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| "Women's Life and Health"
is the interview series that features active
professional women in the world talking
about her health, lifestyle and career. |
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| Interview
vol.1 |
Gilia Rethman -Part1 |
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| Gilia
Rethman, RDH, BA |
She
is a dental hygienist,
and is the Editorial Director
of Dimensions of Dental
Hygiene. She is an Adjunct
Lecturer at the University
of Pittsburg. Gilia is
the first dental hygienist
ever awarded a Special
Citation (2005) from the
American Academy of Periodontology.
She lives in Hawaii with
her husband and two cats,
where she enjoys yoga,
walking, gardening and
cooking. Recent books
she liked are Memoirs
of a Geisha and The
Kite Runner.
・ http://www.dimensionsofdentalhygiene.com
・ http://www.JillRethmanrdh.com
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| You are representing dental hygienists in the world now. What is your background and how did you start your career? |
| During my first year of
college, I was not sure what profession
I wanted to pursue. As I looked into various
professions I knew that I wanted something
that involved helping people. I heard about
dental hygienists and the various things
that they do because I had a part time job,
and many of the women that I worked with
were in dental hygiene school. So they told
me about the things that they were learning
and it sounded very interesting to me. |
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| What part of your friends' story made you interested in the field the most? |
| I was most interested when
they told me how they were seeing patients
one on one and were explaining to them the
importance of good oral health. They were
doing things that actually made people feel
better. And they made people's quality of
life (QOL) better. |
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| So you took the test and entered dental hygiene school. |
| I took the aptitude test,
and after several months passed I received
an acceptance letter. After I entered the
school, I realized that there were many
people applying for the profession. There
were 80 people in my dental hygiene class,
which was very large at that time, but they
had over 400 applicants! I was shocked,
thinking "Oh my gosh this is very popular
profession!" I also realized that many of
those who applied with me, had a father
who was a dentist, a brother who was a dentist,
an uncle.... I had no one in my family in
dentistry. So it was really interesting
because it opened my eyes in a lot of ways
to what is possible in this profession.
And then as I started treating patients,
and getting more involved with writing and
speaking, I realized that this is really
wonderful profession. |
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