Kara Vavrosky, RDHEP
Kara Vavrosky, RDHEP, is a co-founder and the chief content officer of Today’s RDH, an independent educational publishing company for dental hygienists, encompassing articles, a podcast, virtual continuing education events, and self-study continuing education. Today’s RDH was launched in 2018 after Kara built her social media presence with her largest following on her Facebook page, Dental Hygiene with Kara RDH, which was created in 2013.
An Oregon Institute of Technology graduate, Kara has a deep passion for spreading knowledge about the importance of oral health and its association with systemic health. Kara’s passion extends to helping other hygienists understand current protocols and evidence-based research – all with the goal of lifting dental hygienists and the dental hygiene profession.
Kara was recognized in 2020 as one of the Top 100 Women in Media for her entrepreneurship as a co-founder of Today’s RDH. In 2022, she was recognized by the American Dental Hygienists’ Association for their Standout Seven Award in the Entrepreneur category.
Kara lives in Vancouver, Washington, just outside Portland, Oregon, with her husband, Ben, and their four Chihuahuas. When she’s not working, Kara loves riding the Oregon Dunes on her quad, spoiling her Chihuahuas, and spending time with her close-knit family.
Ask Kara RDH: What is the best way to suggest perio treatment to a patient?
I just started my first dental hygiene job, and I’m having a hard time on how to suggest perio treatment and referrals. What’s the best way to explain perio to a patient and how to stress the importance not to leave deep pocket depths and bleeding untreated?
With time, the more patients you see and explain the need for referrals...
5 Ways to Reinvigorate Your Career as a Dental Hygienist
Disclosure: We value transparency at Today’s RDH. This article is sponsored content from Wrigley Oral Healthcare Program as part of our sponsored partner program.
For many dental hygienists, the road to becoming a licensed professional may not have been filled with rainbows and unicorns. After completing college prerequisites, there’s applying to a hygiene program or even several. Once accepted, getting through the...
Ask Kara RDH: Rumors Being Spread About Work Ethic
I recently graduated from dental hygiene school and will be returning to my hometown to find a job. I’m from a small town with about 20-30 dental offices, and I have worked at two of them. In the process of trying to find a job, I have discovered an untruthful statement about my work ethic, specifically, my punctuality. A...
Ask Kara RDH: Young Hygienist Doesn’t Scale Thoroughly
Our office has three hygienists; myself, who has been a hygienist for 35 years, my coworker “Lorna” who has been a hygienist 45 years, and our newest addition “Lucy” who graduated almost three years ago. Lucy gets done with ALL of her patients in 40 minutes. Lorna and I stay on time, but we usually aren’t as fast. The...
Ergonomics & 360° Dynamic Motion: A review of The Brewer Company’s 135AS & 135JS Series Saddle Stools
Disclosure: We value transparency at Today’s RDH. This review is sponsored content from The Brewer Company as part of our sponsored partner program.
As dental hygienists, we all know the importance of ergonomics. Hygiene program instructors stressed its importance every moment they could. “Shoulders down, elbows in, use your modified pen grasp, and sit up straight” are among a few phrases I...
Ask Kara RDH: Perio Maintenance Patients not Showing Improvement, SRP Again?
I am a new dental hygienist, licensed for about four months now. I see a lot of patients for periodontal maintenance. My concern with some more involved perio patients I’m running into is, during periodontal probing there isn’t a huge difference from the previous charting. Their pocket depths are ranging from 4-7 mm, OH is poor/fair, and it seems...
Ask Kara RDH: How Often Should I Sharpen My Instruments?
I am a new grad and started full-time at a new office. The hygienist I replaced sharpened her instruments once a month. I feel that is not nearly enough, but I know this office doesn’t like ordering new instruments often. My concerns are I don’t want to wear down instruments very fast by over-sharpening, and I don’t want to...
Ask Kara RDH: Other Hygienist Criticizing My Work to Patients and in Chart Notes
I work in an office one day a week. I am a new grad, and this is my first job. We recently hired a new hygienist with years of experience. She saw one of my SRP patients at their first recall recently. This patient has poor oral hygiene and up to 9+ mm pockets. She said that whoever did...
5 Reasons Why You Might Have Sensitive Teeth
Do you ever experience sharp pain, almost like a lightning bolt hit your tooth, when drinking a cold beverage, eating ice cream, or when breathing in cold air? Maybe sweet, sour, or hot food and beverages cause discomfort? Or even brushing and flossing gives you a zinger? If any of these sound familiar to you, you aren’t alone. It...
Ask Kara RDH: Full Mouth Debridement before Prophy
Since I’ve started at this office, I feel I have seen too many FMD patients. Patients that I believe, and have been treatment planned, as an adult prophy, however, the doctor is diagnosing as needing an FMD first. Patients that come in with heavy supragingival calculus and moderate/heavy plaque, I can understand in order to remove deposits for an...
Ask Kara RDH: Co-worker Underdiagnosing & I Have to Explain to Patient
What do you do if you have a patient that’s been coming to the same practice for 15 years as is treated by the same hygienist, but I am now seeing them due to a scheduling conflict, and the patient presents with moderate subgingival calculus and slight bone loss on X-rays? Because of this, it is recommended to the...
Ask Kara RDH: Inadequate Instruments when Temping
I am a new grad working as a temp hygienist with an agency. I’m noticing more and more that the offices I’m temping in do not have sufficient instruments at all! I know I was spoiled in school to have like 5 of everything, but now I’m working in offices that don’t have any curettes at all - no...
Ask Kara RDH: Student Feeling Overwhelmed with Seeing Patients in Clinic
I'm a student and am just starting seeing patients in clinic. I am having a hard time remembering how to find the correct working end of an instrument, detecting calculus, and all of it! Please tell me this is something that will come easier with more experience and time because I’m being very hard on myself and am overwhelmed!
With...
Ask Kara RDH: Only Polishing Children and Considering It a Child Prophy
My doctor wants to change the protocol in our office for the treatment of children. I’m concerned about the level of care associated with the change he wants to implement. He wants all children to be seen by a dental assistant (dental assistants are allowed to polish in my state with certification) instead of a dental hygienist. The hygienist...
Ask Kara RDH: How did you deal with stresses of dental hygiene school?
I’m currently a dental hygiene student in my second semester of my first year. It’s starting to get really tough, and I’m feeling the pressure. We’re just starting to see patients, and I’m feeling really lost with everything and discouraged. Being a dental hygienist is something I want very badly but I’m getting nervous that I will fail. Did...
Expand Your Hygiene Career By Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
The question comes up a lot: How do I expand my career outside of the clinical setting?
It is quite difficult to answer this question. Not because there are no opportunities, there’s actually many. It’s because there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to answer this question. It really depends on you, as an individual; including your particular goals, expectations, skillset, and what...
Dr. Esther Wilkins and a Century of Change
Dr. Esther Wilkins
In December 2016, the world of dentistry lost a remarkable and groundbreaking woman, just three days after her 100th birthday. Esther Wilkins, the "matriarch of dental hygiene" was first licensed as a hygienist in 1939, and presided over decades of revolutionary changes in oral health and dental practice.
Esther Wilkins' long career in the field spanned sweeping changes...
Ask Kara RDH: Should I Stay at My Current Office or Move On?
I’m a new grad. When I first was hired, my employer promised me 3-4 days a week, if not more. There are currently two hygienists, and they hired me as the third. I was filling in for a maternity leave, but since the office was expanding, he was going to keep me. Now that the other hygienist is back...
5 Infection Control Mistakes to Avoid Part 1
Patient safety and infection control are top priorities for hygienists. Surprisingly, there are many dental offices that do not adhere to the latest safety and infection control protocols. Some dental professionals continue to use outdated or ineffective infection control methods because they have always used them, while other dental professionals simply skip over required infection control training.
Below are five...
Why Hygienists Should NEVER Treat Patients with Active Oral Herpes
As a dedicated and meticulous dental hygienist, you may find yourself noticing small details that are unnoticed or dismissed by most people. So when a patient presents for her prophy with an active herpes simplex lesion on her lip (herpes labialis), your antennae immediately go up.
As you mentally determine the best course of action to take, you calmly begin to...