By Jackie Sanders, RDH, BS
January 20, 2014
In 2013 the dental hygiene profession had the opportunity to celebrate 100 years of growth, while receiving recognition for the advancements made in oral health awareness and clinical preventive care. Dental hygienists tend to be compassionate, meticulous, and proud of their career choice with an inner drive to help others.
To recognize the dental hygienists who have risen above, Sunstar Americas and RDH Magazine collaborated on developing an honors program to identify these individuals. In 2002 the Butler GUM/RDH Healthy Gums, Healthy Life Award of Distinction recognized eight women who had made a difference in oral health awareness. Selection was based upon essays on how the dental hygienist helped their patients acquire healthier lives, discussed differences they had made in their local community, and offered successful homecare tips for improving patient compliance. The Award Program ran in conjunction with the popular Under One Roof Conference.
Since the commencement of the first awards ceremony in August of 2002, 97 dental hygiene professionals have received recognition for their achievements. The award program has grown and is now titled the Sunstar/RDH Award of Distinction and recognizes eight recipients each year for their professional advancements in education, community service, and private practice.
The Awards program continues to adapt to the growth of the profession and will be broadening opportunities this year by adding a category for the recent graduate. There are a large number of younger dental hygiene graduates with an early passion to make a difference. To support this category of early innovative professionals, Sunstar and RDH will be including these individuals in the selection of the 2014 Award of Distinction Recipients.
If you are one of these new graduates, or if you know a recent dental hygienist who is making a difference, take the opportunity to complete an application for the upcoming awards program. You may nominate yourself or a colleague until March 31, 2014. The recipients receive roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations, entertainment, and registration to Under One Roof. You will also be recognized by your peers at an awards ceremony and will be featured on the RDH cover.
Take the time to recognize the recent graduate now!
