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From Trisha's Desk Trisha E. O’Hehir, RDH, BS, Editorial Director, Hygienetown

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If I Can Jump, You Can Post

Trisha E. O'Hehir, RDH, BS
Editorial Director,
Hygienetown Magazine




Every day in dental practices around the world, dentists and hygienists work together to diagnose and plan effective treatment for their patients. To bolster this natural collaboration, feature stories, content from the message boards of Hygienetown.com and Perio Reports research summaries are presented in every issue of Dentaltown Magazine. The goal of this section is to present topics that will create discussions between dentists and hygienists to ultimately improve dental hygiene outcomes.		 It’s a 192-meter drop straight down to the ground. It’s scary standing on the edge, looking over to see the red target on the ground I’m supposed to aim for and then actually jumping. It goes against all common sense to step off a perfectly good strong surface high above the ground. But, that’s just what I did when I took the Auckland Sky Tower Jump on July 26, 2009, in Auckland, New Zealand.

Auckland was the location for one of my recent CE courses. My hosts Sarah Gallagher and Mary McIntyre from Healthcare Essentials had jokingly asked as we drove past the Sky Tower if I wanted to do the jump. Mary had done it and Sarah asked if I’d like to give it a try the day after the course. I quizzed Mary about the safety and if she really thought I could do it. It sounded safer than bungee jumping, so I said, yes.

What does this have to do with posting on the Hygienetown.com message boards? Fear. Fear seems to be keeping many of you from posting on Hygienetown. Granted, not quite the same fear felt when jumping off a tall tower, but a certain level of fear nonetheless.

Will you say something you later want to retract? Will others attack your opinions? There’s risk involved for sure, but not much risk.

Trusting the safety factors helps overcome the fears of posting. First and foremost, personal attacks are never accepted. Opinions, views and even research presented are open for debate and lead to some exciting, helpful discussions. There are several ways to approach a problem, diagnosis or treatment and learning more about each helps us become better clinicians. To add more or to remove a portion of your post, you can always use the “Edit” button found on each of your posts. I often write my posts too quickly and then when I publish it to the message board I realize a sentence or two should be added to the post, so I edit it to make it more complete. Your opinions and views are important and a valued addition to the discussions on Hygienetown. Your safety is important to us and we have always provided measures to protect you. One such measure is the anonymous status of your screen name to keep employers, coworkers or colleagues from connecting your posts to you.

Upon learning of the safety aspects involved with the Sky Tower Jump, I felt safe and trusted the people responsible for my safety. The harness was checked at the bottom, before entering the elevator to the jump platform. Two more checks were carried out at the top before the jump. I was still frightened, but I knew I’d land safely on the ground. After I jumped, it was obvious that I was safe at every point along the way.

As Sarah exclaimed as she landed on the red target, “Wow! That was great! Let’s do it again!” Posting on Hygienetown is fun and exciting and after your first post, I’m sure you’ll want to keep on posting!
Inside This Section Cover model: Joy Moeller, BS, RDH, COM, is a Certified Orofacial Myofunctional therapist in Pacific Palisades and Beverly Hills, California. She is also an elected member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Orofacial Myology where she is the dental hygiene liaison and currently holds a position at the UCLA Sleep Medicine Mini Residency Program where she will be doing research on the effects of myofunctional exercises on sleep apnea. Visit www.myofunctional-therapy.com for more information
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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