524 Why Sharpening Matters: Instrument Care with Christine Jeffs

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2:03instrument gets too dull, you have to remove a lot more metal to get a cutting edge back. So frequent sharpening keeps that edge better, so your hands are happier, and you're moving less metal. And then you'll have it longer if you only do it every six months. The sharpener is going to be removing tons of metal, and then the instrument won't be usable anymore. The most important thing is getting organized. So at any office that I'm at, because sets are numbered, or the bag's kids have colored bands on them, so that we know where they belong. And then I use an Excel spreadsheet, or Google.org, Google Sheet, to track when I last sharpened. That way, when I have time to sharpen, I pull up my spreadsheet, and I see which ones were sharpened longest ago. Which ones needed the most? A tale of two hygienists. Welcome back to a tale of two hygienist podcasts.

3:04This is episode 524, and I am Jessica Atkinson here with my illustriously curly-haired co-host, David Torres. And we are joined today by someone really special. David's going to introduce us to our guest. We have Christine Jeves, is part owner of Acuri, dental sharpening with fellow hygienists, Malia Lewis. Together, they're striving to make hygienist jobs easier by keeping their dental hygiene instruments in excellent condition. We all know we struggle with all instruments from time to time. She has earned a bachelor's in business management from Birmingham Young University, and an associate in dental hygiene from Utah Valley University. Christine is also a certificate holder in oral systemic education through the national network of health care hygienists. Welcome, Christine. Thank you. Christine, that's pretty illustrious bio there. Oh, thank you. You're welcome.

4:04I will find out your bio. What would you want to be known for? What do you want to be? At my funeral, I would love for everyone to talk about the service. But I did. I love to serve. I do a lot of non-profits serving and some in dentistry, some outside dentistry, but that's really my passion is serving my community. So I hope that's what people say at the end of my life. Well, let me tell you, owning a sharpening business is definitely a service to the dental hygiene community. Very true. Very true. So, loosely. Because I don't know about you, sharpening is still not my favorite thing to do. Yes. And most hygienists would probably agree with you. Well, I have to say, like, I always probably do only nerd, just like you, Christine, that loved sharpening instruments. And in my class, I was known for the guy to get the instrument sharpening.

5:06And I was like, thinking, this could be a cool business one day, but here I am. Didn't do anything about it. That's okay. You did do something about it. Yeah. How did this happen? Yeah. I am. So, Valia was at one of the offices I used to work at. She was doing a photo shoot. And I was there just to let them in so they could use the office after hours. And since I was waiting, I thought, okay, I'm going to sharpen the instruments while I'm here. And so that's kind of what kicked things off. She saw me sharpening and then reached out later and said, hey, are you interested? And starting a company. And I said, sure, why not? I'm doing it anyway. Let's serve more people. That's fantastic. See, I think we all have been in a situation where we're drenched in sweat because we're in the middle of an appointment. We're grabbing that instrument. And it's just like, why am I butter knifeing this? Like, what is going on? Yes. I should have could have sharpened the instruments.

6:06So the fact that you are able to provide services like this to bring that piece of mind into a hygien is that's probably in a really difficult situation with a patient. Their nerves are high and you bring out that instrument and you hear that. Where it's like beautiful, right? That beautiful sound effect of like, oh, I'm getting in there and I'm not burnishing a catalyst. That's amazing. Yes. And at least personally, once you have consistently sharp instruments, it's really hard to not work that way. And so it's it's like changing. When you were after hours in the office, sharpening those instruments, did you ever think, I want to do this for more than just myself? Were you sharpening just your own or are you sharpening other hygienist instruments? Like, I know, Malia is a catalyst. If you don't, Malia Lewis is a catalyst for ingenuity, entrepreneurship. If you or friends with her, your life will change.

7:08It is true. And I want to know a little bit more about like, was this a thought before you had the catalyst of Malia drop into your lap? Not entirely. So in office that is it previously, we had three locations. So I would do all the sharpening for all of those instruments. And then as I had co-workers go to different jobs and want not, they would reach out to me and ask me, hey, do you mind coming and sharpening our instruments? So I had done a few other offices here and there, but I hadn't ever thought about, you know, a larger scale like Malia brought to the table. She is a large scale human being. That's for sure. So the idea, you were running your own little business. You were. Yeah, essentially. Yeah. And it's just grown with Malia in the picture as we've, you know, advertised and had a website and all those things. Can you tell us more about that? Like, okay, so, boom, the idea happened.

8:08You're already doing it with, you know, in the after hours. But how do you guys go about, you know, marketing and spreading the word and like, how do that come about? So what's been really interesting about marketing is I have found that reaching out in the bigger dental hygiene groups on Facebook brings us the most business and we have run some ads. We have gone to some conferences and that brought in a little bit of business, but just watching those Facebook groups, because there's always questions about sharpening, right? And so I'll reach out and say, hey, this is what I recommend. Or if you want to send them in, we have this company. And then that brings us business as well as word of mouth. Word of mouth has helped a lot too. We heard you guys really great. Oh my gosh. Like, do I have the person to sharpen your instruments? And I will literally be the hygienist going all around the office and like, you know, talking

9:11about how amazing it is to just, it's just having a sharp instrument. Yes. It really does make the appointment and your day. Absolutely. A hundred percent. I think that having that sharp instrument is maybe why sharpening is kind of been not my favorite thing is because I'm not only sharpening, I'll give an example. In an office that I worked at, I wanted to only sharpen, I wanted to be the only one sharpening my instruments. I think that's why it was so hard for me is because I never felt like I had the time that I wanted to invest in sharpening my instruments. And I would get instruments that had been sharpened, but I don't know a troll that lived under a bridge. I do, sometimes I do not know how the, I would look at an instrument and go, you were once a curate. I know that you were once a curate. I don't know what happened to you, but now you are a Nebraska sickle scalar.

10:14This has been a really rough life for you. Yes. And I think that's one of the hardships about sharpening and like the pain point of sharpening is because there are so many inconsistencies with sharpening. Can you speak to a little bit so that? Yes, because we get asked that a lot as well. It is hard when there's multiple sharpeners, if there is no consistent guide. So when people ask us about that, I usually recommend one of two things, either to have the same hygienist do all the sharpening so that it stays consistent that way. Now that does put, you know, burden on that hygienist to be doing all of it. The second recommendation is to invest in some sort of guide that keeps the angle correct, whether that is a handheld guide or a machine that will help it's better than trying to do it just by sight. Absolutely. I've been in offices where again, it's like more than one hygienist, right?

11:18And so it's almost as though you have to kind of gather the team and be like, okay, guys, what's the protocol here, right? Because sometimes if I sharpen, for example, my own instruments, because I've been in offices where I only overlook those instruments, then it becomes more of a, okay, this is, you know, take care of what you have. Your own instruments is what happens. But if I ever lend, quote, unquote, lend an instrument to another hygienist, I'm kind of secretly giving them a decide, I like, take care of my babies, right? Like, take care of my babies. But if there's a communal instrument where everybody's using it and first come first serve, just like I would imagine a cabbage on tip, you get that brand new one from the order that they just plays and everybody knows that's the brand new one. And so that's the first one to get sterilized and that's the first one to get used. And there I say beat up. Is there a frequency that you recommend that hygienists sharpen their instruments or send

12:19them out? How has that conversation happened as you notice business pick up? That is another question that we get a lot. And it's difficult to answer because it's multifactorial. It depends on how many kits you have, how often they're being used, how often they're being sterilized. I would say a rough estimate is at least once a month, at least for most offices, busy offices where there's multiple hygienists and those kits are being used multiple times a day, you probably need more. And actually, sharpening more frequently helps to extend the life of an instrument because when an instrument gets too dull, you have to remove a lot more metal to get a cutting edge back. So frequent sharpening keep that edge better. So your hands are happier and you're removing less metal and then you'll have it longer. If you only do it every six months, the sharpener is going to be removing tons of metal and

13:24then the instrument won't be usable anymore. That is some really good information, Christine, because I'm sure many of our listeners like me are going once a month, yes, I know I just shocked everybody. Yes. Well, and again, when you have sharp instruments, it's like a blessing in a curse. Can I tell you so having consistently sharp instruments, I can tell right away when my instruments are starting to dull and it drives me nuts because I need those sharp instruments to do a good job. And so to keep them pristine, yes, at least once a month. Hi, Jetta's pay attention. If you're getting hand fatigue, if you're getting a little bit of like, my hands are going numb. It's probably time, but maybe write it on the calendar somewhere. That is time to do maintenance. Let's call it maintenance as opposed to sharpening because why not? Let's use the verivage of like inspiration. It's real guys. I mean, I've been in situations where I have forgotten because I'm not perfect to not sharp

14:27in my instruments and yeah, your hands at the end of the week, it hurts a little bit. And we all like to think that we have that patient when we are recommending them to change their toothbrush and they don't. And then the last time that they change is probably the last time that they saw you type of that, right? So it's the same concept guys. Let's do a maintenance on our instruments. Well, you mentioned earlier protocol and that is actually a huge deal. I recently wrote an article about setting up a maintenance system for an office so that it does stay on track and doesn't get lost in everything else going on. Tell us a little bit more about this maintenance system. What would you recommend for an office to keep these instruments in good working order that then in turn keeps your hygienist in good working order and that the end of the day provides our patients with the best care. The most important thing is getting organized. So at any office that I'm at, the cassettes are numbered or the bagged kits have colored

15:31bands on them so that we know where they belong. And then I use an Excel spreadsheet or a Google or a Google sheet which ever you prefer to track when I last sharpened. That way when I have time to sharpen, I pull up my spreadsheet and I see which ones were sharpened longest ago. Which ones meet at the most I don't, you don't want to keep resharpening the same ones. You want to make sure that you're rotating through all of the kits evenly. That's great advice. Because I think there are some kits that get used more than others as well. So how do you factor that into that plan of sharpening? For example, maybe I'm working in a perio heavy office and I'm using my perio kits way more often than I'm using a kit for a D110. How do you track that? So same, I would organize in the same way. Make sure that they have their own colors or own numbers. And then when you do have time to sharpen or you sit down to do that, make those ones

16:35your priority. It's interesting you mention that because we get instruments from all over the country. They send in their kits and you can tell which instruments the hygienists like more because those ones are more dull than the others in the kit. So it's a very valid, valid concern, valid point that yes, there are favorites and those need to be sharpened more often. Another thing that I'll sometimes do in my office is for example, the Montana Jack is a favorite and it goes dull faster. So if I have time, sometimes I will pull out just the Montana Jack sharpen it and put it back like it's kit and then do the rest of the instruments when a little bit more time has passed. That makes me so curious because I often ask people what their favorite instrument is. And Montana Jack is often in the top three for sure. Yes. But it doesn't have any. Yeah. The never four than month. Yeah. Jack, you know, so many different depending on the manufacturer.

17:37Yes. Has there been an instrument that you're surprised that has been a favorite? Hmm. I haven't had too many surprises as far as favorites, but it is really fun to see the different types of instruments that offices are using in their kits. I have come across instruments that I have never personally used in practice, but I go, oh, that's kind of a cool instrument. I want to try that one out. Have you added to your kit, your own cassette based on what you've been sharpening and what have you added? I haven't added a ton. One that I did try that I had never used before was a younger good. Oh, yeah. Because it's kind of shaped like a Montana Jack, but it's a cure at least the one that I had had sharpened. And so that was one that I did add because I thought that was kind of cool. So for the hygienist listening to this and they're feeling inspired to go back to their practice and maybe talk to those practice owners, what are some of the ways that they can

18:41kind of promote this healthy, let's just call it healthy environment, right? Absolutely. You know, if I'm a hygienist and I want to go back to work on Monday and say, hey, Doc, or the practice manager, you know, these instruments need to be maintained in taking care, but I hate sharpening. And I found this cool solution where they can either pick them up or mail them in. Is there like a consult? Is there like, you know, fee, like how does that work and how can a hygienist go back to their office and promote that? And so we're absolutely happy to talk with people about any sharpening needs that they have, at least with our business. Most of our customers get on our website and they find our order form and they fill it out. And then usually request, you know, a call or a text just to a heads up that the instruments are coming our way so that we can schedule them appropriately. But yeah, it's pretty simple as long as your doctor is on board with it.

19:45How long has your turnover usually like your return? I've I send an instrument to what would be the amount of time if I am, if I am, because I become organized and now I have a plan and that in that organization, I say, we send our instruments to pristine Christine on this schedule, you know, what is my turnaround to make sure that I'm not sending all of my instruments and end up with nothing. It depends on how many you send. Most of our orders, once we receive them, they're sent back out within two days. Awesome. Yeah, if you send us 150 instruments, it might take us a little longer than two days. But most orders are put back into the mail in two days. And then if you add mailing time on top of that, so if it's coming from back east, I'm on the west coast, shipping is going to be a little longer, both ways. But once we have them, one to two days, they're sent back out. So you do provide services countrywide. It doesn't matter.

20:45Yes, we do. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, we take mail in orders and we do local too. We do both. That is take note, everyone take note. And so say I'm in an office, I am in a situation where I only want one person sharpening those instruments, but I don't feel like it can be me because I already feel strapped for time. You know that for a little word in our in our appointments. And I would like to pitch this to my office owner that this is something that I would like to add into our rotation. What are some suggestions that you have for our listeners on how to really promote this healthy environment? Like how can I approach this conversation? A couple of different ways if you're choosing to do it in office and you would have to find that individual like David or myself that are willing to take the time to do it. I was in a fortunate situation where I just worked part time. So I had time on my days and hours off to sharpen and I was happy to take on that responsibility.

21:51So you got to find the person who's willing to do it and take the time, of course, as a paid thing. Otherwise in offices that I have worked at, they either the lead hygienist does it or you rotate the responsibility. So the lead hygienist can either do the sharpening or can be in charge of sending it out when it's due or that responsibility can rotate. I worked in an office where the lead hygienist was a rotating position. We would take terms doing it. And so when you were the lead hygienist, it was your responsibility to make sure that the sharpening was done for your time period as lead hygienist. Do you find it that there's a preference between people getting that local pickup or the mail-in and if there's consistency meaning like, oh my gosh, you're getting these instruments like literally every month no matter what. So we have one customer who is awesome. We have their instruments every one to two months and it really makes a big difference.

22:55Like I mentioned, it helps them keep their instruments longer because once we receive them, we don't have to remove as much metal to get them sharp again. So that has been fantastic. And I'm sorry, I was the first part of your question. I forgot already. Is there a preference between the local pickup and or the mail-in? Oh, for us no preference, they're going to get great service either way. It just takes longer when you mail-in is all a longer turnaround time because of the postage. I would imagine going back to work, seeing my patients, having this conversation with my doctor, but believing so much that even if I don't quote unquote get approval or get they're okay, I'll probably do it myself and show them how necessary this is for my everyday life where eventually they would jump on board. Do you have any hygienists that do that? There's one, her name is Christine Jeff. I have so in like my personal circles of hygienists where I am locally, I occasionally run

24:01into hygienists, like I just do all the sharpening for our office, but they're few and far between. I don't see it a lot. The bigger complaint I hear is our instruments are dull all the time because we don't have time and we don't send them out. So as a clarion call for all of you, Chris, Jeff's out there that are those few and far between dental hygienists that are sharpening everyone's instruments, there is an opportunity. There's an opportunity for advancing your skill and sharing that skill with those who may not be able to or for a number of reasons, I mean, there's multi-factorial here and why instruments are not being sharpened, but maybe it's an opportunity for you to create a business and to meet someone to catalyze that idea. And I hope that today is that moment where you have met, I have dubbed her now, Christine Christine. I love it.

25:01And that this is a moment where your idea can now be catalyzed into creating a business that is a service to not only yourself, but also to your fellow colleagues and your patients. At the end of the day, a sharp instrument is an instrument that is doing a better job for you, for your patient and overall for your practice. So this is your, this is your clarion call to start something new. And Christine, thank you so much for being an example of going, hey, yeah, I am doing this after hours and hey, yeah, this is a really great idea and allowing that chance meeting of someone with a vision and saying, yeah, let's do this. So what advice do you have for those hygienists that are thinking, oh my gosh, that's me.

26:04That is me. I am that sharpening person in the office. What are those next steps? Oh, such a great question. What's awesome about sharpening is, especially if you love it, it is a skill that you already have. So you already know what you're going to be doing in your business. But for me, the trickier parts were like the legal side, making sure the business is set up properly for your state, whether or not you need to collect sales tax on your services, some states require it, some don't. And so go sorts of things, just make sure you really look into it. If you have a mentor, someone else that started a business that you can ask those questions, especially in your own state, that's really helpful because you want to make sure you're doing everything correctly in that regard. Awesome. Well, if you would like a mentor named Christine Christine, how would our listeners contact you? What's the best way for them to contact you?

27:05So for our company, we have a couple of different ways, a cutie sharpening on Facebook, and we're also on Instagram. You can visit our website, acutisharpening.com, or you can email us at acutisharpeningatgmail.com. I love that. I do have one more question. George, go for it. Just because you said it so many times, it just struck me. Acute is such a cute name. How did you come up with the name Acute? You're going to laugh at this. So there are in lots of other sharpening businesses out there, right? And they have these really great names that are taken. So I got on Google Translate and asked Google, how do you say sharp in Latin? Oh. Oh. Yep. So that it is acuity means sharp in Latin. I love that. Yeah. And no one else had that name. So it worked perfect. That's actually fantastic. I mean, this whole month of January, we're been talking about getting going, getting

28:08our side houses going, and half of it is just naming the business, right? Yes. And here you are, Googling in Latin. So if you're thinking about doing a sharpening business, Latin's been taken. But yeah, you mean if you're looking to Greek, maybe somebody hasn't done Greek. Sure. Who knows? Right? Christine, it's been a pleasure to talk with you, and to learn from you, and to be reminded that it is important for our lives, for our professional lives to be sharp. Not only ourselves, but our instruments. So thank you for keeping us on the edge. You're so welcome. I'm from a sharpening nerd to another. I do want to thank you for doing everything that you're doing because the most of the compliments that I have gotten from patients, especially as a male hygienist is that I am gentle. And I'm only as good as the tools that I'm using. And most of that is just having a sharp instrument.

29:11Absolutely. I definitely want to encourage the listeners to sharpen those skills, promote that advocacy of having a gentle appointment because most hygienists, we get accused of being rough. But if you can somehow be called, the patient told me once, you're like a butterfly in my mouth. I was like, OK, I'll take it. I'll take it. So my butterfly has sharp little tools. Yeah, exactly. So thank you for everything that you do. I appreciate it. Oh, my pleasure. Thank you, Christine Christine. Thank you. That's a wrap on today's episode of a tale of two hygienist podcasts. If this conversation made you feel seen, inspired or even just a little fired up, share it with a fellow hygienist or fellow dental professional. Share it with your neighbors, your friends, share it with everyone. That is how this community grows. Make sure you subscribe, even to review and connect with us on social media so that we

30:11can keep on going with this conversation. Remember, you career, your voice and your story matter here. We're David and Jessica. And until next time, keep learning, keep laughing and keep showing up for yourself and for each other. This has been a production of Endeavor Business Media, a division of Endeavor B2B.