Anne O. Rice, RDH, BS
Anne O. Rice, RDH, BS, has been a clinical dental hygienist for over 30 years and received her degree from Wichita State University. Her oral-systemic passion led her to found Oral Systemic Seminars in 2017, in which she now devotes her time, focus, and study primarily to dementia prevention and sleep hygiene.
She completed the Bale Doneen Preceptorship for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention for Healthcare Practitioners. In 2020 Anne became certified as a Longevity Specialist with the Alzheimer’s Research and Dementia Foundation, a Fellow with The American Academy of Oral Systemic Health, and in 2021 published her manuscript Alzheimer’s Disease and Oral-Systemic Health: Bidirectional Care Integration Improving Outcomes. The perspective article was part of a research topic: Integrating Oral and Systemic Health: Innovations in Transdisciplinary Science, Health Care and Policy. Anne is a consultant with Weill Cornell Medical Center’s Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic and is a consultant with Florida Atlantic College of Medicine under the direction of Dr. Richard Isaacson.
The Benefits of REM Sleep for Dental Professionals and Patients
You can’t open a dental industry magazine or social media page without seeing some information about sleep. Sleep apnea is a health crisis that affects almost a billion people worldwide. Dentistry is at the forefront of treating the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea, and, of course, we all should be screening for symptoms.
But this isn’t just another apnea article....
Patients with ALS: Don’t Let a Curveball Affect Your Hygiene Treatment
Years ago, when working for a dental practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I encountered my first patient diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The disease is often called Lou Gehrig's disease, deriving its name after an American professional baseball player who played for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939. I knew about Lou Gehrig and the disease both...
Dental Professionals: Their Careers Have Value Inside and Outside the Operatory
Remember the argument that has been around for years about the working Mom vs. the stay-at-home Mom? It was utterly ridiculous − the whole idea of us vs. them. There shouldn’t be a debate about it, just like there shouldn’t be a debate regarding hygienists who are in the operatory or out and their value to the profession.
Engaging in...
Research on Drug Suggests Future Possibilities as a Periodontal Antibiotic
While digging in the abyss of research studies, I fell across information about a potential new antibiotic that may have a chance to be utilized in the treatment of periodontal disease without drug resistance and would spare beneficial bacteria.
For many years, the standard of care for treating periodontal disease included scaling and root planing. We may sometimes adjunctively use...
Gene-editing Research Hints at Possible Treatment for Cold Sores
In May 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that around half a billion people worldwide are living with genital herpes, and several billion have oral herpes. While available antiviral medications help reduce symptoms, there is no cure.
A paper published in the science journal Nature Communications reported that a team of researchers were able to eliminate over 90% of...
Spinning Rooms: Dental Practice Considerations Can Help Patients with Vertigo
Vertigo is an umbrella term for a person who has a sensation of motion when they are not moving, and inner ear problems often cause it. Vertigo can also be caused by migraines and some medications, including those to treat high blood pressure, anxiety, or infections.
Dental providers who stay alert about patients' health histories can help our clients with...
Where the Wild Germs Grow: Dental Professionals Can’t Kill Them All
Thankfully, we are learning all sorts of great information about keeping bacteria at bay in the dental office. The roadmap to cleanliness in the dental practice is quite clear ‒ hand hygiene, water line maintenance, and sterilization. As they say, cleanliness is next to godliness and ethical standards.
I am not by nature a germaphobe. I should probably have more...
Awakening Too Early? The Solution May ‘Bee’ a Sweet Treat Away
I have a problem. OK, not just one but several. We are only addressing one today. I try every single trick for sleep on the planet. I know all too well the importance of a great nights' sleep. I study it and do my best, but that does not mean I get a perfect night's zzz's.
I overly track my...
Recare Visits, Rumination, and Those Endless Minutes
You’re in the zone at the place after data collection before the exam ‒ the time when dental hygienists use their secret sauce to remove the biofilm, calculus, or debris (aka junk). Dental hygienists are lost in thought and hopefully only good ones.
But it can be the time when we mull over something that is weighing heavily on our...
Coffee: When the Dental Patient Blames High Blood Pressure on Java
The Standard of care in dental offices includes taking a patient's blood pressure. This is almost step one in the dental visit following a thorough medical history surveillance. When a dental patient's blood pressure is noted as "high" by the clinician, the patient may reply with a variety of answers about why.
Dental patients are often uneducated about what constitutes...
Collaboration with Other Health Care Specialties? Dental Hygienists Can Blaze the Trail.
Some hygienists would like autonomy working separately from the traditional dental practice and without the restrictions of a governing body, dentists, who have control of our clinical careers. We may feel limited in what we can say, the use of our skills, or our value as dental hygienists are not completely tapped into.
Are we missing the opportunities to elevate...
Telomeres: Dental Hygienists Can Influence Patients’ Longevity
When you hear about someone living into their 90s, you immediately think what a wonderful success of life. Isn't longevity the goal? If you speak to many seniors living into their 90s, they may feel it's not all that it's cracked up to be. Many of us want to live a long life, enjoying our family and friends, but...
Dental/Medical Leadership: Santa Fe Group Closes Health Communication Gaps
Dental providers have been talking about oral-systemic health for many years. Some may feel it falls on deaf ears, but they fight the good fight.
Organizations such as the American Academy of Oral Systemic Health feature a bountiful array of continuing education classes speaking about the relationship between oral health and whole-body health. You can dial up courses on the...
Epileptic Patients: A Dental Hygienist’s Guide in Managing & Preventing Seizures
Our brain consists of millions of neurons that are linked by synapses in an elaborate network system, and this process of activity is called neurotransmission. The brain, as is sometimes speculated, houses more connections than there are stars in the Milky Way, and textbooks for years have estimated that there are "100 billion neurons" in the brain.
Neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel,...
75 Hard: Dental Hygienist Describes Vigorous and ‘Hard’ Journey
"We can do hard things" is a mantra that seems to be everywhere. Authors Glennon Doyle and Alan Packer wrote of the challenge. This isn't a new idea. President John F. Kennedy's "moon" speech in 1962 proclaimed, " We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but...
Kirtan Kriya: 12 Minutes that Help Relieve Dental Occupational Stress
Most of us understand the basic mechanics of yoga. It is a system of physical postures and breathing exercises that promote well-being and the calming of the mind. The literal meaning is "merging two into one." Yoga is picking up speed within the dental community to help with career stress and helping to reduce the physical pain that may...
Dr. Erin Hartnett: Nurse Practitioner Advocates for Oral Health
More than two decades ago, the U.S. Surgeon General's report titled Oral Health in America was a call to action for all health professions to play a role in reducing the burden of oral disease in America. A decade after that, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released both Advancing Oral Health in America and Improving Access to Oral Health...
Smoking Risks Higher in Women: The Dental Hygienist’s Role
It isn’t news that smoking is bad for your health. Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths each year and is the leading cause of preventable death. That equates to one in five deaths.1-3 More deaths are caused by smoking than human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle accidents, and fire-arm related incidents.4...
Dental Patient Video Messaging: Smile, You’re on Camera!
In 2018, my husband and I were interviewing college coaches for our son (and, no, not the Lori Loughlin kind of “coach”). A friend at a university recommended a company that could help us navigate the minefield of discussions.
My dear, sweet son had become a different soul in his teenage years. As I looked onto the horizon, I saw...
The Boomers: Enhancing the Dental Hygienist’s Communication Skills for the Elders
We all chose dentistry for different reasons. Our technical skills were developed and nurtured throughout college, but communication skills were never a clear focus in our curriculum, as far as I could tell. I think there is always the assumption that we had already developed great “people skills” by the time we entered college.
After graduation, many clinicians realize that...