A Tale of Two Hygienists Podcast
Sep 26, 2026 · 36 min · 14 segments
Jessica and Dave welcome Dr. Pamela Ray to discuss how hygienists can improve periodontal communication, help patients take ownership of their disease, and guide them toward informed decisions about…
Pamela S. RayGuestDavid TorresHostJessica AtkinsonHost
So, you know, what I say to the patients, you know, like if we want to look at the patients coming in, you know, sometimes they come in, they have a really good understanding of why they're there and other times a little less of an understanding.
If you're talking about, you know, kind of the spouse ordered patient, well, I'm here because they told me to be here.
You know, when you're going through and say, well, today what I'm going to do is we're going to do a comprehensive evaluation.
We're going to be looking at your gums and how, you know, how healthy your gums are.
And as we go through that, I'll actually use, you know, explain to the patient as I'm doing the clinical examination, what each part of that examination is about and why I'm doing it so that they can actually say, oh, you know, why are you feeling down around my neck? You know, well, with every time we see the patient, we do oral cancer screening.
How many doctors actually give you permission to stick your Stick your tongue out at them.
But the whole thing is what I call co-discovery, allowing them time to understand.
I think the other thing that I have control of that hygienists don't have control of is Because a lot of times, you know, I'm allowed to say we're going to gather all the information.
There's no charge for that appointment, but it's really a time for me to sit down and go over my findings with you.
So, so as a periodontist, I have the luxury of interjecting the idea of a two appointment close, where all of the things that we're learning.
So, you know, what I say to the patients, you know, like if we want to look at the patients coming in, you know, sometimes they come in, they have a really good understanding of why they're there and other times a little less of an understanding.
If you're talking about, you know, kind of the spouse ordered patient, well, I'm here because they told me to be here.
You know, when you're going through and say, well, today what I'm going to do is we're going to do a comprehensive evaluation.
We're going to be looking at your gums and how, you know, how healthy your gums are.
And as we go through that, I'll actually use, you know, explain to the patient as I'm doing the clinical examination, what each part of that examination is about and why I'm doing it so that they can actually say, oh, you know, why are you feeling down around my neck? You know, well, with every time we see the patient, we do oral cancer screening.
How many doctors actually give you permission to stick your Stick your tongue out at them.
But the whole thing is what I call co-discovery, allowing them time to understand.
I think the other thing that I have control of that hygienists don't have control of is Because a lot of times, you know, I'm allowed to say we're going to gather all the information.
There's no charge for that appointment, but it's really a time for me to sit down and go over my findings with you.
So, so as a periodontist, I have the luxury of interjecting the idea of a two appointment close, where all of the things that we're learning.
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