Get ready to immerse yourself in the ADHA24 education experience! Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with fellow dental hygienists and learn from some of the best in the industry. By coming together, we can work to advance professional development, improve patient care and discover the latest trends in dental hygiene.  

With four specialized tracks, ADHA24 delivers education for every interest, practice setting and experience level in many ways. Everyone learns differently, so we’re offering sessions on a broad variety of topics in a mix of formats to fit your learning style, participation needs and the conference experience you want. Select from a blend of lectures, hands-on labs, instructor and vendor workshops, panel discussions and master classes to build your perfect education and conference itinerary and get the most out of your ADHA24 experience!

Clinician is the primary role for many practicing dental hygienists. But it’s only one of seven different categories of dental hygiene roles, including Clinician, Corporate, Public Health, Researcher, Educator, Administrator and Entrepreneur. This Education Track explores each of these roles, their requirements, responsibilities, and career opportunities.

Topics Include: working in different practice settings, careers with dual roles, workforce models, educational requirements, increasing access to care, evidence-based decision-making, managing resources, communication, leadership, professional development, using these roles to prevent and control oral diseases

When was the last time you took time for yourself? While it’s important to focus on the health of our patients, it is equally essential that we make time for our own well-being. If we’re not well, it’s much harder to guide others to wellness. This education track is important for you and for your patients. We’ll look at ways to forge a path to emotional, psychological, and social well-being with the goals of achieving mental health, handling stress well and making healthy choices at every stage of life.

Topics Include: managing personal well-being, meditation, mindfulness, managing burnout, screening for depression and anxiety in dental practice settings, substance abuse and recovery programs

As part of dental hygiene care, we provide oral health instruction to our patients. But do our patients really understand what we’re explaining? Oral health literacy refers to an individual’s ability to obtain, process and understand the basic health information and services they need to make appropriate health decisions. In this education track we’ll explore how to improve our patients’ oral health outcomes by improving communication with our patients.

Topics Include: relationship between oral health status and oral health literacy, trends in oral health literacy, integration of oral health literacy with clinical care, challenges of oral health literacy into medical-dental integration

State boards often require key topics for licensure renewal and CODA requires faculty to take educational methodology courses on a regular basis. Use the opportunities in this education track to cover those topics that help meet your licensure and CODA requirements. Boards may require it but we’ll deliver the content in a way that leaves you feeling more knowledgeable and confident in your profession, too!

Topics Include: educational methodology, infection control, implicit bias, opioids, ethics, child abuse, CPR, chemical dependency/tobacco cessation, cultural competency, domestic violence, medical error, HIV/AIDS, pain management, human trafficking, bioterrorism

We understand that adult learners have different study methods and education preferences. The content offered at ADHA’s Annual Conference attempts to meet the diverse learning needs of our conference attendees. The variety of learning formats supports a range of instructional methods giving attendees more control over setting their priorities and choosing the right content, materials and methods to match their learning styles, objectives and experience preferences.

Like standard didactic CE, lecture sessions instruct attendees through spoken presentations, slides and listening. We encourage presenters to develop sessions that engage attendees through dynamic interaction, either via small group activities during the lecture, polling or other collaborative learning exercises.

What’s better than hearing about a new product, method or practice? Actually using and applying new knowledge on the spot to build a stronger proficiency! Hands-on labs are in-depth workshops designed to get you utilizing equipment and practicing techniques that you can immediately apply upon returning to your daily routine.

Are you a trainer or a certifier of a technique or practice that dental hygienists need? (Examples might include CPR, advanced instrumentation, laser certification, orofacial myofunctional therapy, etc.) Apply to have your workshop considered for inclusion either before or during the conference programming.