The Dental Handoff

Episode 211 | From Clinical Burnout to Dental School Faculty: A Hygienist Career Transition Story | Tiffany Bairos, RDH, MPH

Most hygienist career transitions start with burnout and end with uncertainty. Tiffany Bairos, RDH, MPH, took a different path. After 18 years in clinical hygiene, a combination of physical wear, a research certificate, a temp job, a full-time leap, and a master's in public health brought her to a faculty role she had not planned and could not have mapped.   She now teaches caries risk assessment to dental students at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston. She is the only person in her department without a doctorate. And she is building a course and coaching program for dental practice owners who want to stop losing the hygienists they spent time and energy hiring.   In this episode of The Dental Handoff, Dr. Kelly Tanner sits down with Tiffany to talk through every stage of that journey, from the front desk job at 18 that started it all to the telehealth caries education model her students now complete as a formal competency.   This episode is for dental hygienists considering a move outside clinical practice, dental school educators, and practice owners who want to understand what their hygiene team actually needs to stay.   Subscribe to The Dental Handoff on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. New episodes every week. Connect with Tiffany Bairos, RDH, MPH: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-bairos/ Where to Find Dr. Kelly: Let's Connect! Book a Call today to see how I can help you create high-performance teams, discuss educational programs, or how I can be of assistance. https://calendly.com/drkellytanner/30min [https://calendly.com/drkellytanner/30min] Visit us at https://www.nextleveldentalhygiene.com [https://www.nextleveldentalhygiene.com/]

Episode 210 | Practicing Dental Hygiene in Germany for 38 Years in a Country That Never Recognized the Profession | Carmen Lanoway, RDH, BScDH

Global dental hygiene is a growing profession recognized in over 30 countries. Germany is not one of them. Anyone can use the title. Anyone can claim it. And a six-hour course can technically qualify an assistant to scale subgingivally.   Carmen Lanoway, RDH, BScDH, has practiced inside that system for most of her 38-year career. She is currently Secretary of the International Federation of Dental Hygienists, IFDH, serving the 2024 to 2026 board. She works at the Huerzeler/Zuhr Clinic in Munich, one of Europe's most respected periodontal and implant centers. She has co-published in Quintessence International, lectured across Germany and the UK, and is the person that referring practices call when every other option has failed.   In this episode of The Dental Handoff, Dr. Kelly Tanner sits down with Carmen to talk about what 38 years of practicing in an unregulated system actually teaches you about clinical standards, professional advocacy, self-awareness, and the kind of earned respect that no credential can manufacture.   This episode is for dental hygienists, dentists, and practice owners who want to understand what global dental hygiene actually looks like and what building a career on clinical excellence without a system to back you up requires as a human being.   Subscribe to The Dental Handoff on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. New episodes every week. Connect with Carmen Lanoway, RDH, BScDH: Instagram: @carmrdh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-lanoway-8721272b/ https://www.bulbapp.com/CarmenLanowayRDH/portfolio [https://www.bulbapp.com/CarmenLanowayRDH/portfolio] Clinic: Huerzeler/Zuhr Clinic, Munich, Germany Where to Find Dr. Kelly: Let's Connect! Book a Call today to see how I can help you create high-performance teams, discuss educational programs, or how I can be of assistance. https://calendly.com/drkellytanner/30min [https://calendly.com/drkellytanner/30min] Visit us at https://www.nextleveldentalhygiene.com [https://www.nextleveldentalhygiene.com/]

Episode 209 | Hormones, Women's Oral Health, and the Future of Dental Hygiene | Barbara Tritz

Barbara Tritz returns to The Dental Handoff to discuss the powerful connection between hormones and oral health. Women with excellent oral hygiene are developing sensitivity, dry mouth, bleeding gums, tooth decay, and bone loss. Barbara explains why the answer is often not brushing harder but understanding what is happening biologically inside the body. Subscribe to The Dental Handoff on Apple Podcast and Spotify. New episodes every week. Connect with Barbara Tritz: Website: https://queenofdentalhygiene.net [https://queenofdentalhygiene.net] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-tritz-2021 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-tritz-2021] Email: contact@queenofdentalhygiene.net / barbaratritz@gmail.com [barbaratritz@gmail.com] Where to Find Dr. Kelly: Let's Connect! Book a Call today to see how I can help you create high-performance teams, discuss educational programs, or how I can be of assistance. https://calendly.com/drkellytanner/30min [https://calendly.com/drkellytanner/30min] Visit us at https://www.nextleveldentalhygiene.com [https://www.nextleveldentalhygiene.com/]

Episode 208 | Public Health, RDHAP, and a Career Built Beyond the Operatory | Jessica L. Woods, MPH, RDH

There is a version of dental hygiene most hygienists never encounter. No production targets. No same-day schedule pressure. Care measured by how many lives you reach, not how many patients fit in the hour.   Jessica L. Woods, MPH, RDH has been living that version for over a decade. A clinician who spent years in public health and alternative practice settings, she was the first hygienist employed by a county health department in the state, and ran one of the largest zero-to-five oral health prevention programs in the country before moving into national speaking and consulting work.   In this episode of The Dental Handoff, Dr. Kelly Tanner sits down with Jessica to talk about what the RDHAP path actually looks like, why salivary diagnostics are shifting the hygiene role toward a true medical model, and what the oral health connection to fertility means for patients and providers who have never heard it discussed. Jessica also opens up about losing her father to suicide and why mental wellness has become part of her speaking platform.   This episode is for dental hygienists, dentists, public health professionals, and practice owners who want to understand the full range of what hygiene can be and do. Subscribe to The Dental Handoff on Apple Podcast and Spotify. New episodes every week. Connect with Jessica L. Woods, MPH, RDH: Website: executiverdh.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/executiverdh    Where to Find Dr. Kelly: Let's Connect! Book a Call today to see how I can help you create high-performance teams, discuss educational programs, or how I can be of assistance. https://calendly.com/drkellytanner/30min [https://calendly.com/drkellytanner/30min] Visit us at https://www.nextleveldentalhygiene.com [https://www.nextleveldentalhygiene.com/]

Episode 207 | Scope, Autonomy, and the Case for RDH-JDs - Dr. Derik J. Sven, DHSc

In this episode of The Dental Handoff, Dr. Kelly Tanner sits down with Dr. Derik J. Sven, DHSc, RDH, CDT. He is a doctoral researcher, 2025 to 2026 VDHA President, ADHA Fellow, and one of the most clear-eyed voices on hygiene workforce policy in the profession today.   Dr. Sven's perspective is genuinely rare. He grew up in a dental laboratory, pursued a seminary education, was rejected from one hygiene program and accepted by another, and spent ten years earning advanced degrees while practicing clinically. His doctoral dissertation at The George Washington University mapped scope of practice across all 50 states against four decades of political and regional cultural data. The findings challenge what most hygienists assume about why their scope looks the way it does.   The conversation covers the real mechanisms of hygiene burnout, why the dental association's Missouri pilot project doesn't meet basic research standards, how supragingival scaling without full debridement creates oral dysbiosis, and why Dr. Sven believes the most strategic career move for a hygienist who wants to shape policy may not be another master's degree. It may be law school.   For RDHs questioning what their license actually allows, dentists who want to understand workforce dynamics, practice owners navigating team culture, and anyone in dentistry who wonders why the same degree produces dramatically different careers depending on where you live. You'll Learn: * Why regional culture predicts scope of practice more reliably than political party affiliation * What the dental association's Missouri pilot project actually measured. A customer satisfaction survey is not a health outcome study. * How supragingival scaling without full debridement creates oral dysbiosis and patient harm, regardless of who performs it * The way private equity and DSO production tallies are quietly bending clinical decisions toward unnecessary restorative intervention * Why hygienist law school may be the most strategic career move for RDHs who want to shape policy and what the prerequisites actually are * What 1 percent of 220,000 hygienists choosing a JD would mean for antitrust arguments in state legislatures * What practicing with full autonomy in Colorado feels like compared to a supervision-heavy Southern state Subscribe to The Dental Handoff on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Podbean. New episodes every week. Connect with Dr. Derik J. Sven, DHSc, RDH, CDT: Website: drderikrdh.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/derikjsven Instagram: instagram.com/drderikrdh YouTube: youtube.com/@drderikrdh Facebook: facebook.com/drderikrdh TikTok: tiktok.com/@dr..derik.rdh Where to Find Dr. Kelly: Let's Connect! Book a Call today to see how I can help you create high-performance teams, discuss educational programs, or how I can be of assistance. https://calendly.com/drkellytanner/30min [https://calendly.com/drkellytanner/30min] Visit us at https://www.nextleveldentalhygiene.com [https://www.nextleveldentalhygiene.com/]