So yes, a routine thing. It so happens, though, that my dental hygienist is a man.
Our dental office has three hygienists that I know of, and the other two are women. I had been going to one of the women, but at some point, I needed to reschedule, and was scheduled with - let's call him - "Guy", who was new to the office. I remember the scheduler asking me, "Are you okay that the hygienist is a man?"
"Uhm, yeah, sure", I replied. But I guess it might be uncomfortable for some who are accustomed to a female hygienist. Why should it matter? Yes, it is a somewhat intimate procedure, I suppose. It's not a profession that ever appealed to me.
And Guy is good at what he does. He's also quite personable, which can be annoying in a dental situation. In fact, everyone in the office, dentists included (there are 3 of those too), is quite friendly. It's annoying because they're making interesting conversation while sticking instruments in my mouth. Guy was talking about the local housing market after I'd told him we were clearing out our house and thinking of downsizing. All I could respond with was, "aaaugh hhnnn" and "hckk kknng" and the like.
He noticed the little "zit" I have on my gum at the site of my recent apicoectomy, or retrograde root canal I had back in March. Then the (female) dentist came in, had a look, and diagnosed an infection and prescribed me some antibiotics. Yuck. I have a follow-up with the oral surgeon soon, so I can ask, "Dude, what's this?"
< This is not a picture of MY gum zit, but close enough...
I had googled the zit thing when it first showed up. As usual, when googling for medical answers, I learned that my gum zit was a normal part of the healing process or something that would kill me any day now.
Also curious about the dental profession, I did a bit of googling there, and learned that female dentists account for about one third of dentists while male hygienists account for a little less than three percent of hygienists. Guy is in a relatively small group.
Do you care what gender your dental hygienist is? Do you have a gender preference when selecting a doctor or dentist?
8 comments:
I don't care what gender my doctor is, but I think I prefect a woman hygienist - and I have no idea why.
My daughter has an appointment with an oral surgeon this afternoon - I am going with her in about an hour.
She has something funky too.
Get is checked is all I can say to both of you.
Sandie
I don't really care whether my doctor/dentist/hygienist is a man or a woman. Mary, on the other hand, has insisted on a female dentist ever since our old dentist (a man who we had for almost 30 years) retired. We started going to a dentist a friend of Mary's recommended. It was two women (the one Mary's friend recommended and another) who worked for a corporate practice. Ultimately both women left and we ended up with a couple of young men, which displeased Mary, but shortly thereafter a woman took over in the office. So you know what happened: they closed the office and we're in search of another dentist, one who will take our insurance (or we need to change that, too) and who is a woman. We might have to settle for a corporate practice, which is kind of like taking pot luck as far as who you get....
Probably more answer than you were expcting...
I don't care what gender my doctors/dentists/hygienists are as long as they get the job done. Infections in the mouth are the worse though. I had one not too long ago and it was gross. TMI.
Abby, you know until I read this I never realized all my hygentists have been women. I would not care one bit if it was a man. I prefer female doctors but I've had both genders in dentistry and that has been fine. I get them asking if you were going to be in stirrups but for cleaning my teeth I really didn't think it was necessary to ask did you? Hope the infection is gone soon!
I have always preferred, and have been happier with, a female dentist. I've never had a male hygienist, but I don't think I'd have a problem with it as long as he did a good job without hurting me. I've had some killer females that were really rough and I asked to be reassigned to a different one the next time.
Chatty, I suspect you prefer a woman hygienist mainly because it's what you're used to. Hope your daughter's issue is resolved soon!
John, well, good luck with your search!
Morgan, I'm with you - as long as they know what they're doing! Gross infection of the mouth? Ew.
Peggy, I tend to prefer women doctors - general practitioners and gynecologists - mainly because of the familiar parts, but it's not that big of a deal. I'm not sure why the scheduler asked if I was okay with a male hygienist. Made me wonder if someone else made a fuss?
Clamco, all of my previous dentists have been men, but that was more by default. Beware the killer females! 😄
I've never had a female dentist or a male hygienist, and have ever given it thought. However, in other body part areas, I have begun to choose women.
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