Strive-Achievement
January, 2007 edition

Josalyn Sewell, Future Dental Hygienist

Josalyn Sewell is a senior at San Juan Community College in Farmington, New Mexico, where she serves as Student American Dental Hygienists' Association (SADHA) president. She is the most recent recipient of the New Mexico Dental Hygienists' Associations' "Future Dental Hygienist" award and attended the ADHA's annual session in Florida, where she gained insight on the profession from her peers. Access spoke with her about her career aspirations and perceptions about dental hygiene.

Access: How long have you known that you wanted to practice dental hygiene?

Josalyn Sewell: While growing up, I wanted to be a doctor; both of my parents were nurses, and I was always around that environment. When I went to high school, I got my nurses' aide certificate and worked in a nursing home and realized that nursing was just not for me.

I got married and had a little boy and put school off. I wanted to go back to school, but I wanted a career where I could also be a good mom. It was kind of coincidental; I was talking to a friend and found out about the dental hygiene program, and so I thought I would try it, and I ended up loving it.

Access: In what kind of practice do you hope to begin working?

JS: I just want to be somewhere where they are going to let me put patient care first, where production is not a big issue. If I need to spend an hour on education or oral hygiene instruction, then I can do that. Eventually, I'd actually like to open a collaborative practice after I get my bachelor's degree.

Access: Why do you think SADHA membership is important for students?

JS: It gives you a broader perspective on things. In classrooms, you don't always learn about all of the issues surrounding the profession, or things that you need to fight for, or ways that you can help out your community. My SADHA group does a lot of community service, which I think is very important. I've met so many interesting people attending state and national meetings. SADHA has made it so that I love my profession and I take ownership of it, whereas, without it, I think you wouldn't be aware of all of the options available after graduating. SADHA shows you there's just so much more to your profession and a sense of belonging. It's opened a lot of doors for me.

Access: How has your son influenced your career decisions?

JS: I think, with any child, you want to be a good mom and stay home, but Ethan has autism, so that has caused me to learn and to grow in a lot of ways. I think people are afraid of what they don't understand. Having a child with special needs, you're not afraid of those things.

I would really like to work with the special needs population. I've had a patient with autism, and it was really tough: we had to come back several times and didn't get a lot done on each visit because we had to get him desensitized to the environment. But I think having a child with autism has really helped me to love people more and to be more patient and understanding of differences in general, but especially people with special needs.

Access: What do you think of the ADHP?

JS: I think it's going to change the way we do a lot of things. Here in New Mexico, I think we have the second-lowest number of dentists per capita, and we don't have a dental school in the state, so the ADHP is going to be beneficial for our state because there are so many people who don't have access to oral health care. I'm really excited, and I hope they get it off the ground soon because there are a lot of people who could really use it and a lot of hygienists who want to be a part of that.

I understand why the dentists are afraid of it-I would be a little bit afraid if someone were offering to have somebody with less education than me do some of the things that I do. But I also do not understand why they are not embracing it a little bit more. I think there's going to be a lot of changes as we go, but I think it's going to be really beneficial for places like New Mexico.

Access: What do you think your role in the profession is as a dental hygiene student?

JS: I think that students serve a couple of purposes: you have to bring in new hygienists as other hygienists retire, that's obvious, but I also think that students have a lot of energy and passion, and if you direct it in the right way, they can really push things forward and bring new ideas. I also think that teaching somebody and being a mentor can create a greater sense of belonging and more energy in the profession. What I love about the dental hygiene profession is that students are not pushed aside or frowned upon or pushed around, but they are embraced and welcomed and even glorified, if you will. There are so many people I have met for the first time who say things like, "if you ever move to this state, give me a call," and people who still email me from the national meeting whom I met just once. As students, we need to be aware of what's going on in our profession, and it's our responsibility to find those things out and pass the torch on from those hygienists who've worked so hard before us.

This edition of Strive Achievement was prepared from an interview conducted by Meghan Washington.