A Tale of Two Hygienists Podcast
Aug 5, 2026 · 35 min · 11 segments
What if the way we measure competence in dental hygiene education is missing the bigger picture? In this episode of A Tale of Two Hygienists, Jessica and Dave sit down with Sara Taft to explore…
Sarah TaftGuestJessica AtkinsonHostDavid TorresHost
And I want you to give the listeners just a little glimpse on what goes into making a competent clinician.
Anybody who has not taught before, um, the hours we put in, the, you know, raking over the- Amen ... frameworks.
Um, working with our different, you know, students these days and what their expectations are, meeting where they're at technology-wise, personality-wise.
There are so many things that are going on, um, and personal too with our students.
You know, it used to be when I was in school nobody talked about their personal life and, and students are more open about their challenges these days, so I think it's important that we're addressing that.
And then meeting where they are to m- you know, help them become d- competent dental hygienists.
And do they have the skills that they need, the knowledge, passing the boards? But we really wanna protect our profession and prove competency, and it's really important that we hold that sacred and we, you know, have those values.
We protect our patients, and we prove that competency before we allow people to get licensed and do, you know, dental hygiene.
As a t- as a dental hygienist, things that kind of get my hackles up with this conversation of, uh, maybe allowing other professional lines of opportunity to treat our patients without any kind of schooling- Yeah ... or competency or any of the...
I get, I get really prickly because as a dental hygiene educator, I watch students not only become competent in their clinical skills, but also practice competency in their ethical skills- Yes ... and practice competency in their communication skills and practice competency in a number of different ways that then translates into treating the public well.
Like, there's this certain pressure or responsibility that we have as, uh, clinicians to be able to honor the patient, honor our careers, and being able to kind of, like, promote that.
I- uh, have there been any, like, a-ha moments looking back at all this data of saying like, "Okay, this is what we kind of have to work on even more," without pushing too much, where we're just turning students off and they're like, "Oh, it's too hard.
And I want you to give the listeners just a little glimpse on what goes into making a competent clinician.
Anybody who has not taught before, um, the hours we put in, the, you know, raking over the- Amen ... frameworks.
Um, working with our different, you know, students these days and what their expectations are, meeting where they're at technology-wise, personality-wise.
There are so many things that are going on, um, and personal too with our students.
You know, it used to be when I was in school nobody talked about their personal life and, and students are more open about their challenges these days, so I think it's important that we're addressing that.
And then meeting where they are to m- you know, help them become d- competent dental hygienists.
And do they have the skills that they need, the knowledge, passing the boards? But we really wanna protect our profession and prove competency, and it's really important that we hold that sacred and we, you know, have those values.
We protect our patients, and we prove that competency before we allow people to get licensed and do, you know, dental hygiene.
As a t- as a dental hygienist, things that kind of get my hackles up with this conversation of, uh, maybe allowing other professional lines of opportunity to treat our patients without any kind of schooling- Yeah ... or competency or any of the...
I get, I get really prickly because as a dental hygiene educator, I watch students not only become competent in their clinical skills, but also practice competency in their ethical skills- Yes ... and practice competency in their communication skills and practice competency in a number of different ways that then translates into treating the public well.
Like, there's this certain pressure or responsibility that we have as, uh, clinicians to be able to honor the patient, honor our careers, and being able to kind of, like, promote that.
I- uh, have there been any, like, a-ha moments looking back at all this data of saying like, "Okay, this is what we kind of have to work on even more," without pushing too much, where we're just turning students off and they're like, "Oh, it's too hard.
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