Are we protected or SLAVES to the DDS employer?

I am a veteran hygienist, and to this day can't understand how I am expected to work a 45 minute schedule including xrays,cleaning,notating suspicious areas, perio concerns,discuss needed tx:srp,night guards, clean up and set up along with bagging instruments for 8 hours and NOT getting a decent 1 hr lunch break let alone ANY breaks. Why are we expected to be "on our own"... I work pt with out any benefits, yet the office has other rdh's so in reality full time coverage for hygiene patients...How can small business (making $$$$$) not protect the labor rights of staff members.........I feel LUCKY if I go to the restroom before my 8+ hours are over!!!!! HELP!!!!

I've been a hygienist for 15 years and I know exactly what you mean. The last dr I worked for had me running 3 ops, sometimes 20 min for srp 2 quads, constantly yelling "I'm ready over here". I finally started slowing down and running behind hoping he would ask me why and when he did he asked me if I was sick. Before I knew what happened I said "I'm sick of you yelling all the time and pushing me for quantity with no regard for quality". I couldn't believe I said it! He was furious!!! Cussed me, told the ofc mgr to call 911 (she didn't) told me I was fired. Called me at home that night and told me I'd better have my a-- at work the next morning. To make a long story short, I quit a month later, but for that month if I had 15 min, I did 15 min worth. There were a few occasions I didn't do the propyh. I took the fmx, probed, and resch explaining to the pt I didn't have enough time on my schedule to do him/her justice with the cleaning. He went through the roof! I have been on unemployment for 3 months. Good luck dealing with jerks like him. And take a bathroom break! :)

Prophy mills at its best.

It is because of Hygienist like, who are willing to work on a 45 minute schedule, that Drs. are turning the rest of us into the "slaves" If you have enough business sence to sit down and show your DDS the profit of doing SRP's vs prophys, he just might consider changing the appointmnet time. But if he doesn't you need to either leave, or report him for malpractice... but don't forget, regardless of what DDS says, it is YOUR license on the line, and if you are not diagnosing due to the lack of time, that is YOUR problem! as well as his. Check out the case of Dr. Mark Breslerman, the most recent "victim" of misdiagnosing perio. go to health dc health board website, print out the case, and bring it to your boss, hopefully that will hit home, and if not-> leave! IF we all get together and show these periodontally uneducated dentists how Hygiene should be ran, they will not only give us appropriate amount of time, but will have a lot more respect for us!!!

To Marina N: I'm sure both me and the hygienist who started this discussion have enough business sense to set down and talk to the dr. She is a "veteran hygienist" and I have 15 years behind me. I cant't believe you are so arrogant to say it's because of hygienist's like us, at least that's what I think you said because you left out the word you. This hygienist was looking for support and in case you missed my comment I did leave and have been on unemployment since last Dec. over these issues. Report him for malpractice? What land are you living in? This dr. teaches at IUPUI, is on the IN and IL state board, the president of the IN DDS Assoc. and I can't even tell you how many articles he publishes in books and magazines! He goes to other offices and closes them! This was the worst practice I had been in for quality and after 6 mos. I quit. I had talked to him since day 1 about time and quality. I notated in pt. charts that I requested more time for appt. and talked to him and the office mgr who did scheduling to no avail. If I did get a 45 min appt which was long in that office, the mgr. would constantly call people to come in and then tell me "she/he will be real easy cause of great hygiene" and walk away. It was a no win situation. He is a power player in the dentistry field. It isn't hygienists like us, it's dentists like him.

I have 10 years of hygiene, and I put my husband through hygiene school as well. My production averages at thirteen- sixteen hundred/day doing a 8-9 hour days. 75% (or more) of what I do is perio, and it pays a lot more then prophys. Remember one thing: when you treat the patient properly, you get paid more. Nobody is forcing you to do that prophy. You can still do perio eval and discuss the issues with the pt and bring them back for quads. And later when the office mngr asks you why you didn't do a prophy, you need to tell them the reason in most professional tone of voice and tell them that you refuse to do a convier belt hygiene work, and for them not to worry about the production, they will see it later, when the patient will come back for quads and perma's and you will have the pt in the office 4 vs 2 times a year on top of quads. That's not only increase in production, but also in the amount of days you work. How many days do you need? How much respect you want from your patients? Who cares about an uneducated brown-nosing office manager. It is your license on the line! Your hard earned education! You know what's best for you. And if I am the only RDH who does what needs to be done and speaks my mind instead of just whining about it, then I guess things will never change. Don't try to talk and discuss things with your Dr. first, just do it, and wait for him to come to you. HIM, not the office manager! And then, when your production is going to skyrocket (SRP&perma's vs simple 1110), then, you come back to the forum and tell me I was wrong for pushing hygienists to think on their own and do their jobs the way we all learned it in school. I don't care what geneous DDS that guy is. Obviously not a very smart one when it comes to seeing that between MH update, OCS, OHI, perio eval, set up, clean up, write-up, exam (and hopefully a quick one), there is just no time left for scale/polish/floss/fluoride part. I'd love to hear your reply, diduflos2day/yahoo/

Suzanne in Terre Haute, Indiana said: I've been a hygienist for 15 years and I know exactly what you mean. The last dr I worked for had me running 3 ops, sometimes 20 min for srp 2 quads, constantly yelling "I'm ready over here". I finally started slowing down and running behind hoping he would ask me why and when he did he asked me if I was sick. Before I knew what happened I said "I'm sick of you yelling all the time and pushing me for quantity with no regard for quality". I couldn't believe I said it! He was furious!!! Cussed me, told the ofc mgr to call 911 (she didn't) told me I was fired. Called me at home that night and told me I'd better have my a-- at work the next morning. To make a long story short, I quit a month later, but for that month if I had 15 min, I did 15 min worth. There were a few occasions I didn't do the propyh. I took the fmx, probed, and resch explaining to the pt I didn't have enough time on my schedule to do him/her justice with the cleaning. He went through the roof! I have been on unemployment for 3 months. Good luck dealing with jerks like him. And take a bathroom break! :)

I can't believe you went back to work! You should have punished him with an unemployment claim and a lawsuit for verbal abuse!!!!! I am glad you quit. You know, I've been unemployed and doing temp jobs for a year, 2-3 months contracts or anything else that comes around. I have found a place where I made 91K in 3 months doing the right work. Yes, I am working my tail off, but nobody is asking me why I just send pt home without doing a prophy after the first 2weeks and a jump in production. Except for the fact that you are a professional, you are a human being, and NOBODY should be talking to you that way!!! Good luck in your job search :) Be firm with your belief and you will find the right place.

Thank you for your support. You might find it interesting to know that I did have to fight for my unemployment through an appeals process but I eventually won. As far as a lawsuit, I consulted an attorney and he told me dr's brother is a senior partner with a prestigious firm and it would cost me at a minimum $50k to bring suit against him. He also told me I wouldn't do anything except blacklist myself from the dental community. I took his advice and will either find another position or retrain for a different career. But I didn't just quit or give up. Thanks again. By the way, where do you find those jobs paying 91K? :)

I produced 91K in 3 month, not made... although that would be great. I do however make 53/hr and it is in DC, where average rate is 45-50. I produce a lot and I make a lot its win-win! Good for you as far as unemployment goes! And law suit: well he lost a good RDH, right. Now you can drive people away from that practice too, that would be a loss. You can always write an arcticle to a local paper re: quality of care at his practice- that would be a loss! We have to be proactive with "evil-doers", right?

PS You hit the nail on the head about the uneducated brown-nosing ofc mgr! She was in his office with the door closed at least 10x a day. The office joke was if you wanted dr. to know something and didn't want to talk to him, just tell her ha-ha. I went in on a day I knew dr would be out of the office to return my scrubs and as I was leaving I asked her if he had offered her malpractice coverage? She said "no, why?". I laughed and told her if he ever got sued, she could be liable and everyone in the practice would be named. Even her personal assets were at risk. She asked if I had insurance, so I got my card out of my wallet and wrote down the address for her. That left her speachless.
I got a call from her just 2 weeks ago that a pt was arguing with dr because I told him he had perio and that I could see it for the past 6 sets of bwx (dr takes every 6mos as fee for svc). I only treated him the one time. He had gone to the periodontist I recommended who was not dr. personal favorite, and yep, he has perio and was not diagnosed before me. He asked her for my name and number and she told him she'd have to get my permission. I told her not to worry(ha) that his attorney would get it with a subpoena. I'd rather keep everything legal so to please give my best regards to the patient and convey for me that I was so glad he had taken my advice due to the fact that his oral health was at steak, not to mention the findings related to heart disease and diabetes with perio as well. She didn't know what to say. I thanked her and hung up. That evening one of the assts. called me to say she had quit and that dr and ofc mgr were having a screaming fit as she left! She asked me what to do and I told her to set tight and wait and tell the truth cause I'm going to. I'll let you know if anything else happens...

And this why I leave those practices where I can't do what my license and eduacation give me a privelage to do: PROVIDING HEALTHCARE. I've had my liability ins. ever since I finished school, and as I tell my pts "I will never use it for perio related diagnosis". Check out a law suit against a dc dentist "breslerman"

hunch back in beltway, Virginia said: I am a veteran hygienist, and to this day can't understand how I am expected to work a 45 minute schedule including xrays,cleaning,notating suspicious areas, perio concerns,discuss needed tx:srp,night guards, clean up and set up along with bagging instruments for 8 hours and NOT getting a decent 1 hr lunch break let alone ANY breaks. Why are we expected to be "on our own"... I work pt with out any benefits, yet the office has other rdh's so in reality full time coverage for hygiene patients...How can small business (making $$$$$) not protect the labor rights of staff members.........I feel LUCKY if I go to the restroom before my 8+ hours are over!!!!! HELP!!!!

You are working in a typical technology workplace. Owners of small businesses might as well own plantations. They act like a b'wana/sahib/"massah" complaining about the need to feed/house/cloth their slaves (salary/maybe benefits the employees). I worked in veterinary technology for 12 + years before burn out (translate mental breakdown) from the understaffing & overscheduling. I'm reminded of the carthorse in the book, Black Beauty, telling Beauty that you just have to endure til you drop dead. So many people need employment; it was never very nice before, & now it's really cruel.

excellent comment