You're listening to Health Lifelines, a podcast
brought to you by The Lifeguard Approach, your
trusted source for insights, solutions, and training
that empower you to become a lifeguard for your
patient's health and well -being. All right.
Good afternoon, everyone. This is not a mistake.
It is me, Rebecca St. James. I am here as the
guest host of Chris Duvall's podcast, The Health
Lifeline Podcast. And I am hosting today because
our guest is the one and only Chris Duvall. Hey
there. Good morning, or it's good afternoon,
I guess, where you are. That's true. It is. It
is. It is. So thanks for letting me be your guest
host today. It's truly an honor. And I'm excited
to talk about the last 25 years of growth in
your hygiene career. because it is unique, it
is exceptional. And in my opinion, it's really
what we should be striving for. So if you're
ready, let's just jump right in and let's talk
about it. All right. Let's go. Let's do it. Let's
go. All right. So when you look back at the last
25 years, what did being a hygienist mean to
you and what does it mean to you now? Well, when
I look back at the beginning of those 25 years,
it was just about doing my job right as a hygienist,
you know, cleaning teeth and educating patients
and that changed. Particularly it changed because
I had quit my job because I was severely burned
out. but I had to go back to work and I decided
to position myself with someone that had a very
different view of patient care. And his name
is Dr. Brian McKay. He was in Seattle where I
was. And so I decided my goal was I'm gonna position
myself with him and get a job as his hygienist.
And so what happened in the first week of working
there literally changed the course of my life.
And it changed the course of our patients lives
because he took me to lunch and he said, this
isn't what he said, but this is what I heard.
You know, okay. Right. I heard him say to me,
I want you to paint a much larger canvas of who
you could be for our patients. Okay. And I'll
give you continuing education, the technology
that you need, and a personal coach. Let's see
what you can do. And that set me off on a course
because I love a challenge. I believe that he
believed in my potential of what I could do.
Right. So after that time, my position as a hygienist
meant to me that it all became about saving lives
and advocating for wellness, teaching patients
how to save their own lives, how to advocate
for themselves, how to speak up and ask for help.
that process literally changed the trajectory
of patients' lives through very intentional,
compassionate care that I was able to provide
for them. And for anyone that hasn't heard it,
Dr. McKay, you did a podcast episode with him,
and we'll include that in the meeting notes so
people can hear that. Yeah, I'd encourage you
to listen to it because um it literally that
philosophy of care of how he wanted patients
treated is what spurred the growth in me and
one thing I want you to know is you don't have
to have a doctor that gives you that challenge
that helps you spur that growth in your own career.
You can do it yourself and sometime I'd like
to have a Discussion about that about how you
can do that. So yeah, we should do that So, okay.
So dr. McKay comes through and he lays the groundwork
Just to kind of spur you on and opens the door
and says this is you know, imagine what it could
be So now you're within that bubble. Was there
a moment or a patient that caused you? You know
within that world to suddenly shift from Traditional
hygiene as we know it to becoming what you are
now, which is an architect of change Well, there
was one particular moment, but it was when I
was on hygiene school and I remembered it. And
I had lost sight of the big picture of that moment,
but I had, well, one of my first patients in
hygiene school was my husband's grandfather.
And I found out what, well, I found what turned
out to be oral cancer on him. And at that moment,
everything changed for me as far as doing an
oral cancer screening. I knew I had the responsibility
to do more because I knew that every person that
sat in my chair has someone that loves them as
much as I loved Gary's grandfather. And so I
just put myself in the position of one of their
family members saying to me, did you do an oral
cancer screening? on my loved one. If not, why?
That's so important. Yeah. So that's what spurred
me on. I made the decision there that I would
always do an oral cancer screening on a patient
that sat in my chair, always. And I can honestly
say I have done that without fail over my, you
know, 50 year career. So that made an impact
on me. And I remembered that event and I had
started asking new questions when I started working
with Dr. McKay and I found that the answers were
not keeping up with traditional hygiene, if you
know what I mean. Yeah. I was learning more about
oral systemic health and traditional hygiene
didn't answer those questions. So I decided at
that time that I was going to become that architect
of change that was going to change how I took
care of patients. And I was going to be focused
on saving lives instead of the tradition of,
oh, you got to get your teeth clean every six
months. That's really what spurred me on to make
the change. And there's there's two things that
you hit on in there that I want to make sure
we cover. And one is about the questions you
ask. So I want to put that over here for now,
because the other. And it's so subtle, but the
way that you position it, that if you think about
if that's anyone's loved one and they come up
to you and say, did you do that? To me, that
that speaks volumes and shows your compassion
because your whole. viewpoint changed and it
became a lens of compassion and compassion something
I often hear you talk about you know in the work
that we do together as being your superpower.
So when did you realize or was it at that moment
that you realized that this whole clinical skill
that you've learned in school just wasn't enough?
Well it was a combination of things number one,
to have the freedom and the commandment from
Dr. McKay to approach patient health differently.
But more importantly, I think what happened in
my early years, by the time I turned 18, I had
lost two brothers and my father had died. And
that shifted me totally out of the usual attitude
about life as you're growing up. Unbeknownst
to me, and I realized it after I had started
work with Dr. McKay, I became at that time when
I was 18 or so, I became a risk management warrior
for my family. Because two of my brothers died
in childhood accidents that could have been prevented.
But it just grew in me this desire because loss
of someone is so painful that I wanted to be
that person in the family that became that risk
management warrior. My sister says, oh, we love
to go places with you because you do all the
worrying for us. And I want to make people I
want to make it clear to people I'm not a worrier,
but I will do whatever I can to manage risks.
And so I shifted that after I became much more
aware and with the way that Dr. McKay talked
to me that I realized that becoming a risk management
warrior was my key to helping patients get healthy.
And that's all he wanted. He wanted patients
to come back from re -care healthy without any
bleeding. And so I became that risk management
warrior for them. And I looked for what their
risks were and then how I could help them advocate
for themselves to dissolve those risks. And the
other thing that happened for me as I worked
in that environment is that I also became a values
hunter. A values hunter, what's that? Well, you
see, I became a values hunter for myself and
my family because of the loss that I had been
through or we had been through. When I look at
what we know about people's risks of heart disease
and diabetes and cancer and whatever, that became
my clue to how I could help them start advocating
for themselves like I did for my family in that
I asked them, I wanted to know what they valued.
So I asked the question as they walked back to
my operatory, I'd ask them, tell me about something
great in your life. And I did that to find out
what they valued. Because somebody will tell
me it's something great in their life. To me,
that means this is something I have to live for.
And so I could superimpose those values over
their risks. And I could say to them, because
you told me you have your first grandchild being
born and that you can hardly wait to watch this
grandchild grow up. I want to help assure that
you're here and healthy and have a long health
span to watch that child grow. So when you present
a risk factor or a recommendation of treatment
to someone in that manner, It changes the whole
picture in my opinion. Right. So I was able to
really by asking that question, tell me about
something great in your life. And then before
that asking them, tell me what you want for yourself.
Cause all patients want one of two things. They
either want to move toward the benefit of health.
or they wanna move away from the consequences
of disease. And how we treat them clinically
is exactly the same, but our message to them
and how we talk to them is totally different.
Right, right. Well, let's talk about that for
a second because you've even had to coach me
with some of the things we've worked on to the
way I phrase questions. And not only do you ask
value questions, but you don't ask the same traditional
hygiene questions either. No. Yeah, you often
don't do yes, no, you do these open -ended ones.
And so what's another example of an old question
that, you know, all hygienists ask, you're going
through your checklist versus the way you position
it now. Okay, let me reframe that. what you asked
me to talk about with my belief is that one of
the main reasons I gave up on traditional hygiene
was that when I started asking new and better
questions, what I found out was that traditional
hygiene wasn't keeping up. Okay, so you're talking
more like a Are you just getting into that comparison
of a hygienist that delivers versus a hygienist
that leads? But essentially, I'll give you an
example. Hygienists always say, how often do
you brush and floss? What other things are you
using to keep your mouth clean? I don't care.
about compliance questions and that's what those
kind of questions are. What I want to know and
the questions that I have started asking in the
past years is tell me about when your gums bleed
because that takes you and your patient from
talking about compliance to a question that starts
a conversation about systemic health. Do you
see the difference? I do actually. Yeah, it's
a huge difference. Because how do you go from
talking about how often do you brush and floss
to the fact that you're recommending some periodontal
therapy or some other type of therapy to manage
that patient's risk. It just makes this a much
easier and more acceptable conversation to approach
the patient from, we're gonna wanna manage your
risks and let's figure out what you value enough
to make some changes and to make some investment
in yourself. Right, because if they don't value
it, they're not gonna put forth the effort. Right,
but when the patients have those oral systemic
conversations about what links what's going on
in their mouth and how often and when their gums
bleed to their heart health and diabetes risk
and heart attack and stroke risk, that creates
new conversations. And to me, that is what I
mean by traditional hygiene wasn't keeping up
with the answers that I was getting. Got it.
So let's take a step back just for a moment.
When exactly did your understanding of this oral
systemic connection evolve? Probably really started
getting an understanding. See, when I went to
work for Dr. McKay, it was 2000. And so by 2003,
2004, there were things developing in the science
world that was changing how we needed to approach
our patients' care. And let me tell you one other
thing. What happened to me when I quit my job
because I was burned out? I actually know now
today that was moral injury. Oh. Not burnout.
There is a huge difference between moral injury
and burnout. Burnout is something that, you know,
you can go away to Bali and take a month's worth
of yoga classes and come back and feel refreshed.
Right. Moral injury wounds the sufferer much
deeper than that because it involves the understanding
of a person that how they're taking care of patients
is not how they would prefer to do it. But due
to practice constraints, insurance constraints,
attitudes of patients, your own limiting beliefs,
that's what moral injury is because that keeps
you from taking care of the patients. and really
changing the trajectory in the course of patients
lives and the course of your career. That's what
gets in the way of that. Do you think that's,
that's at the base of, and this is opinion, I
get that. Do you think that's what's the underlying
issue right now with the high numbers and hygienist
burnout as it's being called? Absolutely. I would
bet money on it. Yeah. Yeah, because you see,
when you change your outlook and your beliefs,
I mean, I developed the belief that I could help
everyone in some way or another. And I didn't
care how they showed up and how they decided
to approach me and what I was going to do with
them. There was a way around them to get to their
deep core beliefs of what they wanted for themselves.
And that was the first thing that I shifted was
Dr. McKay helped me understand that at that practice
there, we practice wants dentistry. And it is
about, we asked the patients, tell me about what
you want for yourself. If I had to go in and
work with a patient, and I didn't know what that
patient wanted for themselves, you might as well
put a three inch piece of duct tape over my mouth
because I wouldn't know how to talk. I wouldn't
know how to have a conversation with them because
I refuse to make assumptions about what people
want for themselves. I despise that when somebody
does that to me, when they assume what they think
I want for my health and wellness. Just ask me
and I'll tell you. And I think, you know, we've
talked about this on other podcasts, that I think
that's a huge shift that we are seeing in American
health care, at least in the US, that it's suddenly
the patients are starting to rally and advocate
for themselves. And, you know, I even do it in
my own health. Yes, I realize you went to medical
school, you're the expert. However, this is my
body. So let's do this together. And I've noticed
the huge, huge growth in my own health just by
doing that, by having those conversations. And
I know that some hygienists we've spoken to get
nervous about that because they think, oh, wow,
now it's going to impact the time that I have
with this patient. But that's not really the
case, is it? No, you see, behind all of this
was my belief that Every person that sat in my
chair is in what I call the danger zone. Okay.
So the first times I see them, I would have some
challenges and work to do to get them shifted
from the danger zone into the safety zone, because
that's where I believe that they wanted to live
from what they told me, no matter whether they
were moving towards health or away from disease.
And so I did and talked to patients in a way
that if we leave this bleeding go and not address
it, here are the consequences that can happen.
And we'd talk about, sometimes we would talk
about their parents' health. Tell me about...
Are your mother and father alive? No, they died
early. What happened to them? Well, my dad had
a heart attack at 55. So a lot of this stuff,
what goes on in families can continue to go on
for generations. So we just started talking about
what they wanted and here's how we could shift
you out of that danger zone. Here's what I recommend
that we do. And here's how we can get you living
into the safety zone as soon as possible. And
have you come back for re -care still in that
safety zone? Right, which is huge. Yes. For the
patient and the practice, both. Oh, yes. And
for me, particularly, I had never been in those
last 25 years so inspired. about hygiene that
I was in those last 25 years. And I still am.
And that's why I'm still out here continuing
to talk about it because it made such a difference
in me and more importantly in the patient. When
you can teach a patient how to stand up and start
asking questions. I mean, patients... Don't think
that they're in a place when they come in and
get their teeth cleaned to ask questions Exactly,
right. We all know the drill. We're gonna come
in We're gonna say sure I floss when we always
give them like half of the truth about all of
that Do a little polish the dentist is gonna
spend maybe five minutes with you and you're
out. We all know the drill We're trained. Yes,
and what I focused on was letting my patients
know every single one of them that I would be
excited to partner with them because I wanted
them to learn how to ask those important questions
and be thinking about that when they're on their
way back in for a hygiene appointment. Then I
know she's going to ask me if I brushed or flossed
and exactly flossing, but I did last night. So
does that does that count? Right. We all do the
last minute floss. And so when you're creating
these self advocates, I would think that also
really is a game changer on their end because
now it's not suddenly, ugh, I'm going in to get
scraped. This is a pain. I'm going to go talk
to Chris and my dentist and take another step
further in my health journey, or I'm going to
go tell them. how much better I feel because
we've done XYZ. I think it would change the dynamic
totally. Oh, it does. It does. And it's so rewarding
on both sides of that. I mean, really, I think
the purpose of a hygienist nowadays should be
to help patients learn how to self -advocate.
I think that's huge. I think I'd go a step further.
I would just say for everyone, in medical school,
out of medical school, if you're any medical
provider of any kind, self -advocate, partner
with the patients. Yeah. And I wrote a thing,
a blog with Amy Donin. the heart attack and stroke
prevention clinic or the bail don't need method.
And I talked about, I think there's four steps
in there of how to get your dental hygienist
and your dentist to partner with you. I put that
on the responsibility of the patient to ask their
hygienist to partner with them to help them get
what they want for themselves. You're listening
to Health Lifelines, a podcast brought to you
by The Lifeguard Approach, your trusted source
for insights, solutions, and training that empower
you to become a lifeguard for your patients'
health and wellbeing. This episode is just a
taste of the strategies and stories we will share
to help you and your patients live longer, healthier
lives. If you're enjoying the content, make sure
to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode.
As a reminder, this podcast and the opinions
expressed here are not a medical diagnosis. And
don't forget to explore our additional resources,
tools, exclusive content. courses and coaching
solutions from the Lifeguard Approach by visiting
our website at thelifeguardapproach .com. And
now let's jump back into today's episode. I do
agree it is our job to ask, but what's nice,
what I, what at least I'm experiencing and I
think others are, is now suddenly when we ask
these questions, you're not getting this, I know
everything, you just do what I say. You're suddenly
getting these responses from providers. I don't
know, I'll look it up, or ooh, I read this article,
or oh, let's try this on you, or tell me more
what you want, kind of like you were saying with
your questions. And it's interesting to be a
patient in this era and watch this shift happen.
So I would love to see it in dentistry as well.
It needs it. It all comes down to compassion,
in my view. A lot of people are talking today
about, well, I'm empathetic, I'm an empath, and
that is awesome. But I think what we need more
in this world is more compassion. on a moment
by moment basis with our patients and compassion
for ourselves. We have compassion for ourselves
and I think that's part of the problem with staffing
in dentistry today. But I can't begin to tell
you how impactful asking new and better questions.
is to your patient, yeah. Such a simple shift.
And I love, tell me about questions, not yet,
you know, everybody talks about don't ask open
-ended questions, which I totally agree with,
but I love the tell me about questions because
that gets the patient talking. about what the
reality is in their life and then how you can
help them shift that. Yeah. And I like that too.
And I believe you've got a blog that's got three
questions in it. We'll put that in the show notes
too, because that'll just give everybody a little
more insight into how to do this. So as you're
going through this process, how do you help patients
understand that these early screenings and preventions
aren't optional, that these should be you know,
life saving additions to every one of their dental
visits. Well, once you understand the science,
you know, about the same time I was coming into
view of the danger zone, the safety zone and
really helping patients create health and wellness.
Let me back up a minute. Before that time, I
had lost what I call my impact and influence
with patients. Because what I was telling them
to do was not creating the kind of change that
I wanted to see. And that's primarily why I gave
up on tradition. But at this time, we were coming
into knowledge about how pathogens impacted inflammation
and infection, both orally and systemically.
We were coming into knowledge about airway issues
and sleep disordered and sleep disordered breathing.
And all of this was driving the information that
was being made available to us to utilize for
change. And it was the stuff that kept me stuck
in tradition was I wasn't applying the new science
to patients. That's what I mean by traditional
hygiene wasn't keeping up. It didn't come out
equal to when I was seeing these systemic effects
that the questions that I was asking and the
information I was helping patients understand
didn't jive with tradition. So something had
to change. And that change had to begin with
me, not with the patient, not with the doctor,
not with the insurance companies, because I was
going to help patients lengthen their health
span to help them enjoy the things in life that
they valued, no matter what the insurance said
to me, whether I could or couldn't do that. I
don't care what insurance says because I know
how to relate to a patient in a way that will
help them stand up and say, I value that. So
I'm gonna do it whether or not my insurance helps
me or not. And I think, and again, I have a little
insider info on this, which is why I'm posing
the question this way. In my opinion, I think
that's why we're seeing such a huge shift in
dentistry to being private pay, non -insurance
pay practices, because then the dentist and the
team now have complete control over this is the
care this patient needs even though insurance
says I have to do these 15 steps first. No, let's
just do this. I know this is what we need. Yes
and so with that information in the early 2000s
what I did was I became hyper focused on helping
patients create a healthy biofilm or what we
used to call plaque because the science that
was coming out was to me overwhelming in its
understanding of why I had lost my impact and
influence with patients. Because scaling and
root planning is not going to put somebody with
periodontal disease into remission. It may help
a bit for short term, but long term until you
deal with the pathogens. the infection and the
inflammation. And until I was able to figure
out what was living in people's biofilm, my hands
were tied. Right. I would continue to lose that
impact and influence. So I can remember, I think
it was in 2005 or 2006, I was at the Chicago
midwinter meeting when Dr. Tom Nabors introduced
oral DNA. Oh, wow. find out what those pathogens
are in people's biofilm that are creating help
to create this infection and inflammation and
that went systemically. You know those pathogens
can create inflammation in the airway and in
the tonsils and down into the stomach you know
that your gut microbiome is so important. So
and then I started using some technology that
had just come out about that same time by Dr.
Kim Cooch and he developed a system to help balance
the biofilm. Now we're not talking about saliva,
we're talking about biofilm. Right. This is the
carry -free. Carry -free system. could help balance
the biofilm. And so I was all over that to bring
that into the practice and into our routine care.
See, one of the differences between the way we
approached patient care and a lot of offices
do, when we found a technology that I believed
in, it became part of the protocol. There was
no such thing as offering uh periotherapy say
to somebody a la carte um like well if you want
me to i can do an oral dna testing to see what
pathogens are do are causing your problem nope
uh it was it wasn't a choice it was just yeah
and the problem is when you ask a hygienist particularly
to explain the benefit of something that you
believe in, chair side, it'll all come down with
the patient asking one question. How much? How
much does it cost? And you see then you are getting
engaged in a conversation that's about cost and
not outcomes. Right. And technically it's still
cost either way. I'd rephrase it. We're talking
about financial cost versus health cost. True
a very different perspective and if you're sitting
here Telling probably cuz I'm on the other side
of this now, but sitting here saying something
that's now part of my Regular visit is going
to yeah, maybe cost a little bit more, but it's
going to gain me because I'm going to be healthier
Right. I lean that way now. So what I did with
dr. McKay is we raised the price of our therapy,
say if we're talking about periodontal therapy,
to include those things that we believed in so
that I didn't have to have those kinds of conversations
with the patient chair side. So when our treatment
care coordinator presented periodontal therapy
to a patient, they were shown what all was included
in it. but it wasn't a choice. Well, I'll take
this, but not that. There was no other choices.
And I think that is so important. When you believe
in something, you have those cost versus outcome
conversations with patients. Right. Make it the
baseline of your care. Because it's the right
thing to do. It is. It is. And this is one of
those things that I mean, I get kind of geeked
out about this stuff at this point, but because
of people like you and you know, Dr. Claire stags,
I really put so much more value and have so much
more respect for the entire dental world, which
I didn't know growing up because everything that's
happening in my body starts right here. Everything
from the food that I eat, how I breathe. It's
impacting my nervous system, my immune system.
It's mind blowing what we know now. And that's
to me why what you're doing is so critical. And,
you know, kind of on that as we go through this,
you've mentored and influenced, you know, an
entire generation of hygienists at this point.
So knowing all these amazing things that we know
now that are coming out about oral health and
how it impacts the body and these changes in
dentistry. What do you want to see as this next
wave of clinicians do differently? Well, help
them look at their care differently and really
realize that every time there was a Is a patient
sitting in your chair? Imagine this is someone
that you love dearly and how would you like them
taken care of? Yeah. And be that care that you
want for your loved ones and share that, be compassionate
enough to share that love because you know there
are many people that love that patient in your
chair, and they want the best for their loved
one. I like that. And one of the things I often
hear you say is to follow the science. Exactly.
The science will take you there of what you need
to be doing differently. and reach out, get a
mentor, find somebody that's already doing this
type of care. I'm not the only one. I may have
a little different spin on how I manage to take
great care of people. You know, most people talk
about when they look and they evaluate a hygiene
department and their level of care or their level
of health and wellness in the practice, they
look at their perio percentage numbers. And most
hygiene departments have a hygiene perio ratio
of maybe 10 to 14%. And in my practice, my perio
percentage ratio, which is the percentage of
perinatal involved codes in relationship to a
PROFI, which is a preventative procedure, my
perio percentage number averaged monthly between
78 and 82%. And I don't know of too many more
hygienists that have that kind of ratio. And
I'm bragging about it, but it's okay to talk
about it when you're doing it. And you can show
how in the background of that percentage, how
other people can get there too. So that's important
to me because it literally changed the course
of my life and the course of our patients lives
when you can have these kinds of conversations
and make this kind of change in patients. So
as we start to wrap up, I'm going to turn the
table back on you a little bit and make you talk
about yourself, which As I know you, I know that's
not something you like to do, but we're going
to do it because I really want to talk about
your legacy that you're leaving, specifically
what you've done in this last 25 years. And you
still keep going every day. There's something
driving you. So let's just start with what do
you hope people say about your impact 25 years
from now? Well, I hope they. think that I help
them make life -saving screenings non -negotiable.
To me, that is the purpose of a hygiene visit,
is to be able to identify those risk factors
and then manage those risk factors so they aren't
in play in whether or not a patient lives a long
and healthy life. And I would love to be known
for bringing compassion back into care. You know,
there's the Dalai Lama had made a comment about
compassion and he said, whether you're young
or old, rich or poor, there are times in your
life when you need help from others. And he says,
when you can give that kind of help to others
in a compassionate way, in a loving way, in a
way that benefits whoever it is that needs that
help. That's compassion. And there is a benefactor
from North Dakota that heard that That quote
by the Dalai Lama and he donated 100 million
dollars to UC San Diego and it couldn't be used
for cancer research HIV Alzheimer's Only thing
it can be used for is to develop an Institute
of Compassion This is what we are all what I'm
talking about here is how to develop a compassionate
way to take care of others. And I hope that could
be my legacy, is that more people will get involved
in taking great care of people, helping, truly
helping. You see, there's only one word difference
between empathy and compassion. And that is?
Action. So you can have all kinds of empathy
for people, but unless you take some action,
that turns empathy into compassion. And that's
what I want to be known for is that I took being
empathetic for others and I took action and turned
it into compassion about saving lives. Love that.
And that really does sum up what you do. So for
those that don't know, technically, I think you
are retired, but I work with you every day. So
I know you're not retired. You're still out evangelizing
and trying to build architects of change and
help hygienists and dental professionals. What
is it that drives you every day to still do this?
Well, I'm a woman of faith and I believe in where
my gifts have come from. and I have a responsibility
to share those gifts and to not leave this earth
with even one arrow less in my quiver of gifts.
So I'm out there trying to multiply the gifts
that God has given me and help others do the
same. There's a great book out It's called The
Last Arrow by Irwin McManus. And he talks about
not leaving this earth until you share your gifts,
share all of them. And I'll make sure that's
the show notes too. And having read that, because
Chris referred me to it, I highly recommend it.
It's a great book. So last question I have for
you. If you had to describe your journey in one
word, what would it be? Oh boy. Transformational.
Why? Well, it just created such change in me.
with Dr. McKay giving me that challenge and having
a belief in my potential. He said to me, 25 years
ago, all I want you to do is grow. And that took
a lot of the pressure and whatever off of me.
And I knew that he would walk along beside me
and help me whenever I needed it. But this was
my, this was my whatever to bear. I had to figure
this out. And I think that when you do that,
when you decide, well, and also when you have
a worthwhile goal. Right. Yeah. Time becomes
important. And for, as a hygienist, you know,
what we think about whenever somebody asks us
to introduce something new into the time we have
with the patient, we push back because we're
focused on removing tartar from people's teeth.
But when I had a new goal of helping patients
learn how to create health for themselves, and
when I worked in transferring them from the danger
zone into the safety zone, I had much more time
on my hands. So I had time to do five or six
life -saving screenings in the appointment. And
they became the reason why I continued on with
this is I so dearly, because of my childhood
experiences, wanted to save other people's lives.
So I didn't play a part in the sadness and grief
of a family losing a family member because I
didn't do something that could have impacted
their life. And that is part of what makes you
uniquely you. Yep. So I want to just sincerely,
from the bottom of my heart, thank you for trusting
me enough to come on your show and take over
for an episode and guide you through this conversation.
You are, as you know, one of my favorite people
on the planet and I love your mission. And just
thank you for letting me be a part of it. Oh,
you did a great job. Thank you. You made this
easy for me because I'm not used to talking about
myself. So I know. I know. And you did great.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Rebecca. That's
it for today's episode of Health Lifelines, brought
to you by the Lifeguard approach. I hope you
found inspiration and actionable insights to
support you and your patients' journeys towards
better health and more fulfilling lives. Remember,
every small step you take today builds the foundation
for a healthier tomorrow. If you enjoyed this
episode, please take a moment to rate, review,
and share the podcast with someone who could
benefit from it. Your support helps us reach
more listeners and grow this community of health
-conscious individuals and dental professionals
focused on becoming lifeguards for their patients.
For more tips, tools, and resources from the
Lifeguard Approach, visit us online at thelifeguardapproach
.com. Also follow us on Instagram, Facebook,
or LinkedIn at The Lifeguard Approach. Thank
you for tuning in. Until next time, stay informed,
stay inspired, and keep showing up as a lifeguard
for your patients at every single appointment.