Ryan Cluff, RDH, MEd
Ryan Cluff, RDH, MEd, is a graduate of Northern Arizona University, where he earned his BS in dental hygiene and a master’s degree in education. He practiced dental hygiene for seventeen years. Ryan is passionate about hiking and anything that gets him outdoors. Any opportunity to experience something new is also something he is passionate about.
You Can’t Want It for Them: Raising Expectations of Oral Health
I can still see the faces of the patients who stumped me the most. They are people who I thought were going to be my biggest success stories but weren’t. They presented with halitosis, visible staining and calculus, dark red, inflamed gingiva, and were in just the initial stages of periodontal disease. They were otherwise healthy, successful people, and...
Licensure Exams: What Truly Conveys a Hygiene Student’s Competency?
The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) defines the competencies required for entering the practice of dental hygiene. The four core competencies are health promotion/disease prevention, patient/client care, community involvement, and professional growth and development."3
The five-page ADEA document breaks down these core competencies into five domains. Each domain was then broken into numerous individual competencies. The domain directly associated with...
Professional Diversity: What Does A Dental Hygienist Look Like?
I graduated from Northern Arizona University’s dental hygiene program in May 1997, following my father’s footsteps into a career as a dental hygienist. When I first started, I moved around a lot, trying to get settled with my young family. I finally ended up in my hometown, working in an office with my dad. The town had maybe a...
A Plea to Dental Hygienists to Get Outdoors
Today, more than ever, we live almost devoid of natural stimuli in our homes, in our cars, at work, and when we relax. Most of our experiences are manufactured for our comfort. For most people, their time outdoors consists of moving from a climate-controlled building to a climate-controlled vehicle, and this cycle is repeated for days, even years. Regardless...