June 17, 2024 • 32 mins
Can overcoming socioeconomic barriers truly pave the way to a fulfilling career in healthcare? Join us as we explore the remarkable journey of kristal Robinson, an inspiring dental hygienist, high school teacher, and devoted mother. Crystal shares her path from a high school career technical program to graduating from Tennessee State University and giving back to her community by teaching health science classes. She reveals the significance of representation in healthcare careers, the common thread linking initial interests in nursing to successful dental hygiene careers, and the generational encouragement that fueled her professional achievements.
Discover the profound impact of kristals upbringing by a hardworking single mother and how technical education played a crucial role in breaking the cycle of poverty. We dive into the struggles high school students face due to financial constraints and the importance of accessible educational resources. Through heartfelt anecdotes, Kristal emphasizes the power of mentorship and preparation for future responsibilities, urging students and parents to recognize the value of perseverance and dedication in achieving success.
We also tackle the influence of social media on contemporary trends, particularly in the dental world. From the rising popularity of veneers to the risks of unqualified procedures, kristal sheds light on the ethical dilemmas faced by dental professionals and the need for standardized regulations. As we conclude, kristal shares invaluable strategies for graduating debt-free and the importance of financial mentorship. Tune in for an episode filled with insights on overcoming challenges, the importance of representation, and the critical role of education and mentorship in shaping promising futures.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Dental-ish season three everybody.
I have Crystal Robinson on here.
She is a dental hygienist.
She's also a high schoolteacher, so that is one of many
things.
She's also a mom and she's justhere to give us some outlook
and perspective on.
You know how you can go fromdental hygiene to teaching, to
doing other side hustles andthings outside of work, but most
(00:22):
importantly, giving back to hercommunity, her students, seeing
her daughter and her familygraduate and move through their
journey, and just thegenerational encouragement and
success that we have here.
So welcome Crystal.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
How are you Good?
I'm good, so I gave a littlesnippet about who you are, how
you came about finding aboutBrown Girl RDH.
Drop some little nuggets onhere, because it's not a lot of
times you hear about hygienistswho are also high school
teachers.
Like, that's my first, so let'stalk about that.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You know people ask all the time why don't you just
do hygiene?
It's a balance.
So I got my start.
I got my start in high school.
So here in Texas I'm sure inother states they offer career
technical programs.
And that's how I got my journey, my start in dentistry.
First it started out withnursing and my teacher
(01:15):
introduced me to the bedpan andI said and you know I wasn't the
one that really wanted to go tocollege, but I wanted to make
money if that made sense.
So my mom, she wanted to likebreak the generational curses.
So she's, you're going tocollege.
I went, I went for dentalhygiene, ended up graduating
(01:38):
from Tennessee State University,hbcu, love, and moved back to
Texas and started my career indental hygiene.
So it's always been, since mysenior junior year in high
school, like part of my journey,which I love and so fast
forward to teaching.
I'm able to, like you said,give back by also teaching the
(01:58):
same classes that I sat in whenI was in high school.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
The same classroom.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
The same classes.
Oh, the classes, so I teach it,so all the health science
classes that they take now.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
So I spoke with someone because we're doing a
lot of mentorship and we bothdiscussed our program with Brown
Girl RDH in our high school tohygiene pipeline that we're
working on and I talked to a lotof the local guidance
counselors here and they said alot of the girls want to do
cosmetology and hair and I'mlike all these wigs that I see
(02:31):
and crochet styles and like asto, I did want to be a
cosmetologist.
So I don't know why that is theprogram that a lot of that is.
I don't know if it's advertisedor that piques everyone's
interest, but more times thannot, I think growing up you know
in our communities hairbraiding right and styles and
(02:53):
you know doing it yourself.
Those are the type of thingsthat come naturally for us.
Oh, I know how to braid, I knowhow to just dye, I can make
some money doing that.
So people are like oh, I'm goodat it, I know how to do it, I
can make money off of it.
Why don't I choose that as acareer field?
But what people don'tunderstand?
Not people, but the kids thatkind of don't have an idea.
They're just doing like what'sfamiliar, right, to show that
(03:24):
there is representation there,like you have to show up, you
have to have something that'sgoing to make them look the
other way.
And every single dental hygienegenus that I talked to has all
said like yeah, I thought aboutnursing first, so that interest
was there, right, so they haveto have the interest.
And then they're like oh, Ijust went to dental hygiene
because I saw the bed pin, or Ididn't like blood, or I didn't
want to wipe feet.
I just didn't want to be wipingnobody's butt like I was like no
(03:45):
, that was my thing and me too Ithought I was gonna do nursing.
First it was either nursing orhair and I was like I guess I
don't want to just do hair likeeverybody else, so I'll just do.
You know, everybody has teeth.
Let me do go with teeth.
So when I thought about it, itwas all an instant like that's
not gonna work because of thecost, right?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
like I don't have the money.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
So I went back to early childhood education and
that's what I thought I wasgonna be doing, because it was
easy, right yeah and I'm likemom had 10 kids.
I was changing diapers.
I know I can do early childhoodeducation.
I know, derma, I don't have nopatience for no children, for no
kids.
I don't even know why I thoughtI would do early childhood
education.
I know, derma, I don't have nopatients for no children, for no
kids.
I don't even know why I thoughtI would do that.
But I'm glad that I'm here andyou know this was meant for me
(04:30):
and my calling.
So tell me about how you knowwhat you see.
The triggers or the influenceis where students are or maybe
aren't choosing.
You know the career dentalhygiene and I know you preach it
.
I know you're in there, youknow trying to persuade them,
but do you see an influx in that?
Are they interested or what arethey interested in?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So when they first come to my class, of course the
first week which is, you know,scheduling and schedules
changing, so you don't do muchbut you find what they are
interested in A lot of them wantto be in the healthcare field
because you know their familieswant, want to be in the
healthcare field, because youknow their families want them to
be in healthcare, while otherswant to do nursing because
that's the field that they know.
Many times I get, I'll say, ina class of 30 kids, 25 to 30
(05:16):
kids, I will say.
Two may say dentistry, and sotypically it's like they want to
be an orthodontist because theyhave braces or had braces, you
know, so they're familiar withthat.
But after I speak to them andyou know I still tip, so I stay
relevant in the community ofdentistry, you know, and I'll go
(05:37):
back and share my experienceswhen I come back from break.
That piques their interest.
And then they then want to applyfor the career technical center
for dental assisting.
Typically they have no clue.
I mean, like me, I had no clueabout dental hygiene until my
teacher told me about it and soI said, okay, I'll declare that
(05:57):
my major.
But so many kids I would say,let's say, out of 25 to 30 kids,
two initially wanted to havethat peak of interest in
dentistry, and then after thatit may double.
So you know, out of six classesI may end up having 10 kids
that are interested in dentistryby the end of the school year,
which for me that's a win.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
That was my other question, like does that change
throughout it and what type ofthings change there?
Why does it change your mind,like, what influences that
change?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So I start out with I mean I do hype the field, you
know.
I tell them it's more out thereto nursing, because I do feel
like in high school everybody isdoctor.
They go rotation to rotationsat the hospital.
They may, you know, have arotation at a nursing home.
A parent may be in the you knowfield of healthcare in some
(06:49):
capacity, but nobody really hasa family member in dentistry and
those that do it may be an auntor uncle.
And so after me telling themabout hygiene, and they see the
flexibility that I have, oh, shestill travels and she teaches
and she does hygiene.
And I mean I'm transparent withmy students.
(07:11):
I tell them, if you mismanageyour money, no matter the field,
it may not be a good field foryou, but at the end of the day I
think they see, like you said,the representation, the.
Oh well, if she could do it, socan I.
And I tell them my journey andbecause I think my journey was
similar to their journey, theyfall more on track with it.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
What was your journey ?
Pretty much for them Likewhat's the relationship?
So?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I came from a low socioeconomic.
My mom had three kids but youknow she worked at a daycare so
she didn't make a lot of money.
So that whole generationalcurse.
She wanted us to be able toprovide for ourselves well and
our families.
That helped my brother andsister and I get out of poverty,
the things that she had goingon.
(07:57):
But I mean she's a great mom,we had a great upbringing and
everything.
It was just hard.
So, with the pathway that I hadin career, technical, being able
to go through the dentalassisting program, thus college
I ended up having debt, ofcourse, in dental hygiene, but I
ended up what I tell mystudents, it's a short-term
(08:18):
setback for a long term gain.
So at the end you have to workhard.
You know, financially it may,you may have to invest in it.
Financially it may cost you.
However, at the end of the day,especially now what we get paid
now you know it's definitely abenefit.
So having that struggle earlyon, having that connection with
(08:39):
them, coming from an environmentthat they you know my mom may
not have a lot of money, so they, they understand that and
seeing that, oh well, she'sbrown skinned, she's, she's a
black woman and I'm a brownskinned person.
She could do it, so can I.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Like, as you're talking, I'm thinking back to
when I was in high school andgot out.
And I'm thinking back to when Iwas, like, in high school and
got out and remember.
Do you remember back then whenthey were trying to get people
to sell cutco, the little knife,the knives do you remember that
?
yes, and vacuums and kirbyvacuums, cutco and kirby vacuums
and they would come and cut thepenny up with the with the
scissors and you had to go todoor-to-door selling finger hut
(09:17):
they called it finger hut backthen and I I remember like, oh,
they were saying you can makeall this money and you know, $18
was a lot of money back thenand you can make up to $18.
And I was working at Rainbowworking in.
North Carolina making $7.25.
When they said $18, I was likeoh, I'm about to sell.
I'm about to sell this stuff.
But it was like you're outthere going door to door,
(09:46):
literally knocking on doors,demonstrations on how to either
vacuums, knives or whatever itis that you're doing, and I
remember I needed money to getstarted.
You had to pay to get startedfor this stuff and I remember
going to my mom and I was like Ineed money to get started.
And my mom, she wrote me acheck and the freaking check was
bad.
But she just wrote me the checkand I remember she didn't have
the money and I felt guilty.
I felt guilty because I neededthat money to start that job and
(10:10):
I don't know if the check bellsnot, but I know she didn't have
the money to write a check.
I'm just thinking back at Iwonder how many high school
students feel like I know Idon't have the money to go into
these type of programs and Idon't want to put that burden on
my family, so I'm just notgoing to do it.
You know, when education shouldbe.
You earned it.
If you can dream it, you canachieve it Like it doesn't
(10:33):
matter.
There's no limitations.
You want to be that, that'swhat you.
You know, that's what you do,but it's a sense of I don't want
to put that stress on my mom.
She's already single mom.
There's already.
You know what I mean.
So, it's kind of like, whenwe're trying to help these
students and mentor them, wehave to give them the resources
to like.
I know who you are.
I was the same thing.
I made it and this is what Idid.
(10:53):
This is what you can do too,and, by the way, oh, I want to
do that.
Missed on so, but you know I'mpregnant, so I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well, guess what?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
We have a resource for that, you know, don't give
up, you can.
You can try a certificateprogram online.
That's dental assistancethrough your whole pregnancy.
It's a four week program,that'll, you know, introduce you
to dentistry and then, whenbaby gets older and goes to
daycare, go ahead and apply forthat dental hygiene school.
Like that is always something,it's always something.
So I think you know theposition that you're in.
(11:24):
You're actually there for areason and you're like I got
into teaching and it was a segueand a side hustle and it's a
good break.
No, it's not a break, it'swhere you were supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
It's where I'm supposed to be.
Sometimes I wonder.
I'm like well, how am I here?
And you know, at the beginningof the school year, we had to
write down our purpose.
My purpose is always the same,and that is to make sure that
the next generation is prepared,because, think about it they're
going to be taking care of usand, honey, we need good people
to take care of us.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
We need people that are.
I think about that all the time.
So my daughter just starteddriving and she had to order
food and my at mcdonald's in the.
My son was in the backgroundand he couldn't.
He was like what do you want?
He's like I don't know.
She said, come on, she wasgetting nervous.
She said she was actuallygetting, she's got anxiety.
We tell them that's not realordering the food and we're just
(12:13):
like I'm looking at her, likeyou're gonna be the new adult,
like you cannot get anxiety butwe have to walk to the corner
store and get a whole grocerylist.
We used to have a you knowpaper writing in the back of a
piece of mail go get this at thecorner store and you used to
have to walk and go get it andtake money.
My kids would never.
They'd be like huh, want me todo what?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
you order it and I'll pick it up.
I can't you just door dash it,it's like yeah action in the
century that we're in now.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
It's like all computer generated on a meeting.
These are the people, like yousaid, these are the.
This is the generation that'sgoing to be taking care of us,
and I feel like they're.
We are disconnecting more andmore from human interaction and
I was laying in the bed thinkingabout why the hell is Facebook
free?
And I was like I know whyFacebook's free.
(13:03):
Why are they not charging?
Facebook is free because it's away to control.
Facebook is addicted.
I deleted the damn app off myphone and I was still looking
for it.
I said what the hell?
It's very addictive, just thatlittle blue app.
And I'm just like, hmm, butwhat is it?
What is in it?
Why am I going to it?
And then I didn't have that onmy phone.
So what did I do?
I went to Instagram and Icaught myself and I'm like this
(13:26):
is exactly why Facebook is freebecause they can use that to
control, control you the minuteFacebook.
What people do they get onsocial media and they like?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
why my Facebook down?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
right, what's going down?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I go to google what happened to facebook?
Speaker 1 (13:45):
right.
So facebook is, and they saidit, they, they said it, they
said it is very addictive.
And at this point we're going,we're going to, you know,
facebook, and we're implementing, like artificial intelligence
in there.
Now you can't even write a post.
All right, correct my spellingand grammar.
Yes, what the word felt wrong.
You know, you don't have tothink I'm feeling like this,
(14:07):
write a post about this.
It is not even your thoughts.
So they're trying to get peopleto stop thinking and stop
interacting and start stopmaking their own decision.
And it's very scary for me.
It's very scary and I'm notsaying I'm woke or anything like
that, but I'm paying attention.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Let's just say I'm paying attention, like, hmm,
this is pretty strange, you knowso, but you know what in class
is very hard because you havestudents that are always on that
social media.
But then when you or evengoogle, but then when you ask
them to look up a medical termor what does this mean, I asked
(14:43):
what does localized andgeneralized mean?
The other day, and they're alllooking at me, I said Google, go
, go look up Google.
And so I gave them a you know afew analogies and everything.
But they look at you like, okay, you tell us no, go Google it,
go on TikTok.
Tiktok can tell you whatlocalized and generalized is.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Got to take that away .
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You know I just my daughter asked me one.
Well, I told her I said I'mbored.
When she first went off tocollege I said I'm bored.
She was like get on TikTok,it'll last you about two hours.
I downloaded TikTok.
I got on there.
It lasted.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I stayed some sometimes it's informative, but
I like is that I'm payingattention.
I'm like we're not evensupposed to be.
This is not.
This is not right.
It doesn't feel somethingdoesn't feel right about it.
Something doesn't feel rightabout you seeing somebody's
(15:38):
family member pass and theyputting up a go fund me and you
just like okay, scrolling to thenext one, like it's something
is not, it's like the news.
You know, every time you turn onthe news there's something bad
or something bad.
And then guess what, after awhile you stop watching the news
but you open up that facebookhurricane mark, say, from this
shooting, all this politicalstuff, people being racist on
(15:59):
here, people mad at the littlemermaids, black, like it's
always something negative.
And then on the flip side yousee, oh, this person's on
vacation and you know I starteda new job here and you know this
cute picture here and it's justlike you, either on this side
or that side of it, you know.
And what are you going tochoose?
To look more into the positive?
(16:20):
Oh, I want my teeth done, Iwant to get veneers, I want to
go on vacation.
So then that stuff that youstart to see just like the kids
becomes you, you know yeah youknow, it becomes you because
you're like I don't want to seethe negative stuff.
So they start showing you andfeeding you things that you want
to see and, before you know it,you like dang, I want to be in
Puerto Rico for three years youknow like I need to get, get on
(16:42):
this.
And then it just goes back towhat you want we're going to put
in front of you and what youneed to be doing is the whole
distraction.
Go to school, go to college now.
So everybody's trying to getthe bag.
Before everybody was trying toscam, now it's just like lord.
I don't know what's happeningnow.
We hear about the veneer stufflike oh my gosh well, now we
hear about the people that arenot dentists doing veneers.
(17:04):
Well, guess what?
Every time I turn on socialmedia, it's somebody with some
doing veneers.
Well, guess what?
Every time I turn on socialmedia, it's somebody with some
new veneers.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Every time and it's scary because I try to I tell my
kids all the time if you'regoing to somebody's house to get
your teeth done, it's wrong.
And the students?
One student said my aunt.
She said my aunt, she used toclean our teeth at home and I
said, really, she's a hygienistlike you.
I said, oh really, where doesshe practice?
(17:33):
She said, oh, in Texas.
I said, honey, be quiet, don'ttell any more of your aunt's
business.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Right.
You know, I thought you know,she practiced somewhere else,
maybe in another country orsomething like that I'll say I
blame the economy first, andthen I blame social media, and
then I blame the dentist,because you see all of this, oh,
celebrity dentists we doveneers come here and kids are
on social media Instagram,tiktok, and they're watching.
Oh, veneers, veneers, veneers.
(18:00):
This doctor does them.
Okay, that doctor's going tocharge $20,000, right.
Well, I want that because I keepseeing that on my feet.
I want veneers.
So what are they going to do?
You don't have money.
You don't have money to get anexam.
You don't have twenty thousanddollars.
You see your favorite celebritydentist posting these veneers so
you can go to your cousin thatgot the certificate to get these
veneers, but you're not eveneducated enough to make that
(18:21):
decision to say, oh, this is nota dentist, but you know you can
afford it.
But I want a dentist, but youknow you can afford it, but I
want to look like.
I want to look like the peopleyou know, my favorite
celebrities that have them.
So there's a couple things thatsocial media is the dentist
like.
They're promoting veneers ontheir social media.
Who do you think is watchingthese?
These are the kids.
They're not other.
You know these are people whoare influenced, who don't have
(18:41):
money.
I want to get that done.
Oh, I did this celebrity'sveneer.
Okay, well, I don't have thatcelebrity's money, but I know I
can go over here and get themdone and then they end up
getting hurt, they end upgetting dental infections, they
end up, they end up losing allof their teeth.
So you know, everybody has totake responsibility.
They can't just be yelling atthe veneer tech.
(19:02):
Why did that veneer tech thinkthat?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
they could do that you know, and and with the whole
marketing thing and the dentist, like you said, reaching out to
social media to market more andusing the trends that the young
people or, you know, teenagersare, you know, grasping to it
(19:25):
makes it more influential.
Okay, well, they're doing it.
But I can go to somebody else.
Of a near tech, because youhave that low health literacy
you're not even aware that of anear tech is no such thing right
, my mom doesn't even know,she'd be still calling me a
dentist.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
She'd be like, yeah, my daughter's a dentist.
I'm like I'm not a dentist.
But she doesn't know thedifference.
And again I say I blamedentistry.
Because guess what, dentistrydivided dds, rdh, rd, um, da,
certified, da, cda, right,expended functions.
And the regular dentalassistant can just get a
(20:01):
certificate from a, from asix-week program, so that's a
certificate.
So if I'm a regular person whodoesn't know the difference, of
course I'm gonna thinkcertificate, oh, you can get a
certificate from a communitycollege, can you not?
Yeah, so I'm not gonna know thedifference.
And it's very sad, butdentistry divided, that how
about?
we are the licensedprofessionals.
And then these people.
(20:21):
These are not the licensedprofessionals.
How about not giving them acertificate at all?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
it's just on the job, especially coming out of high
school, and if I mean when theyturn 18, they can apply and get
their state licensure here intexas for their after they
complete the program for dentalassisting.
You have to teach them.
You cannot do veneers at home,you know, because once they get
once a dental assistant getspretty good at something they
can.
(20:45):
They can do a lot more thanpeople think.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Oh, they see it.
You're watching it for hours,every single.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah, they can do a lot more work than people
actually think and I feel thatyou know that also separates a
veneer tech from a real dentalassistant.
A real dental assistant will, Ithink, go the extra mile to
okay, let me figure out how todo this, do whatever I want to
do in a legal aspect.
(21:16):
But then you have some dentalassistants that want that extra
money, that will go out andcompromise ethics over anything
just to make extra money.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
I remember they were getting the grill.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
They would have the pawn shop or the person doing
the jewelry with the jewelrystore over there making grills.
You would see people with goldgrills and they did not go to
the dentist, they went into ajewelry store and I still see
some of those jewelry storestoday.
But having gold teeth is nottrending as much as the veneer
stuff is.
And it used to be the whitening, remember.
Everybody was doing thewhitening.
(21:49):
Now it's like all right, Idon't have to do whitening, I
just get white teeth.
Well, they can just put someveneers on and actually I don't
know if you knew this, but itwas a hygienist that was doing
composite veneers.
Somebody posted in a group andwas like she's a Brown girl
member and she's doing compositeveneers.
So I went and looked it up and,sure enough, in the state that
she's in, it says she can docomposite veneers under the
(22:11):
prescription and supervision ofa dentist.
So as long as the dentist says,do these veneers, she can do
them.
It's no different than placinga band on a tooth because it's
removable, oh, wow.
So she's like, yes, I can dothem, and I do them in my
dentist's office and my doctorlets me do them.
And I was like, oh, she's likeI don't put them on people's
teeth who have cavities oranything like that.
And I looked up the law myselfand for sure it said composite
(22:36):
veneers written in that law.
They can be done by a dentalassistant and a hygienist under
the prescription of a dentist.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Will the dentist have to do like the prep work or
anything?
Speaker 1 (22:48):
There is no prep.
They're not shaving any tooth.
They're literally bondingmaterial on top of the tooth.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I just feel that it needs to be across the board.
You know like in Texas you canand can't do certain things.
Well, let's just say can't,because everybody else is
running circles around Texas.
But I feel like it should beacross the board.
If this said dental hygienistin our case went, got whatever
certifications they needed toget to perform said treatment,
(23:17):
they should be allowed to dowhatever it is that they got the
extra certification for itboils down to money.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Obviously you know that the minute you start making
, they can start making moneyoff of it.
They're going to figure out away to change it.
So is it affecting the thedentist?
I don't know, because I heardone dentist tell me I want them
to go on somebody's basement andget braces because they just
got to come to me so I can fixthe teeth.
That's what he said he's like,yeah, they got to come to me to
fix it.
And then I saw another dentiston social media this has nothing
(23:47):
to do with the dentist that thepatient went to a veneer tech
and got veneers done.
But she was like, yes, theywent there and got this done and
I did her transformative thingand it was just so sad and you
know how sad that she went there.
I guarantee you she's not doingit for free.
You're not like, oh, this issuch a sad case, let me fix it
for you for free.
Like no, she's gonna redo it,she's gonna give her real
(24:11):
veneers and then she's gonnaadvertise it.
You know what I mean?
What goes back to like, you dothings because nobody's watching
.
Are you just doing becauseyou're doing it, you're not
trying to make a whole sad storyabout it.
The purpose of this patient,this person, went to a veneer
tech and got these veneers onand everything was terrible,
went from.
We're gonna fix it.
So let's make a sad story aboutit and share it on social media
(24:33):
.
That's like feeling person andtaking a picture with them.
You know this is not good, butagain I'm at it different
Somebody might talk to me andsay well, no, no, no, no, You're
just creating more business foryou.
Like, let's not get it twisted.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Because if somebody sees that you go from one
extreme to the next, they'regoing to want to come to you.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Both, whether they get messed up or not, they're
going to be like, okay, shefixed that, she can face me.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
But what most people don't understand it's more
costly to fix the mistake thanactually like go initially.
Go to the dentist, get thoseveneers from a licensed
professional in the first place,and then it's going to be
cheaper.
Yeah, it may be 20,000, butimagine if you have to do all
that other restoration yeah, itmeant the psychological aspect
of it too.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I just don't know how I feel about it.
I just feel like and myaesthetically.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Do people even think that's cute?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
they don't look good, do they?
They do?
Speaker 2 (25:27):
not look good.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
I haven't seen one set that looks good but you know
what I showed barry a pictureof what veneers are supposed to
look like and what you know.
Somebody did he was like theother way looks better.
They're white.
I was like they're not supposedto be white like that.
Real teeth are not white likethat like right, terrible.
But to him somebody who's notdental it looked great and I'm
(25:49):
like, okay, that's what it isright.
And guess what, if I see myfavorite celebrity and they got
speed parving teeth, I'll belike, okay, maybe, maybe they're
supposed to look like that.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Right.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
They're supposed to just look natural, like they're
supposed to be imperfections init.
Right, they're supposed to.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I wonder how much these celebrities are paying,
because if I was a veneer techand a celebrity came to me, oh,
I'm charging you.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
You know they do them for free.
I have a lot of dentists whoare friends and they said they
do not want to work on nocelebrity because they're just
paying their picky like.
They just don't want that.
They don't want to work withthem, they'd rather work with
regular people.
A lot of the celebrities thathave had their veneers done,
they've had them redone.
So Cardi B, she had her veneersdone.
She had hers redone.
(26:35):
She said she went to adifferent dentist and got them
done.
A dentist that I know of thatdid Glorilla's teeth.
She had hers redone.
It was like I didn't like them.
I kept having to get themredone and redid them.
But I say all that to say likethese dentists are like, oh, I
did this celebrity and I'm thisperson's dentist, but it's just
like they don't see what thedentist did as good.
They see what the veneer techdid as good.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah we talk about dentists and I don't follow a
lot of dentists.
I follow a couple on socialmedia, on Instagram.
But the team here in Dallasthat does oh, like, works so
amazing.
Dr Rose, the whole staff, likehe literally picked good people
(27:15):
to be on his team because thewhole staff, you can tell they
put all the care in the world.
And what I like about him, helike transforms the people that
got the gold grills back in theday, those permanent grills.
He's transforming them.
So not only is he not judgingthem, you know, for having it,
he's just wanting them to likehave a better smile and he gives
(27:36):
them a really, really nicesmile.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
The last Brown Girl RDH magazine that we did, I
featured him as one of the topinfluential dentists in the
community.
Dr Rose also has a nonprofitleg that he gives a lot of stuff
back to the youth and he doessmile makeovers.
So he's definitely one of thosepeople that I don't put in the
celebrity dentist category.
(27:59):
He's just a good person.
Like he's a great individual andyou can really see his light
through his work and throughother people that talk about him
.
Like you, that know him, Irespect him a lot and it's good
to see that he's influencing andinspiring other dental
professionals that see him likewow and then pouring into his
staff members, as you said,because I didn't even know that.
I just followed him.
(28:19):
Barry knows him because Barrydoes music and Dr Rose is in the
music industry, so I think he'sprobably the best one that I've
seen out there that's doing it.
So that's good to hear that theteam that he works with
reflects it, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I even show it to my students.
You know we're on social.
I share with my students browngirl, I tell them if you are
going into hygiene, you know, ornot sure if you're going to any
dentistry.
I share with them Brown Girl'spage and I say, go like.
And Dr Rose's page.
I always tell them here's adentist.
I mean because I feel like he'strending for them to see a
(28:55):
dentist outside of scrubs, butactually, you know, performing
good work.
I feel like he just has thatfun demeanor about him which you
know.
Like you said, they'reinfluenced by all of that anyway
.
So you may as well go withsomebody that's more positive.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Right, right, right right.
I do agree.
Let's turn into, let's starttalking about getting out of
dental ig.
Didn't talk about veneers, butit needed.
The conversation needs to behad, definitely now.
Where can people follow youfind you get some more advice,
any gems you want to leave?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I would leave.
We talked about a little bitabout debt free me graduating,
me graduating with my bachelor'sand my master's debt free.
That was a sacrificialsituation.
I saved.
And then I said, okay, I'mtaking all my savings and
getting my degree, so I didn'tdo much with like scholarships
or anything like that.
So it was a hard thing.
(29:51):
And then you know, to come backfrom that, I said when my
daughter went to school, I didnot want her to have student
loans.
So you know we work as a team.
Go on social media.
We talked about Facebook.
How you know imbalanced thatcould be, but I follow certain
pages on online, on Facebook,primarily because there's more
dialogue, I feel, on Facebookthe zero debt project and I
(30:15):
follow that website.
So if anybody's going back toschool, they have so many
scholarships and so many peopletalking that you could find, you
know, financial gems.
So, with that said, go onliney'all, find scholarships.
Tell your students, tell yourkids, tell your friends' kids.
(30:37):
You know how to go out therethe United Negro College Fund,
thurgood Marshall Foundation.
I help students all the time.
I don't mind helping looking atessays.
I write my kids recommendationletters.
So if you're that mentor, whena student comes to you.
A person comes to you and say,hey, can you write a reference
for me?
Stop what you're doing andwrite that reference, because we
(31:00):
were once there and, you neverknow, we may be there again.
But if you want to follow me,you can follow me on Instagram
at TSURDH that's Tennessee StateRegistered Dental Hygienist and
Facebook is Crystal Robinson,k-r-i-s-t-a-l Robinson and
(31:20):
TikTok is TS Robinson,k-r-i-s-t-a-l Robinson and
TikTok is T-S-U-R-D-H-1.
And you'll see me as my aliasK-A-R-A.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Not the aura.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Yes, my coworkers named me that when I get out of
line, sometimes they say K-A-R-A, all right.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Well, this was a really great, great, great,
great episode.
I thank you for being on.
Welcome to Dental-ish season three everybody.
I have Crystal Robinson on here.
She is a dental hygienist.
She's also a high schoolteacher, so that is one of many
things.
She's also a mom and she's justhere to give us some outlook
and perspective on.
You know how you can go fromdental hygiene to teaching, to
doing other side hustles andthings outside of work, but most
(00:22):
importantly, giving back to hercommunity, her students, seeing
her daughter and her familygraduate and move through their
journey, and just thegenerational encouragement and
success that we have here.
So welcome Crystal.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
How are you Good?
I'm good, so I gave a littlesnippet about who you are, how
you came about finding aboutBrown Girl RDH.
Drop some little nuggets onhere, because it's not a lot of
times you hear about hygienistswho are also high school
teachers.
Like, that's my first, so let'stalk about that.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You know people ask all the time why don't you just
do hygiene?
It's a balance.
So I got my start.
I got my start in high school.
So here in Texas I'm sure inother states they offer career
technical programs.
And that's how I got my journey, my start in dentistry.
First it started out withnursing and my teacher
(01:15):
introduced me to the bedpan andI said and you know I wasn't the
one that really wanted to go tocollege, but I wanted to make
money if that made sense.
So my mom, she wanted to likebreak the generational curses.
So she's, you're going tocollege.
I went, I went for dentalhygiene, ended up graduating
(01:38):
from Tennessee State University,hbcu, love, and moved back to
Texas and started my career indental hygiene.
So it's always been, since mysenior junior year in high
school, like part of my journey,which I love and so fast
forward to teaching.
I'm able to, like you said,give back by also teaching the
(01:58):
same classes that I sat in whenI was in high school.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
The same classroom.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
The same classes.
Oh, the classes, so I teach it,so all the health science
classes that they take now.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
So I spoke with someone because we're doing a
lot of mentorship and we bothdiscussed our program with Brown
Girl RDH in our high school tohygiene pipeline that we're
working on and I talked to a lotof the local guidance
counselors here and they said alot of the girls want to do
cosmetology and hair and I'mlike all these wigs that I see
(02:31):
and crochet styles and like asto, I did want to be a
cosmetologist.
So I don't know why that is theprogram that a lot of that is.
I don't know if it's advertisedor that piques everyone's
interest, but more times thannot, I think growing up you know
in our communities hairbraiding right and styles and
(02:53):
you know doing it yourself.
Those are the type of thingsthat come naturally for us.
Oh, I know how to braid, I knowhow to just dye, I can make
some money doing that.
So people are like oh, I'm goodat it, I know how to do it, I
can make money off of it.
Why don't I choose that as acareer field?
But what people don'tunderstand?
Not people, but the kids thatkind of don't have an idea.
They're just doing like what'sfamiliar, right, to show that
(03:24):
there is representation there,like you have to show up, you
have to have something that'sgoing to make them look the
other way.
And every single dental hygienegenus that I talked to has all
said like yeah, I thought aboutnursing first, so that interest
was there, right, so they haveto have the interest.
And then they're like oh, Ijust went to dental hygiene
because I saw the bed pin, or Ididn't like blood, or I didn't
want to wipe feet.
I just didn't want to be wipingnobody's butt like I was like no
(03:45):
, that was my thing and me too Ithought I was gonna do nursing.
First it was either nursing orhair and I was like I guess I
don't want to just do hair likeeverybody else, so I'll just do.
You know, everybody has teeth.
Let me do go with teeth.
So when I thought about it, itwas all an instant like that's
not gonna work because of thecost, right?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
like I don't have the money.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
So I went back to early childhood education and
that's what I thought I wasgonna be doing, because it was
easy, right yeah and I'm likemom had 10 kids.
I was changing diapers.
I know I can do early childhoodeducation.
I know, derma, I don't have nopatience for no children, for no
kids.
I don't even know why I thoughtI would do early childhood
education.
I know, derma, I don't have nopatients for no children, for no
kids.
I don't even know why I thoughtI would do that.
But I'm glad that I'm here andyou know this was meant for me
(04:30):
and my calling.
So tell me about how you knowwhat you see.
The triggers or the influenceis where students are or maybe
aren't choosing.
You know the career dentalhygiene and I know you preach it
.
I know you're in there, youknow trying to persuade them,
but do you see an influx in that?
Are they interested or what arethey interested in?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So when they first come to my class, of course the
first week which is, you know,scheduling and schedules
changing, so you don't do muchbut you find what they are
interested in A lot of them wantto be in the healthcare field
because you know their familieswant, want to be in the
healthcare field, because youknow their families want them to
be in healthcare, while otherswant to do nursing because
that's the field that they know.
Many times I get, I'll say, ina class of 30 kids, 25 to 30
(05:16):
kids, I will say.
Two may say dentistry, and sotypically it's like they want to
be an orthodontist because theyhave braces or had braces, you
know, so they're familiar withthat.
But after I speak to them andyou know I still tip, so I stay
relevant in the community ofdentistry, you know, and I'll go
(05:37):
back and share my experienceswhen I come back from break.
That piques their interest.
And then they then want to applyfor the career technical center
for dental assisting.
Typically they have no clue.
I mean, like me, I had no clueabout dental hygiene until my
teacher told me about it and soI said, okay, I'll declare that
(05:57):
my major.
But so many kids I would say,let's say, out of 25 to 30 kids,
two initially wanted to havethat peak of interest in
dentistry, and then after thatit may double.
So you know, out of six classesI may end up having 10 kids
that are interested in dentistryby the end of the school year,
which for me that's a win.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
That was my other question, like does that change
throughout it and what type ofthings change there?
Why does it change your mind,like, what influences that
change?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So I start out with I mean I do hype the field, you
know.
I tell them it's more out thereto nursing, because I do feel
like in high school everybody isdoctor.
They go rotation to rotationsat the hospital.
They may, you know, have arotation at a nursing home.
A parent may be in the you knowfield of healthcare in some
(06:49):
capacity, but nobody really hasa family member in dentistry and
those that do it may be an auntor uncle.
And so after me telling themabout hygiene, and they see the
flexibility that I have, oh, shestill travels and she teaches
and she does hygiene.
And I mean I'm transparent withmy students.
(07:11):
I tell them, if you mismanageyour money, no matter the field,
it may not be a good field foryou, but at the end of the day I
think they see, like you said,the representation, the.
Oh well, if she could do it, socan I.
And I tell them my journey andbecause I think my journey was
similar to their journey, theyfall more on track with it.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
What was your journey ?
Pretty much for them Likewhat's the relationship?
So?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I came from a low socioeconomic.
My mom had three kids but youknow she worked at a daycare so
she didn't make a lot of money.
So that whole generationalcurse.
She wanted us to be able toprovide for ourselves well and
our families.
That helped my brother andsister and I get out of poverty,
the things that she had goingon.
(07:57):
But I mean she's a great mom,we had a great upbringing and
everything.
It was just hard.
So, with the pathway that I hadin career, technical, being able
to go through the dentalassisting program, thus college
I ended up having debt, ofcourse, in dental hygiene, but I
ended up what I tell mystudents, it's a short-term
(08:18):
setback for a long term gain.
So at the end you have to workhard.
You know, financially it may,you may have to invest in it.
Financially it may cost you.
However, at the end of the day,especially now what we get paid
now you know it's definitely abenefit.
So having that struggle earlyon, having that connection with
(08:39):
them, coming from an environmentthat they you know my mom may
not have a lot of money, so they, they understand that and
seeing that, oh well, she'sbrown skinned, she's, she's a
black woman and I'm a brownskinned person.
She could do it, so can I.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Like, as you're talking, I'm thinking back to
when I was in high school andgot out.
And I'm thinking back to when Iwas, like, in high school and
got out and remember.
Do you remember back then whenthey were trying to get people
to sell cutco, the little knife,the knives do you remember that
?
yes, and vacuums and kirbyvacuums, cutco and kirby vacuums
and they would come and cut thepenny up with the with the
scissors and you had to go todoor-to-door selling finger hut
(09:17):
they called it finger hut backthen and I I remember like, oh,
they were saying you can makeall this money and you know, $18
was a lot of money back thenand you can make up to $18.
And I was working at Rainbowworking in.
North Carolina making $7.25.
When they said $18, I was likeoh, I'm about to sell.
I'm about to sell this stuff.
But it was like you're outthere going door to door,
(09:46):
literally knocking on doors,demonstrations on how to either
vacuums, knives or whatever itis that you're doing, and I
remember I needed money to getstarted.
You had to pay to get startedfor this stuff and I remember
going to my mom and I was like Ineed money to get started.
And my mom, she wrote me acheck and the freaking check was
bad.
But she just wrote me the checkand I remember she didn't have
the money and I felt guilty.
I felt guilty because I neededthat money to start that job and
(10:10):
I don't know if the check bellsnot, but I know she didn't have
the money to write a check.
I'm just thinking back at Iwonder how many high school
students feel like I know Idon't have the money to go into
these type of programs and Idon't want to put that burden on
my family, so I'm just notgoing to do it.
You know, when education shouldbe.
You earned it.
If you can dream it, you canachieve it Like it doesn't
(10:33):
matter.
There's no limitations.
You want to be that, that'swhat you.
You know, that's what you do,but it's a sense of I don't want
to put that stress on my mom.
She's already single mom.
There's already.
You know what I mean.
So, it's kind of like, whenwe're trying to help these
students and mentor them, wehave to give them the resources
to like.
I know who you are.
I was the same thing.
I made it and this is what Idid.
(10:53):
This is what you can do too,and, by the way, oh, I want to
do that.
Missed on so, but you know I'mpregnant, so I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well, guess what?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
We have a resource for that, you know, don't give
up, you can.
You can try a certificateprogram online.
That's dental assistancethrough your whole pregnancy.
It's a four week program,that'll, you know, introduce you
to dentistry and then, whenbaby gets older and goes to
daycare, go ahead and apply forthat dental hygiene school.
Like that is always something,it's always something.
So I think you know theposition that you're in.
(11:24):
You're actually there for areason and you're like I got
into teaching and it was a segueand a side hustle and it's a
good break.
No, it's not a break, it'swhere you were supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
It's where I'm supposed to be.
Sometimes I wonder.
I'm like well, how am I here?
And you know, at the beginningof the school year, we had to
write down our purpose.
My purpose is always the same,and that is to make sure that
the next generation is prepared,because, think about it they're
going to be taking care of usand, honey, we need good people
to take care of us.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
We need people that are.
I think about that all the time.
So my daughter just starteddriving and she had to order
food and my at mcdonald's in the.
My son was in the backgroundand he couldn't.
He was like what do you want?
He's like I don't know.
She said, come on, she wasgetting nervous.
She said she was actuallygetting, she's got anxiety.
We tell them that's not realordering the food and we're just
(12:13):
like I'm looking at her, likeyou're gonna be the new adult,
like you cannot get anxiety butwe have to walk to the corner
store and get a whole grocerylist.
We used to have a you knowpaper writing in the back of a
piece of mail go get this at thecorner store and you used to
have to walk and go get it andtake money.
My kids would never.
They'd be like huh, want me todo what?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
you order it and I'll pick it up.
I can't you just door dash it,it's like yeah action in the
century that we're in now.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
It's like all computer generated on a meeting.
These are the people, like yousaid, these are the.
This is the generation that'sgoing to be taking care of us,
and I feel like they're.
We are disconnecting more andmore from human interaction and
I was laying in the bed thinkingabout why the hell is Facebook
free?
And I was like I know whyFacebook's free.
(13:03):
Why are they not charging?
Facebook is free because it's away to control.
Facebook is addicted.
I deleted the damn app off myphone and I was still looking
for it.
I said what the hell?
It's very addictive, just thatlittle blue app.
And I'm just like, hmm, butwhat is it?
What is in it?
Why am I going to it?
And then I didn't have that onmy phone.
So what did I do?
I went to Instagram and Icaught myself and I'm like this
(13:26):
is exactly why Facebook is freebecause they can use that to
control, control you the minuteFacebook.
What people do they get onsocial media and they like?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
why my Facebook down?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
right, what's going down?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I go to google what happened to facebook?
Speaker 1 (13:45):
right.
So facebook is, and they saidit, they, they said it, they
said it is very addictive.
And at this point we're going,we're going to, you know,
facebook, and we're implementing, like artificial intelligence
in there.
Now you can't even write a post.
All right, correct my spellingand grammar.
Yes, what the word felt wrong.
You know, you don't have tothink I'm feeling like this,
(14:07):
write a post about this.
It is not even your thoughts.
So they're trying to get peopleto stop thinking and stop
interacting and start stopmaking their own decision.
And it's very scary for me.
It's very scary and I'm notsaying I'm woke or anything like
that, but I'm paying attention.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Let's just say I'm paying attention, like, hmm,
this is pretty strange, you knowso, but you know what in class
is very hard because you havestudents that are always on that
social media.
But then when you or evengoogle, but then when you ask
them to look up a medical termor what does this mean, I asked
(14:43):
what does localized andgeneralized mean?
The other day, and they're alllooking at me, I said Google, go
, go look up Google.
And so I gave them a you know afew analogies and everything.
But they look at you like, okay, you tell us no, go Google it,
go on TikTok.
Tiktok can tell you whatlocalized and generalized is.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Got to take that away .
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You know I just my daughter asked me one.
Well, I told her I said I'mbored.
When she first went off tocollege I said I'm bored.
She was like get on TikTok,it'll last you about two hours.
I downloaded TikTok.
I got on there.
It lasted.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I stayed some sometimes it's informative, but
I like is that I'm payingattention.
I'm like we're not evensupposed to be.
This is not.
This is not right.
It doesn't feel somethingdoesn't feel right about it.
Something doesn't feel rightabout you seeing somebody's
(15:38):
family member pass and theyputting up a go fund me and you
just like okay, scrolling to thenext one, like it's something
is not, it's like the news.
You know, every time you turn onthe news there's something bad
or something bad.
And then guess what, after awhile you stop watching the news
but you open up that facebookhurricane mark, say, from this
shooting, all this politicalstuff, people being racist on
(15:59):
here, people mad at the littlemermaids, black, like it's
always something negative.
And then on the flip side yousee, oh, this person's on
vacation and you know I starteda new job here and you know this
cute picture here and it's justlike you, either on this side
or that side of it, you know.
And what are you going tochoose?
To look more into the positive?
(16:20):
Oh, I want my teeth done, Iwant to get veneers, I want to
go on vacation.
So then that stuff that youstart to see just like the kids
becomes you, you know yeah youknow, it becomes you because
you're like I don't want to seethe negative stuff.
So they start showing you andfeeding you things that you want
to see and, before you know it,you like dang, I want to be in
Puerto Rico for three years youknow like I need to get, get on
(16:42):
this.
And then it just goes back towhat you want we're going to put
in front of you and what youneed to be doing is the whole
distraction.
Go to school, go to college now.
So everybody's trying to getthe bag.
Before everybody was trying toscam, now it's just like lord.
I don't know what's happeningnow.
We hear about the veneer stufflike oh my gosh well, now we
hear about the people that arenot dentists doing veneers.
(17:04):
Well, guess what?
Every time I turn on socialmedia, it's somebody with some
doing veneers.
Well, guess what?
Every time I turn on socialmedia, it's somebody with some
new veneers.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Every time and it's scary because I try to I tell my
kids all the time if you'regoing to somebody's house to get
your teeth done, it's wrong.
And the students?
One student said my aunt.
She said my aunt, she used toclean our teeth at home and I
said, really, she's a hygienistlike you.
I said, oh really, where doesshe practice?
(17:33):
She said, oh, in Texas.
I said, honey, be quiet, don'ttell any more of your aunt's
business.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Right.
You know, I thought you know,she practiced somewhere else,
maybe in another country orsomething like that I'll say I
blame the economy first, andthen I blame social media, and
then I blame the dentist,because you see all of this, oh,
celebrity dentists we doveneers come here and kids are
on social media Instagram,tiktok, and they're watching.
Oh, veneers, veneers, veneers.
(18:00):
This doctor does them.
Okay, that doctor's going tocharge $20,000, right.
Well, I want that because I keepseeing that on my feet.
I want veneers.
So what are they going to do?
You don't have money.
You don't have money to get anexam.
You don't have twenty thousanddollars.
You see your favorite celebritydentist posting these veneers so
you can go to your cousin thatgot the certificate to get these
veneers, but you're not eveneducated enough to make that
(18:21):
decision to say, oh, this is nota dentist, but you know you can
afford it.
But I want a dentist, but youknow you can afford it, but I
want to look like.
I want to look like the peopleyou know, my favorite
celebrities that have them.
So there's a couple things thatsocial media is the dentist
like.
They're promoting veneers ontheir social media.
Who do you think is watchingthese?
These are the kids.
They're not other.
You know these are people whoare influenced, who don't have
(18:41):
money.
I want to get that done.
Oh, I did this celebrity'sveneer.
Okay, well, I don't have thatcelebrity's money, but I know I
can go over here and get themdone and then they end up
getting hurt, they end upgetting dental infections, they
end up, they end up losing allof their teeth.
So you know, everybody has totake responsibility.
They can't just be yelling atthe veneer tech.
(19:02):
Why did that veneer tech thinkthat?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
they could do that you know, and and with the whole
marketing thing and the dentist, like you said, reaching out to
social media to market more andusing the trends that the young
people or, you know, teenagersare, you know, grasping to it
(19:25):
makes it more influential.
Okay, well, they're doing it.
But I can go to somebody else.
Of a near tech, because youhave that low health literacy
you're not even aware that of anear tech is no such thing right
, my mom doesn't even know,she'd be still calling me a
dentist.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
She'd be like, yeah, my daughter's a dentist.
I'm like I'm not a dentist.
But she doesn't know thedifference.
And again I say I blamedentistry.
Because guess what, dentistrydivided dds, rdh, rd, um, da,
certified, da, cda, right,expended functions.
And the regular dentalassistant can just get a
(20:01):
certificate from a, from asix-week program, so that's a
certificate.
So if I'm a regular person whodoesn't know the difference, of
course I'm gonna thinkcertificate, oh, you can get a
certificate from a communitycollege, can you not?
Yeah, so I'm not gonna know thedifference.
And it's very sad, butdentistry divided, that how
about?
we are the licensedprofessionals.
And then these people.
(20:21):
These are not the licensedprofessionals.
How about not giving them acertificate at all?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
it's just on the job, especially coming out of high
school, and if I mean when theyturn 18, they can apply and get
their state licensure here intexas for their after they
complete the program for dentalassisting.
You have to teach them.
You cannot do veneers at home,you know, because once they get
once a dental assistant getspretty good at something they
can.
(20:45):
They can do a lot more thanpeople think.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Oh, they see it.
You're watching it for hours,every single.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah, they can do a lot more work than people
actually think and I feel thatyou know that also separates a
veneer tech from a real dentalassistant.
A real dental assistant will, Ithink, go the extra mile to
okay, let me figure out how todo this, do whatever I want to
do in a legal aspect.
(21:16):
But then you have some dentalassistants that want that extra
money, that will go out andcompromise ethics over anything
just to make extra money.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
I remember they were getting the grill.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
They would have the pawn shop or the person doing
the jewelry with the jewelrystore over there making grills.
You would see people with goldgrills and they did not go to
the dentist, they went into ajewelry store and I still see
some of those jewelry storestoday.
But having gold teeth is nottrending as much as the veneer
stuff is.
And it used to be the whitening, remember.
Everybody was doing thewhitening.
(21:49):
Now it's like all right, Idon't have to do whitening, I
just get white teeth.
Well, they can just put someveneers on and actually I don't
know if you knew this, but itwas a hygienist that was doing
composite veneers.
Somebody posted in a group andwas like she's a Brown girl
member and she's doing compositeveneers.
So I went and looked it up and,sure enough, in the state that
she's in, it says she can docomposite veneers under the
(22:11):
prescription and supervision ofa dentist.
So as long as the dentist says,do these veneers, she can do
them.
It's no different than placinga band on a tooth because it's
removable, oh, wow.
So she's like, yes, I can dothem, and I do them in my
dentist's office and my doctorlets me do them.
And I was like, oh, she's likeI don't put them on people's
teeth who have cavities oranything like that.
And I looked up the law myselfand for sure it said composite
(22:36):
veneers written in that law.
They can be done by a dentalassistant and a hygienist under
the prescription of a dentist.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Will the dentist have to do like the prep work or
anything?
Speaker 1 (22:48):
There is no prep.
They're not shaving any tooth.
They're literally bondingmaterial on top of the tooth.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I just feel that it needs to be across the board.
You know like in Texas you canand can't do certain things.
Well, let's just say can't,because everybody else is
running circles around Texas.
But I feel like it should beacross the board.
If this said dental hygienistin our case went, got whatever
certifications they needed toget to perform said treatment,
(23:17):
they should be allowed to dowhatever it is that they got the
extra certification for itboils down to money.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Obviously you know that the minute you start making
, they can start making moneyoff of it.
They're going to figure out away to change it.
So is it affecting the thedentist?
I don't know, because I heardone dentist tell me I want them
to go on somebody's basement andget braces because they just
got to come to me so I can fixthe teeth.
That's what he said he's like,yeah, they got to come to me to
fix it.
And then I saw another dentiston social media this has nothing
(23:47):
to do with the dentist that thepatient went to a veneer tech
and got veneers done.
But she was like, yes, theywent there and got this done and
I did her transformative thingand it was just so sad and you
know how sad that she went there.
I guarantee you she's not doingit for free.
You're not like, oh, this issuch a sad case, let me fix it
for you for free.
Like no, she's gonna redo it,she's gonna give her real
(24:11):
veneers and then she's gonnaadvertise it.
You know what I mean?
What goes back to like, you dothings because nobody's watching
.
Are you just doing becauseyou're doing it, you're not
trying to make a whole sad storyabout it.
The purpose of this patient,this person, went to a veneer
tech and got these veneers onand everything was terrible,
went from.
We're gonna fix it.
So let's make a sad story aboutit and share it on social media
(24:33):
.
That's like feeling person andtaking a picture with them.
You know this is not good, butagain I'm at it different
Somebody might talk to me andsay well, no, no, no, no, You're
just creating more business foryou.
Like, let's not get it twisted.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Because if somebody sees that you go from one
extreme to the next, they'regoing to want to come to you.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Both, whether they get messed up or not, they're
going to be like, okay, shefixed that, she can face me.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
But what most people don't understand it's more
costly to fix the mistake thanactually like go initially.
Go to the dentist, get thoseveneers from a licensed
professional in the first place,and then it's going to be
cheaper.
Yeah, it may be 20,000, butimagine if you have to do all
that other restoration yeah, itmeant the psychological aspect
of it too.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I just don't know how I feel about it.
I just feel like and myaesthetically.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Do people even think that's cute?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
they don't look good, do they?
They do?
Speaker 2 (25:27):
not look good.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
I haven't seen one set that looks good but you know
what I showed barry a pictureof what veneers are supposed to
look like and what you know.
Somebody did he was like theother way looks better.
They're white.
I was like they're not supposedto be white like that.
Real teeth are not white likethat like right, terrible.
But to him somebody who's notdental it looked great and I'm
(25:49):
like, okay, that's what it isright.
And guess what, if I see myfavorite celebrity and they got
speed parving teeth, I'll belike, okay, maybe, maybe they're
supposed to look like that.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Right.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
They're supposed to just look natural, like they're
supposed to be imperfections init.
Right, they're supposed to.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I wonder how much these celebrities are paying,
because if I was a veneer techand a celebrity came to me, oh,
I'm charging you.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
You know they do them for free.
I have a lot of dentists whoare friends and they said they
do not want to work on nocelebrity because they're just
paying their picky like.
They just don't want that.
They don't want to work withthem, they'd rather work with
regular people.
A lot of the celebrities thathave had their veneers done,
they've had them redone.
So Cardi B, she had her veneersdone.
She had hers redone.
(26:35):
She said she went to adifferent dentist and got them
done.
A dentist that I know of thatdid Glorilla's teeth.
She had hers redone.
It was like I didn't like them.
I kept having to get themredone and redid them.
But I say all that to say likethese dentists are like, oh, I
did this celebrity and I'm thisperson's dentist, but it's just
like they don't see what thedentist did as good.
They see what the veneer techdid as good.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah we talk about dentists and I don't follow a
lot of dentists.
I follow a couple on socialmedia, on Instagram.
But the team here in Dallasthat does oh, like, works so
amazing.
Dr Rose, the whole staff, likehe literally picked good people
(27:15):
to be on his team because thewhole staff, you can tell they
put all the care in the world.
And what I like about him, helike transforms the people that
got the gold grills back in theday, those permanent grills.
He's transforming them.
So not only is he not judgingthem, you know, for having it,
he's just wanting them to likehave a better smile and he gives
(27:36):
them a really, really nicesmile.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
The last Brown Girl RDH magazine that we did, I
featured him as one of the topinfluential dentists in the
community.
Dr Rose also has a nonprofitleg that he gives a lot of stuff
back to the youth and he doessmile makeovers.
So he's definitely one of thosepeople that I don't put in the
celebrity dentist category.
(27:59):
He's just a good person.
Like he's a great individual andyou can really see his light
through his work and throughother people that talk about him
.
Like you, that know him, Irespect him a lot and it's good
to see that he's influencing andinspiring other dental
professionals that see him likewow and then pouring into his
staff members, as you said,because I didn't even know that.
I just followed him.
(28:19):
Barry knows him because Barrydoes music and Dr Rose is in the
music industry, so I think he'sprobably the best one that I've
seen out there that's doing it.
So that's good to hear that theteam that he works with
reflects it, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I even show it to my students.
You know we're on social.
I share with my students browngirl, I tell them if you are
going into hygiene, you know, ornot sure if you're going to any
dentistry.
I share with them Brown Girl'spage and I say, go like.
And Dr Rose's page.
I always tell them here's adentist.
I mean because I feel like he'strending for them to see a
(28:55):
dentist outside of scrubs, butactually, you know, performing
good work.
I feel like he just has thatfun demeanor about him which you
know.
Like you said, they'reinfluenced by all of that anyway
.
So you may as well go withsomebody that's more positive.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Right, right, right right.
I do agree.
Let's turn into, let's starttalking about getting out of
dental ig.
Didn't talk about veneers, butit needed.
The conversation needs to behad, definitely now.
Where can people follow youfind you get some more advice,
any gems you want to leave?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I would leave.
We talked about a little bitabout debt free me graduating,
me graduating with my bachelor'sand my master's debt free.
That was a sacrificialsituation.
I saved.
And then I said, okay, I'mtaking all my savings and
getting my degree, so I didn'tdo much with like scholarships
or anything like that.
So it was a hard thing.
(29:51):
And then you know, to come backfrom that, I said when my
daughter went to school, I didnot want her to have student
loans.
So you know we work as a team.
Go on social media.
We talked about Facebook.
How you know imbalanced thatcould be, but I follow certain
pages on online, on Facebook,primarily because there's more
dialogue, I feel, on Facebookthe zero debt project and I
(30:15):
follow that website.
So if anybody's going back toschool, they have so many
scholarships and so many peopletalking that you could find, you
know, financial gems.
So, with that said, go onliney'all, find scholarships.
Tell your students, tell yourkids, tell your friends' kids.
(30:37):
You know how to go out therethe United Negro College Fund,
thurgood Marshall Foundation.
I help students all the time.
I don't mind helping looking atessays.
I write my kids recommendationletters.
So if you're that mentor, whena student comes to you.
A person comes to you and say,hey, can you write a reference
for me?
Stop what you're doing andwrite that reference, because we
(31:00):
were once there and, you neverknow, we may be there again.
But if you want to follow me,you can follow me on Instagram
at TSURDH that's Tennessee StateRegistered Dental Hygienist and
Facebook is Crystal Robinson,k-r-i-s-t-a-l Robinson and
(31:20):
TikTok is TS Robinson,k-r-i-s-t-a-l Robinson and
TikTok is T-S-U-R-D-H-1.
And you'll see me as my aliasK-A-R-A.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Not the aura.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Yes, my coworkers named me that when I get out of
line, sometimes they say K-A-R-A, all right.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Well, this was a really great, great, great,
great episode.
I thank you for being on.
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