How to Support Local - Embrace Dental Hygiene Edition

Now more than ever we need to take our health seriously, including our dental health! Jen Mayhew of Embrace Dental Hygiene has created a business that goes above and beyond by thinking outside the box and looking at the bigger picture. Jen gave us some insight into her business, and I hope you are as amazed as I am with that they do!

Tell us about your business and why you decided to open.

Jen is a Registered Dental Hygienist and the owner of Embrace Dental Hygiene. Jen’s career in dentistry started in the late 90’s as a Level II dental assistant to an oral surgeon. At the time she lived in a northern Ontario community and she saw a lot of debilitating oral disease. Disease in both adults and children so severe that teeth required extraction. Decay, periodontal disease and tooth loss negatively impact both children and adults. It’s painful, traumatic and contributes to systemic illness limiting your ability to live to your potential. And unfortunately, decay is one of the number one preventable illnesses in children. Traditional dentistry can be very treatment focused with limited focus on prevention. Treating or filling a cavity does not eliminate the imbalance and risk factors that lead to it. This also leaves the door open for it to happen again. When we address each person’s unique needs and provide care and education for that individual, we can prevent it from happening.

Jen later graduated from Dental Hygiene and practiced as a dental hygienist in the conventional dental setting for many years. The traditional dental environment was not home for her. In 2015 after moving to Amherstburg, she chose to build a business where she could practice focused on enhanced prevention and integrative dental hygiene. That business is Embrace Dental Hygiene.

She merges natural health and the field of dental hygiene. Providing customized dental hygiene care for clients with a focus on proactive prevention from a whole body perspective. We treat you as a whole person. Our integrative approach to dental care combines diet, habit, lifestyle modifications with science based treatment. Our goal is to help each individual find optimized oral health in a comforting and supportive environment. We work collaboratively with families to educate, support and empower them. Embrace Dental Hygiene is an independent dental hygiene practice which means your dental hygiene care is provided to you directly by a Registered Dental Hygienist. Embrace Dental Hygiene carries a large selection of oral health products and tools sourced by Jen to meet her clients’ varying needs and preferences.

What business was like before COVID19?

Prior to COVID 19 we served over 1000 clients, which is amazing for our 4 year old practice. Embrace Dental Hygiene is one of Essex County’s only independent dental hygiene practices. Our schedule was fully booked for 3 months. Our clients were very happy to have an alternative to the traditional dental environment. Where they could receive their prevention focused care in the comfort of a heated massage chair. Jen was seeking a second registered dental hygienist and administrative staff to continue serving our community and growing the practice. We have so many wonderful clients and family’s whose health we have had the opportunity to support. We are grateful every day for our many successes.

What has business been like after COVID 19 ?

In order to protect our clients and ourselves and limit the spread of this disease we closed our doors to our clients in mid March. It’s devastating to contact clients and not know when we will be able to see them again. Regular preventative dental visits protect and strengthen immune function, metabolism, and promote good systemic health. Not being able to access this preventative maintenance interferes with our clients’ health. We have donated all of our personal protective equipment (masks, gloves and gowns) to Windsor Regional Hospital to help protect our front line workers who are experiencing a shortage. Jen is supporting her clients by providing virtual and phone consultations. A huge part of what we do is educating. We will continue to do that as much as possible through our website, Facebook and Instagram profiles. During National Dental Hygiene Week in April we offered and delivered Healthy Smile Kits that included toothbrushes, toothpaste, and flossers to many families. We are offering free kits for kids at all times. You need only ask. Embrace Dental Hygiene is also offering curbside pick up and product deliveries. We are shifting but needless to say this changes and limits our ability to support our clients and is financially difficult for our business.

How will this affect our business long term?

This outbreak and the nature of the virus transmission is going to change the face of our society and our interactions with each other. Dentistry is a high-risk field and changes will need to be made to the way we practice. Our existing sterilization and infection control procedures are complicated and costly. New protocols are in the works with this novel virus in mind. These will be in place before we or any other dental office can open our doors again for elective care. We will need to find and stock new personal protective equipment in a time of severe shortage. Our clients will be in great need of preventative dental care as they will be overdue and it will take time to catch up to the backlog. Change, even necessary change, can be challenging and will require time, effort and money after a significant financial hardship. We are up to the challenge!

How can people help?

People can support us by following Embrace Dental Hygiene on our online profiles. Our existing clients can share a review of their experiences with us on or of products we carry that they’ve found helpful on Facebook or Instagram. You can also purchase amazing natural oral health products or tools for delivery or pick up. We are looking forward to when we can go back to supporting clients in person and helping them to get their health back on track.

Currently any questions, product orders or consultations will be fielded online or by phone.

Thank you for your support.

Jen Mayhew, RDH

Embrace Dental Hygiene embracedentalhygiene.com 519-736-1100