Alan was joined by the incomparable Melissa Obrotka, also known as "The Badass Hygienist!" They recorded this conversation live at the Chicago Midwinter Dental Meeting. The episode dives deep into Melissa's journey in dental hygiene, her passion for progressive care, and her insights on the current state and future of the profession. Melissa shares the story behind her "Badass Hygienist" nickname, stemming from her proactive approach to improving patient care and her willingness to advocate for better technology and techniques. She recounts her experience transitioning to a periodontal prosthetics practice and the steep learning curve involved in maintaining complex implant cases as well as how she discovered "Guided Biofilm Therapy" (or GBT) a techniqu that she now teaches and uses clinically. Dr. Mead and Melissa also tackle some of the challenging issues facing dentistry today, including the hygiene shortage and potential solutions, the complexities of insurance-driven care, and the need for better communication and understanding between dentists and hygienists. Melissa offers her perspective on how hygienists can move beyond "polishing a paycheck" and embrace a more therapeutic and patient-centered approach. Some links from the show: itsthebadasshygienist (Melissa's Instagram) Guided Biofilm Therapy from EMS Join the Very Dental Facebook group using the password "Timmerman," Hornbrook" or "McWethy," "Papa Randy" or "Lipscomb!" The Very Dental Podcast network is and will remain free to download. If you’d like to support the shows you love at Very Dental then show a little love to the people that support us! -- Crazy Dental has everything you need from cotton rolls to equipment and everything in between and the best prices you’ll find anywhere! If you head over to verydentalpodcast.com/crazy and use coupon code “VERYDENTAL10” you’ll get another 10% off your order! Go save yourself some money and support the show all at the same time! -- The Wonderist Agency is basically a one stop shop for marketing your practice and your brand. From logo redesign to a full service marketing plan, the folks at Wonderist have you covered! Go check them out at verydentalpodcast.com/wonderist! -- Enova Illumination makes the very best in loupes and headlights, including their new ergonomic angled prism loupes! They also distribute loupe mounted cameras and even the amazing line of Zumax microscopes! If you want to help out the podcast while upping your magnification and headlight game, you need to head over to verydentalpodcast.com/enova to see their whole line of products! -- CAD-Ray offers the best service on a wide variety of digital scanners, printers, mills and even their very own browser based design software, Clinux! CAD-Ray has been a huge supporter of the Very Dental Podcast Network and I can tell you that you’ll get no better service on everything digital dentistry than the folks from CAD-Ray. Go check them out at verydentalpodcast.com/CADRay!

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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