Dental hygiene rotation at Pine Ridge

Amy Dayhoff, Kelsey Dorsey and Heather Howell examine the teeth of a student at Ogllala Elementary School.

On March 1 four dental hygiene students from the UNMC College of Dentistry West Division in Scottsbluff, Neb., began their rotation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in S.D.

The rotation was made possible with the help of Amy Dayhoff, a dental hygienist who works at the Pine Ridge Hospital for Indian Health Services. Dayhoff is a 2003 graduate of the UNMC College of Dentistry dental hygiene program.

Over the course of three days, the four graduating dental hygiene students saw 100 patients, both children and adults, either in clinic or through oral health presentations. The following is a reflection of their time there.

“It’s a good experience for anyone going into this field,” Sara Lien said. “We were able to see a wide variety of patients. We visited with two new moms and talked to them about the role of sugar in their diet, the effects it has on their teeth and their baby’s teeth.”

The students field phone calls from tribal members at the tribal radio station KILI.

Lien said she also was able to educate several patients with diabetes about the impact the disease has on their oral health.

“I have never been to a reservation before,” Kelsey Dorsey said. “Even though Pine Ridge is considered a rural community it is much different than the small farming town I grew up in.”

Dorsey said she spent part of one day applying sealants to the teeth of about 30 children at Ogallala Elementary School.

It was not all work, though, as the four dental hygiene students were able to learn more about the culture of this northern plains tribe by visiting a local art museum and the cemetery where Chief Red Cloud is buried. “I really learned a lot,” Lien said.

Heather Howell said she enjoyed working with the second- and third-graders at the three elementary schools they visited. “The kids were really excited and grateful that we were there,” Howell said. “Kids from other grades were coming into the school dental office and asking to have their teeth done too.”

Sheri Printz and Sara Lien apply sealants to a child’s teeth.

At one point the group was invited to spend an hour “on the air” at the tribal radio station, KILI, fielding phone calls and providing oral health information. “That was fun,” Howell said.

Topics discussed included: how to clean a baby’s teeth, what periodontal disease is and how to properly brush one’s teeth.

One important lesson Sheri Printz learned from the rotation, she said, was just how frightened children can be when going to a dental clinic. “They thought it would be a painful experience,” Printz said. “I didn’t realize they would be so scared.”

That’s because there are more adults who come to the Scottsbluff/Gering clinic than children, she said.

To break the ice, Printz said she would ‘duck walk’ next to the children when leading them from the waiting room to the school’s dental office. Not only did this bring her down to the child’s height, Printz said, but it also would make the child laugh.

But Printz said she most remembers the gratitude of the people, young and old. “After the sealants were done the children would all say thank you, and when we gave them a new toothbrush they would get so excited,” she said. “I never thought giving sealants was such a big deal, but it was to them.”