By Ann-Marie C. DePalma
Background behind seminar
Teaching and promoting oral hygiene self-care is one of the most important aspects of dental hygiene care, according to Janis Keating, RDH, MA. From that belief, she created a program titled "Resources for Promoting Oral Fitness." As dental professionals, we need to make informed and appropriate treatment decisions and recommendations for our patients/clients, despite the fact that the amount of oral health-care information for both patients and colleagues can be overwhelming.
Janis' approach to oral health encourages the development of a "fitness" mindset, emphasizing total body health — fit mouth, fit body. The program covers a variety of areas:
• Developing individual hygienists as an oral health fitness resource
• Applying new dental science principles, using behavioral and communication skills effectively
• Expanding one's knowledge of the products available to assist in promoting oral fitness.
All members of the dental team will benefit from this informative, fun, and interactive course. Together team members can utilize basic course components while expanding them to fit the needs of each individual dental practice.
For the program, Janis uses a combination of discussion, slides, group activities, and an informative handout for practical take-home use. During the hands-on portion, course participants rotate to four different demonstration tables/stations and discuss various products that promote oral fitness (such as toothbrushes, interdental cleaners, toothpastes, and rinses) and finally to a table/station devoted to developing professionalization. This interactive aspect provides an opportunity for peer teaching and sharing of experiences regarding a particular product, device, or approach — what works, what doesn't, what's new. Janis explains, "I learn something new every time I teach the seminar." Her teaching style is very open and she encourages questions and discussions throughout the seminar.
Janis' current courses include: "Women's Wellness — An Oral Health Perspective," "Opportunities for Excellence with Pediatric Patients," "Resources for Promoting Oral Fitness," "Fluid Dynamics in Action: A New Look at Biofilm Disruption," and "Dental Implants: The Basics and Beyond."
All of the courses are sponsored through an educational grant from Philips Oral Healthcare, makers of the Sonicare powered toothbrush. Philips generously supports dental or dental hygiene associations, school continuing education departments, and other community dental programs in their effort to provide quality continuing education for dental professionals.
Comments from course participants repeatedly center on the objective format of the product aspect, "It's nice not to hear the 'sales pitch' about any particular product but rather good useful scientific and clinical information," wrote one course participant. That is what Janis strives to achieve in her programs, knowledge that can be used in day-to-day practice.
To learn more about Janis' programs or to have Philips Oral Healthcare sponsor a program contact Janis at: [email protected] or Philips at (888) 676-7664, ext. 3135, or www.sonicare.com. Plan to attend the "Resources for Promoting Oral Fitness" seminar that Janis will be presenting at RDH's Under One Roof in Costa Mesa, CA on March 6, 2004! See you there!
Speaker background
Being a dental hygiene educator and clinician for the past 27 years, Janis brings a wealth of experience to the podium. She graduated from Loyola University, receiving a bachelor's of science degree. Her passion for creative continuing adult education played a large part in her successful completion of a master's of arts degree in adult education psychology from Northwestern University. She has taught numerous dental hygiene courses at both Loyola and Northwestern, and was the director of the dental hygiene education program at Loyola University in Chicago.
Janis' interest in writing and presenting continuing education programs blossomed after attending courses in the early years of mandatory continuing education in Illinois. Her goal has always been to develop interactive, contemporary, and research-based courses.
She wrote her first program on ultrasonic and hand instrumentation. Janis teaches a variety of courses and has gone on to author numerous seminars and lunch-and-learn programs, as well as journal articles and textbook chapters.
Her latest project includes a chapter on dentinal hypersensitivity in the soon to be released ninth edition of Esther Wilkins' Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist.
Janis resides in Littleton, Colo., where she can indulge in a number of other passions in her life. Janis has been an ADHA member since her SADHA days in hygiene school and believes in strong and effective dental hygiene associations.
Ann-Marie C. DePalma, RDH, BS is a practicing hygienist in a periodontal-implant practice.She is a graduate of the Forsyth School for Dental Hygienists, is active in the Massachusetts Dental Hygienists' Association, and is a Fellow of the Association of Dental Implant Auxilliaries and Practice Management.Ann-Marie has written articles and presents programs on dental implants, TMD, and developmental delays and can be reached at [email protected].
