Nicole Howell, RDH, BSDH
Nicole Howell, MSHS, BSDH, began her career as a dental assistant in 2003
and continued working in the dental field until she received her Associate
Degree and dental hygiene license from Trident Technical College in 2014.
Although she focuses her efforts primarily on clinical supervision and part-time
patient care, her true calling lies with public outreach, teaching, and motivating
others to push past personal barriers and achieve their goals, both big and small.
Feel free to connect with Nicole at www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-howell-rdh-
bsdh-a29302150
Burning Mouth Syndrome: The Dental Hygienist’s Role in Assessment and Treatment
The dental hygienist's role is often only associated with cleaning teeth and discussing home care habits. Many patients are seen on a rotational basis, and a dental hygienist can easily fall into the habit of running through the same routine, patient after patient. What happens, though, with a patient who describes a set of symptoms with seemingly no clinical...
4 Tips to Help Achieve Patient Compliance
We hear about seemingly difficult patients quite often. “My patient was so difficult.” “I can’t believe my patient would possibly tell me he is OK with such poor oral health!” We may even be guilty of making some of the preceding complaints.
As clinicians, the care we provide is reliant on the amount of success we can achieve in gaining...
Fostering Resilience for the Dental Professional: How to Avoid Burnout
Ask any experienced health-care professional what his or her goals are as clinicians, and the response will likely be something along the lines of placing patients first or doing what is best for those who need it. Regardless of the type of clinician, being able to guide an individual to health in any capacity requires the caregiver to retain...
Tips to Combat the Stress & Fatigue of Dental Hygiene
Without a doubt, recent years have provided much information for the history books. From unexpected changes in everyday conveniences and societal norms to natural disasters and increasing costs of daily living, most everyone has felt some sort of imposition on the sense of financial security or independence. For the dental community, in particular, managing business needs while ensuring the...
A Refresher to Caries Risk Management Strategies
Dental caries is defined as a “biofilm-mediated, sugar-driven, multifactorial, dynamic disease that results in the phasic demineralization and remineralization of dental hard tissues.”1 It is a progressive and chronic process enabled by the continuous provision of a sugar source, often combined with substandard oral hygiene habits, as well as other factors such as the mineral composition of the saliva...
Relax: Guiding Anxious Dental Patients to Calm Thoughts about Treatment
How many times have you been told by a patient, friend, or family member, “No offense, but I really hate going to the dentist?” Many dental professionals are already desensitized to the offensive statement, as well as other reactions that occur during an appointment. While some level of compartmentalizing is necessary for maintaining control of the treatment environment and...
Resetting the Dynamics of Healthcare Communication in a Pandemic World
Dental providers are regarded as the go-to for incidents of dental pain and oral health. We are the experts who can provide level-headed instruction and guidance to treat potentially burdensome illnesses and injuries.
From the outside, any given dental facility will display organization with its appointment system and systematic medical assessment procedures. Each treatment plan is formulated on a case-by-case...