Working

Rosemary Courtney, RDH

Rosemary Courtney, RDH, had been in clinical dental hygiene practice for 23 years when she found a nontraditional, yet rewarding channel for her dental hygiene: teaching high school.

Before attending dental hygiene school, Courtney had earned her teaching license in Indiana to teach social studies for grades 7 to 12, so teaching was not new to her. In the spring of 2004, she had the opportunity to work at the South Texas Independent School District High School for the Health Professions, a magnet school.

Courtney currently teaches high-school students as part of a six-week rotation. For the sophomores, she teaches an introduction to dentistry with an emphasis on the names, anatomy and physiology of teeth. She also teaches juniors and seniors in a course called Health Science Technology II, geared toward students who intend to pursue some form of dentistry as a career. In this class, each student designed their own dental office on the computer, accounting for cost and functionality.

Courtney has encountered a fair number of challenges in this position. The first few months were especially difficult, since she started teaching four weeks into the school year and not at the beginning.

"The administration was helpful, but with limited knowledge of dentistry. They pretty much said, 'Here is your room, go to work,'" she recalled. "The room was still in disarray from the summer when the new floor was installed; it took many months to sort through all of the supplies and equipment."

She has also found it challenging to work within a governmental agency. Replacing supplies is not as simple as in a private office; various paperwork needs to be filled out for each item and then there is a wait before the order is filled. In addition to this, there is a pressure to keep up with technology, which sometimes advances more quickly than the school can replace old items, even though teachers are expected to assign projects addressing the latest technology available.

Still, the rewarding aspects outweigh the challenges for Courtney.

"The most rewarding aspects of this position are definitely the interactions with students," said Courtney. "So many students need just someone to reach out to them. I try to be that someone as much as possible. To realize that you can make a difference in a young person's educational journey is gratifying, but also humbling, in that you know you must make a difference for good and not ill."

As for advice for dental hygienists looking to follow in her footsteps, Courtney advised that "primarily, be certain you love teenagers. Patience is a great asset and not just with the students, but with the whole educational process, which I find is quite different from anywhere else. You must be open to learning new things and ideas."

This edition of Working was prepared by Meghan Washington