disclosed biofilm with what I have.  

Patients only want what their insurance covers.

If these thoughts arise as you read this, it is time to examine what you have accepted as your working environment.

Compliance with restrictions that prevent comprehensive care does not serve the public. It does not support medicine. It does not reflect the level of clinician we are capable of being. When we place care first, production follows. It has always followed.

Here is our chance as a profession to take a moment to look inward and ask the questions that matter.

What have we normalized?

What have we allowed?

What have we decided is acceptable, even when it does not align with the clinician we want to be?

What work are you willing to do to make our profession what it was designed to be?

What is in Our Power to Change?

A shift begins with one small decision supported by a repeatable habit.

Use this formula to anchor your next level of practice.

I will integrate a new habit either after or before a current habit.

1. After seating each patient, I will review their medical history and take their blood pressure.

2. Before I begin debridement, I will disclose biofilm so the patient can see their disease.

3. Before instrumentation, I will assess inflammation with intention and accuracy.

If we want the world to see us as healthcare providers, we must speak as healthcare providers, thereby instilling pride and credibility in our role.

What will you call your preventive visit?

What will you call your therapeutic visit?

How can your words create clarity for your patients and credibility for your profession?

The goal is not to become a tooth scraper. That is an outcome. The goal is to embody the identity of a clinician who provides comprehensive functional healthcare, prioritizing patient health and wellness.  

Identity shapes behavior.  

Behavior shapes outcomes.  

When identity rises, everything rises with it.

PS - this same formula works to instill behavior change with your patients.

Want to see how our collective actions can start a movement?

Your Call to Rise

A dream does not become reality through magic. It takes sweat, determination, and hard work. ~Colin Powell

Are you ready to stop shrinking your role, elevate your standard of care, and become the clinician your patients, your community, and your profession need?

Begin with one shift. One habit. One decision.  

Your identity is your most remarkable instrument of change.  

The reset begins with you.  

The rise begins with all of us.  

References

Guieu, R., Deharo, J.-C., Maille, B., Crotti, L., Torresani, E., Brignole, M., & Parati, G. (2020). Adenosine and the Cardiovascular System: The Good and the Bad. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(5), 1366. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9051366

Li, W., Zheng, Q., Meng, H., & Chen, D. (2020). Integration of genome-wide association study and expression quantitative trait loci data identifies AIM2 as a risk gene of periodontitis. Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 47(5), 583-593. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpe.13268

Teeuw, W. J., Slot, D. E., Susanto, H., A. Gerdes, V. E., Abbas, F., P. Kastelein, J. J., & Loos, B. G. (2014). Treatment of periodontitis improves the atherosclerotic profile: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 41(1), 70-79. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpe.12171