Joyelle Hall

I teach future dental hygienists, educating them on how to educate their patients about oral health and the importance of oral health and how it's related to systemic health, so that when they graduate, they can become great hygienists. I teach in the clinic with hands-on skills where students see patients. I teach them instrumentation skills, community skills, preventive skills, and how to give anesthesia. When they graduate, they come out of school as certified dental hygienists after getting their licensing. What I find most rewarding is watching the students walk across the stage and getting their degree, and receiving cards telling me thank you and that they appreciate my kindness and patience and just being approachable. They tell me how much I helped them along their journey, and I don't really realize it until they're about to graduate and tell me how much I helped them. Knowing that I helped them along the way and watching them graduate and become professionals is so rewarding. My vision for the future involves working with underserved populations who can't get dental care. I'm from a small place in Florida, and every time I go back home to visit, I notice so many people missing teeth, including young women and children, because they don't have access to care or insurance and are low income. My vision is maybe one day opening up a community clinic to provide care for people that are just overlooked or underserved. I'm currently doing an internship at a community health outreach center where I sit with patients and talk to them about their blood pressure and how to manage it and how it affects them if it's out of control.