Meet Your Professional Educator

Melissa Calhoun, a 2005 graduate of Pensacola State College’s dental hygiene program, is a distinguished professional with extensive experience in pediatric, implant, and general dentistry. In 2021, she earned her master’s in dental hygiene with an education focus from MCPHS University. Based in Keller, TX, Melissa is a clinical practitioner, instructor at Tarrant County College, faculty at Sanders Board Preparatory educator with Arm & Hammer, and a SDA trainer with EMS Dental. In leadership roles, she serves as the President-Elect of the American Academy of Dental Hygiene. Melissa’s dynamic contributions highlight her commitment to advancing oral health education and professional growth.

From Pregnancy and Beyond: Oral Health Care Through Pregnancy, Infancy, and Toddlerhood

Course Description

Over half of pregnant individual do not seek dental care during pregnancy. This course will establish the need and opportunity with this population. A review of the current evidence-based guidelines and recommendations for oral healthcare during pregnancy with a focus on improving oral health outcomes during the prenatal period. In addition, oral health professionals will learn how to mitigate enamel erosion associated with morning sickness. This presentation will also review how to provide new mothers with key information and guidance on reducing the transmission of bacteria associated with dental caries, the leading childhood disease. This session will provide an interactive platform for oral health professionals to learn more about engaging pregnant individual in their own oral health, as well as their infant’s oral health.

Course Objectives

• Understand the role oral health plays in pregnancy.
• Explore the key oral findings in pregnant patients.
• Evaluate the myths associated with pregnancy and dental care.
• Examine the relationship between caregiver oral health and infant oral health.
• Develop a good understanding the importance of establishing a dental home.
• Gain a deeper understanding of the anticipatory guidance recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
• Describe the key components of an infant/toddler dental appointment.

The Future Is Now: Implementing Minimally Invasive Dental Hygiene Therapy into Clinical Practice

Course Description

Do you ever provide preventive therapy and feel as though something is missing? You’ve used mechanical, hand instrumentation, and polishing agents, yet biofilm is still present. Technology has provided dental hygienists with an effective and efficient way to disrupt biofilm, minimizing the use of mechanical and hand instrumentation yet providing a systematic, predictable approach to biofilm disruption.

Minimally invasive therapies provide clinicians with the best way to safely remove biofilm from around implants, crowns, primary teeth, and natural teeth using a non-abrasive powder, warm water, and air. This course will provide a better understanding of dental hygiene therapies and how to introduce them to your team and patients. In addition, this interactive course will guide you through a systematic approach to disease diagnosis and patient motivation through risk assessment while achieving optimal results based on individualized precision patient care.

Course Objectives

• Define minimally invasive dentistry.
• Discuss ways dental professionals use minimally invasive dentistry.
• Explain minimally invasive dental hygiene therapy.
• Consider guided biofilm therapy for performing minimally invasive dental hygiene therapy.