Tiffany: We train and support hygienists in building thriving hygiene practices within a practice. To your point, it's a business within the business. And actually, that business, that hygiene practice within the practice, elevates the overall practice and really carries it home.
Seventy-five percent of all diagnostics are out of hygiene, and we see generations of families: the children, grandchildren, and then some.
Anne: Hello, everyone. It's Anne Duffy, and welcome to the Just DeW It podcast. I'm so happy I have a new friend and a wonderful guest for you today, Miss Tiffany Wuebben. That's such a pretty name, and it's so nice to see you.
I just love being in your company. We met a while back, and it's been so fun. We laugh that we're sisters of different mothers. So it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool.
Tiffany: Amazing. Thank you so much. DeW has been like a warm hug from the beginning, and that's from you. Thank you so much for the community and thank you so much for all that you're doing out there, really elevating everyone, always so positive, and operating with so much joy. I appreciate you, and thank you for having me on today.
Anne: It is my pleasure, and we'll spread some hugs around. But before we get started, let me tell our listeners a little bit about you. As the founder and CEO of the Hygienepreneur, Tiffany Wuebben, RDH, is a published author and speaker. She's dedicated to serving the dental community in a very big way. Tiffany's influence empowers the dental team to prepare with an ownership attitude, which leads to better clinical outcomes, higher case acceptance, and more productivity for the practice.
Her book, Hygienepreneur: The Dental Hygienist's Guide to Achieving Career Success and Personal Transformation, outlines 25 key lessons for becoming the ultimate dental hygienist: one who provides the highest level of patient care, contributes significantly to practice revenue, and gains new insights into mastering their destiny.
Welcome, Tiffany. Here we go.
Tiffany: Thank you so much.
Anne: Oh my God, it's so fun because we're both hygienists. Of course, I've been doing it longer than you, and I retired after 46 years. When I read your bio, it gives me chills. It's like, where were you when I was doing hygiene, in the trenches, young, and wondering what the heck I got myself into and how to make my career really soar?
I had a great career in hygiene, but I attribute a lot of that to stepping out of the op and not necessarily in the op, even though I loved the clinical side of it, the profession, the patients, and the docs that I worked for. But you're so passionate about serving the dental community. Where does that come from?
Tiffany: As a single mother for 20 years, I started in practice management and was really married to the practice because, as an office manager, we couldn't leave. We didn't have those little freedoms to get out. We were check-in, check-out, the last patient, and stay until it was all done.
I was struggling as a single parent, doing everything on my own. When I decided to go to hygiene school and got that license, it was like a license for freedom. Of course, we work really hard as hygienists. We are super providers, and that's where the cover of the book comes from, about hygienists really elevating the practice in a big way.
As a practice manager, I saw that in our hygienists. I saw that drive and passion to serve the patient and the practice, and it always really impressed me. I had always known how to build a practice from the front. When I got into the operatory, I discovered very quickly how I could build a practice from my little operatory and do it in a way that I serve generations of patients, gain the lifetime patient, and build that practice through the power of hygiene.
It saved me. It was exciting. I felt renewed, and boy, it was just wonderful.
Anne: And here you are. First of all, kudos to you. You've got two kids. Were you still working and then going to school at night? How did that all work? Did you have to take a little bit of a leave to do your hygiene education?
Tiffany: My doctor, I was so thankful, let me still be involved with the practice on Fridays. We had hygiene school Monday through Thursday, and when we got into that first quarter, the directors of the hygiene school were like, "You're going to need to quit." I said, "I can't afford it. I've got a house payment. I have two small children. It's not like I have a lot of financial support." I was doing my student loan thing, borrowing money, and saying, "I guess I'll be able to pay it back somehow."
Of course, when I graduated, I was the first one working out of my class. My license posted at two in the morning, and I was working at 7:45 at a practice that same morning because I had to work. That drive and passion was really to take care of my family and my children. I was so excited that, with that hygiene license, I was able to provide for my children, work hard, make a nice living, and then also take time off for their baseball and softball games and volunteering at their school. Hygiene allowed me to do all of that.
That's why I have so much love for the dental industry and for hygiene, and really making sure that our community is served because, for years, it's been serving me.
Anne: Okay. So the doctor that you were the office manager for?
Tiffany: Dr. Nash. Dr. Guy Nash in Temecula, California. I did all my prereqs at night and took care of his practice. I would take care of that last patient and then hustle down to San Diego to whatever community college. I actually went to three community colleges at night and on weekends, and did some online courses to get the prereqs.
Anne: Wow.
Tiffany: That took me a while because I had to work full-time, and then I had the children full-time. When that got done, my sister had graduated before me from hygiene school, and she said, "This is the best. It's a fast-track system. You can get in, get yourself done." My whole goal was to get out and work so I could provide for myself and my children.
Thankfully, I got in the first time, and I loved it. It was the hardest thing I ever did. I always joke, "I'd rather go through a divorce again than hygiene school."
Anne: That's why we say women in dentistry are so smart. You cannot get through hygiene or dental school without being smart, organized, and executing the job at hand. The same thing with assistants and office managers. As you know, I don't know which is harder, hygiene or office managing. I give kudos to the office manager, who is the first one there and the last one to leave every day, right?
Tiffany: Yeah. When we see eight to 10 patients a day, they see like 90. I just love our front office providers. I say all of us are dental providers, especially when I'm out there training offices and things. I'm like, "It takes all of us. We're a team. We're all dental providers." We have to really be thankful for our front office team because, gosh, we see our patients, but then they're answering the phone, checking in and out, and handling so many things.
Anne: So many things, and they can keep it all right here. That's such a neat thing that you've had that experience and then hygiene. Most hygienists who have gone through office manager first or assisting have a great love for the team. There's one thing to know the team; it's another thing to be in the trenches with the team and really know.
I think that gives you an even broader scope of what it takes to have a great practice and be profitable. I think that's super for your consulting. I was reading the article, and if you're listening to this, I hope that you will read the article coming out in our spring edition of DeW Life that Tiffany wrote for us.
You subbed in like 100 offices. Tell me about that because that's going to lay the foundation for your book.
Tiffany: In order for me to really write a good book that is packed with not just one office experience, I said I had to temp and really gain the knowledge, the good things, and maybe see the not-so-good things in our industry in many different demographics, many different types of practices owned by male and female dentist groups, older demographic patients, peds, all of that. It was over 100 offices.
At first, my doctor was like, "What are you doing? You're already working three 11s." I would work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays, and I said, "Yeah, but I need to do this." Then he was like, "You're right. Brilliant. Good job."
There are a lot of things in my book where I'm like, "This was the best pearl that I found in practice." I would bring it back to our office and say, "We've got to be doing this." Or I would notice maybe that the doctor would steamroll me when I was trying to do a handoff. I'm like, "That wasn't good." I would see that in a lot of different practices, and it was just because the doctor didn't know. It wasn't that he was trying to do that. It was just that he hadn't been trained.
It's interesting how many doctors sat back and said, "Okay, what are you doing here? You're asking a lot of different questions that we normally don't get." I would say, "Do you have a periodontal protocol that you'd like to present to me as your temp?" And they'd say, "Wait, what?" Some would say, "Don't even perio chart. You're our guest hygienist. You don't have to do that. Don't worry." I'm like, "What? No, we have to serve the patient. We've got to do that."
That's where the content came from: my experiences in my practice, my practice management experiences way in the past, and then also temping in all those practices.
Anne: My gosh, that is loaded with a lot of nuggets, then. It speaks so much to your character, Tiffany, because this is just the story. The thread is that no matter what, you do what it takes to get the job done. When they say, "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die," you actually went ahead and did it because that is a richness that you can provide for everyone.
I love the book. It's so fun. It's not only great nuggets and all that, but your personality is in there, and the cover and all that good stuff. One of the things in your bio that I want to go back and touch on is you talked about an ownership attitude. Tell me a little bit about that because I always took ownership when I worked in a dental practice.
Tiffany: I don't know, and maybe you could agree with me on this, but it might be the way we were raised. I'm not sure. I think I did have that entrepreneurial example from my parents a little bit, but they always said, "Never do anything halfway." They always took an ownership attitude in any job that they did, whatever it was.
Because I saw that, it became ingrained in me that we don't do half work. Operate with integrity. And yes, we act like we own that business because it matters. It's important. I see that in you, too. When we can act like we own something, even before we own it, you see the passion. You work harder to make sure it succeeds. Your patients are going to have a better experience because you're acting like you're the one writing the checks to pay for that laser, so you're going to make sure, for example, that that laser is really well taken care of and put away correctly.
Anne: And used more than once a year. You know what also strikes me about that? Like the dentist you said earlier, they need to be trained. I think some of the docs I worked for weren't all that happy that I took so much ownership. That is the beauty of being in dental hygiene and having our schedule, really running our schedule. We run a business within the practice.
I think you want everyone in the office to take ownership, for sure. But I think it's really pertinent for a dental hygienist to take ownership in what she's doing and how she is building the practice, and everybody wins. That's culture. That's the culture that you provide. I know when you're going in—
Tiffany: We train and support hygienists in building thriving hygiene practices within a practice. To your point, it's a business within the business. And actually, that business, that hygiene practice within the practice, elevates the overall practice and really carries it home.
Seventy-five percent of all diagnostics are out of hygiene, and we see generations of families: the children, grandchildren, and then some. Forty-six years for you, and I'm practicing since 2005. We saw generations. We had those lifetime patients, those lifers, and they don't come back unless they like their hygienist, right?
Anne: Well, I think that's true. That's what I really miss the most: the people and the different stories. I always think hygienists are so smart because look at all the conversations we've had about every person in every walk of life.
Tiffany: Every gender, every age, all of that. We got to know them, and just through our conversations, I think we gained a great education.
Anne: I love that. You're also going to be doing another book coming out. It's going to follow up with the Hygienepreneur, and that's going to be coming out next year?
Tiffany: I just keep getting inspired, and I keep writing. It's interesting when you're creating something. You're a very creative person, so you kind of don't want to give it up because you're still creating. I just figure when I feel good about it, and when my husband, John, says, "Okay, you're done. Give it up," then we'll give it up, and it'll get published.
Anne: That's a great way to go because, honestly, what you're doing, instead of working in the offices and hygiene, you're actually consulting and working in the practices. Every time you go to a new practice, you're getting nuggets, things that are working and things that aren't working, and you're going to get some great tips and tricks for everybody going along.
I know you and John. I met John at Savannah.
Tiffany: Nachos.
Anne: Nachos.
Tiffany: At the Rocket conference.
Anne: It was a beautiful conference, and they were such generous hosts. But then you told me about some kind of barn you're building. You're a San Diego, California girl, you get married, and I hear that you're celebrating an anniversary coming up tomorrow.
Tell me how that journey has gone, a little bit about what your goal is for the future of that, and how that's going to blend into Hygienepreneur.
Tiffany: It's interesting. As I've developed into being a speaker, going out and sharing all about the book and all of the strategies to really be successful and build a wonderful, thriving hygiene department that isn't so stressful—because that's the big thing. I saw too many of my friends being stressed and dentists being stressed.
When I go out and speak on all of these topics, I'm seeing the meetings that are happening. I got a little inspired, and I said to my new husband, because we've only been married now two years, "John, what do you think about us having our own event center and doing our own thing?" He was like, "Absolutely. Let's do it."
We started looking for property in San Diego to do this, and we just found that it would be too difficult. It's just harder to do things in California. I have family in Tennessee, and we've been visiting for six years, every couple of months. My mom and my sister love it in Tennessee. We grew to love it and the community, all the people.
We bought almost 17 acres in the country right outside of Nashville. The barn is almost finished, so we're going to have a barn event center, hygiene hoedowns, and Dental Dude Ranch retreats. Two little mini Highland cows will be on the property, and some horses. I'm hoping to give people a really nice experience to, yes, have action steps on Monday after they come to the meetings and really learn some valuable tips, but also to give them a place to relax, really connect with others, listen to some great music, have some good barbecue, and just have fun.
Anne: What are a couple of tips? If you're a hygienist listening to this, what would you say to a hygienist who's just embarking on their career? What should they be looking for on their career path?
Tiffany: I get that question all the time. I speak at hygiene schools to the classes that are just going to be graduating, the senior class, and a lot of them will come up to me and say, "Yes, I want to be a hygienist, but I think I might want to branch out to other areas." I say, "Well, think about what your passions are, and then you can ask people around you to mentor and to help. Let the community elevate you."
That's what happened to me. I found a passion in making sure that providers were operating with less stress. I wanted the triple-winning scenario to happen for the practice and the patient. As a hygienist who was a single mother forever, I wanted my hygiene friends to do well financially and emotionally. That's where my drive was, to really incorporate systems and operations and have a consulting company.
Sometimes I'll sit back and brainstorm with people and say, "Okay, where does your passion lie? How were you raised? How are you influenced? Who are your influencers? Who do you gravitate towards?" Everybody's different, but there's a place for all of us in all these different areas. The dental industry is huge. Sales, of course, speaking on topics, consulting.
Anne: Yes, the sky's the limit. I think that's part of what your book does. It gives you hope that this is not just a flash-in-the-pan career. This is a long-lasting career that you can have, and you can be fulfilled, and you have to look for those opportunities.
Just like we say with DeW, look for opportunities. That's principle number one. Build on your strengths. What do you do well? Then look for those opportunities, and then ask for help. Your community will help. The dental community is very generous, and it's a relationship community. So find people, give, give, give first, and ask second, and it'll all come their way.
Tiffany: And just keep enhancing leadership and empowerment. Keep enhancing to be you. Be unique. I'll tell people, "Don't be afraid. You don't have to be like anybody else. You can be yourself, and you will be embraced. It's okay."
Anne: I think the other thing that you just mentioned, and I want to touch on, is there is something about going to meetings, finding your community, finding your tribe. That's the thing with DeW. We're here for you, and there are all like-minded people here. Find that community that really helps lift you up and gives you an opportunity to lift your neighbor up or your sister up. We love the men, too. I love the Dude Ranch because we have dudes. I don't know what John's number is. I'm going to ask him when I see him because we have dudes, but all the guys are dudes. Everybody wants to be part of the DeW community. I'm like, "You guys, you're a dude."
Ask John when you talk to him tonight what his number is in the DeW arena. We're up to 103, I think. He's probably around, I think when I met him, 80-something. So see what he says.
Tiffany: When we go to these meetings, we like to have fun, and John is a great dancer. It's kind of now been expected of us when we go to these meetings. They're like, "You're going to dance, right?" And we're like, "Okay, we're doing that."
Anne: Oh my gosh. What's your best dance?
Tiffany: John leads because he's the dancer. His father is a professional ballroom dancer. His brother is a Broadway dancer. His other brother is hip-hop, and John is a mix.
Anne: Wow.
Tiffany: He can dance just about anything.
Anne: The other thing is you must be a very good follower because I am the worst. I want to dance with John the next time I see him, see if I can follow him. Usually, I take over the lead, and it's disastrous. So I love that. We'll see how—
Tiffany: He dances with so many ladies. They'll go, "Can I dance with him?" I'm like, "Go." He spins them all over. I go, "Don't you throw her on the floor. Be careful. She's got heels on."
Anne: Oh my God. You guys just go dancing tomorrow night when you celebrate your anniversary and have the best time.
Tiffany, how do we get in touch with you after this podcast?
Tiffany: My email is tiffany@thehygienepreneur.com, and my phone number is on thehygienepreneur.com website. Everything is there. I'm just loving this, and I really appreciate you, the time, and the nice chat. It's always so wonderful talking to you.
Anne: You make it fun. You're easy to talk to, and I think we did pretty well today. We had a great conversation, and I can't wait to see you and follow your career as the Hygienepreneur, which you really are. You're making a difference in this world. So thank you, Tiffany, for being with me today.
Tiffany: Thank you, Anne.
Anne: You're welcome. I love you. Hugs.
Tiffany: I love you. Hugs, hugs, hugs.
Anne: Virtual hugs. And remember, if you're listening to us, the most important thing for you to do is keep doing you. Thanks, Tiffany.
Tiffany: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Anne: I'll see you all next time. Bye-bye.
