Summer, please slow down! Can you believe we’re into August already?
I’ve always thought of the summer months like a weekend:
☀️ June feels like Friday—full of excitement and anticipation.
☀️ July is our Saturday—peak fun, sun, and freedom.
☀️ August feels like Sunday—we’re holding on, not quite ready to let go.
Even if you love what you do, summer is still an important time to unwind, have fun, make connections, and reset—so you can return refreshed and ready to go.
That said… have you started thinking about what fall will look like for you professionally?
September is a natural reset point. Now is the time to take action and get intentional with your planning.
Here’s one area that might be worth your attention: your instruments.
Over the weekend, a post in one of the dental hygiene Facebook groups caught my eye. A dental hygienist shared how she just started in a practice that is supportive, well-run, and gives extra time to review charts and provide OHI at every appointment—amazing, right?
But then she opened her cassettes. There were only four instruments in them.
Two of the four instruments were old octagon-handled tools. It was disheartening.
This post (shared anonymously, as many are these days) sparked dozens of comments from other hygienists showing the state of their own trays. Sadly, this isn’t rare. I’ve seen it time and time again—and I was deeply involved in the dental instrument business for most of my career. I owned my own line of instruments, placed them in 10 dental hygiene schools across Canada, and implemented maintenance programs across North America. And we still see practices offering the bare minimum.
Some even save the dull or damaged instruments “for the temp.” 😞
It’s time for a change.
If you can relate, I encourage you to take this month—while things may still feel slower—to do your research and make a plan so you’re ready to roll by September.
Start by assessing your foundational kit. A solid basic setup might include:
Foundational Kit:
Aim for one kit per patient per day (i.e., 7 kits per dental hygienist), and then determine if you need specialty kits—like minis, furcations, or implant kits. These kits may last longer than your foundational kits, depending on use.
Use the Instrument Budget Calculator I created to estimate your annual investment. (You’ll find it at www.rdhu.ca/lmdental, along with free videos and planning tools.)
✅ Schedule a meeting with your team and the DDS
✅ Present your case
✅ Show your cost-per-patient breakdown
✅ Build an annual instrument budget
Remember: instruments used daily are typically ready to retire after 12 months—18 months max. (Yes, really!)
If you’d like extra support, I created a 4-part video series for LM Dental that walks through:
Find them all at https://lm-dental.com/references/
The resources are found here: www.rdhu.ca/lmdental.
We need to work together to raise the bar. Instruments are the foundation of our work—and we are only as good as the tools we use.
Feel empowered. Feel confident. You’ve got this!
Warmly,
Kathleen
P.S. If you’re ready to go hands-on, join us at rdhu! Click here to check out our fall instrumentation workshops like the Hygiene Masterclass with Christine Crawford in October, or my Assess & Maintain | Retire & Replace programs. We’d love to see you there.
Kathleen Bokrossy, RDH, BSc ~ Founder | President
