Join OKDHA’s Tulsa County component on Thursday, February 29th, at 7 PM CST for an interactive (virtual) event from the comfort of your home. Join us with Erin Haley-Hitz RDH, MS, FADHA, as she presents “My Bad Habits Lead to You.” Learn how to use appreciative inquiry to help your patients activate the power within themselves to be successful in behavior change. Erin has over 29 years of clinical experience and co-founded Pearly White Prevention, LLC. She is a published author, speaker, coach, and ADHA President-Elect. This CE is open to any dental or healthcare professional wanting to learn more about behavior change. You will receive 2 hours of CEUs after attending the CE. This event is FREE to ADHA Members.

This course is made possible through an educational grant by Elevate Oral Care.

“My Bad Habits Lead to You”

Course Objectives:
1. Define basic health and wellness coaching techniques to motivate patients
2. Identify the power within the patient themselves to achieve successful habit building.
3. Construct new habit-building using patient self-determination and self-efficacy.
4. Learn how to regain passion for the profession and let go of the power struggle
with patients.

Abstract
Building good habits is the backbone of all health and wellness success for patients, regardless of the
practice setting. By bringing a coaching mindset into the dental setting, dental hygiene professionals will
have more success in motivating dental patients to achieve better success within their oral health
routines, ultimately affecting their overall total health. We know that a healthy oral cavity can lead to
more success in achieving optimum systemic health. Without successful coaching strategies in the
dental setting, we are simply peddling the latest and greatest new fad to hit the market and not really
making sound strategic changes in the minds of our patients or their daily oral habits. In this course,
attendees will learn beginning coaching strategies that will help them connect with patients, gain their
trust, and ultimately shape the successful development of lasting habit changes to gain improvements in
health. Coaching is a mechanism not readily used in dentistry but should be considered within practice
models. Research has proven that if more interactions can occur to support positive behavior
modifications, more success can occur for patients. By utilizing “just-in-time learning,” the correct
information can be delivered at the right time; otherwise, patients can be overloaded and won’t know
where to begin. As human beings, we don’t like being told what to do. We like to be the boss of
ourselves, and by learning effective coaching techniques, dental hygienists can learn to manage patient
resistance to change and gain patients’ trust in the process. Patients have two choices, to comply or
defy. When we make the mistake of always remaining in the expert seat, we make the experience in the
dental chair more about the provider than the patient’s experience. Supporting patient autonomy
creates patient-driven goals, which will result in patient-driven results. Ultimately, as dental hygienists,
we can experience less stress and more fun in our careers.

Methodology
This 2 hour CE course will include interactive participation with the audience via polling, word clouds, and music.
This is different from your everyday homecare/communication course. This presentation will include a PowerPoint
presentation, a handout, and a coaching template that can be taken home to help you utilize these steps in your
dental hygiene operatory when you return home.