Independence & entrepreneurship in hygiene | Astrida Curis, CEO, RDH

Astrida Curis sits down with Lacy Walker to share about her life as a mom, wife and two-time entrepreneur as well as podcast host, and mentor for new grads.

Meet Astrida, The Traveling RDH and podcast host of the NewGradRDH Podcast!

Astrida has been a dental hygienist for about 12 years but has been in dentistry for nearly 17 years. She started as a dental assistant, worked as an orthodontic assistant during high school, and then graduated as a dental hygienist in 2011. She lives in central Pennsylvania and is the mother of two little girls: a 7-year-old and an almost two-year-old.Astrida owns two businesses: a dental staffing agency serving Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia and a podcast called New Grad RDH, where they help new dental hygiene graduates obtain employment and confidence in their careers.

What do you think is the most important thing about being a hygienist?

Astrida enjoys being able to help different patients with their individual needs. Suppose they are struggling with some aspect of homecare, such as using an electric toothbrush or they don’t like flossing, it’s essential in finding different auxiliary aids that patients can utilize to help them have an overall healthy mouth.

One unique or unexpected thing that occurred throughout Astrida’s career:

One of the most unique things that she thinks is interesting about her career is that she is always in different offices. She gets to see how different yet also how alike offices can be. She explains that every office is entirely different in how they do things, however, she explains that once you’ve seen one office, you’ve almost seen every office and worked in every office. Even though she doesn’t have a home-based office, she is still able to know and follow the core values, and what we do as hygienists is still very much the same even when you go from office to office.

Astrida’s next professional accomplishment:

Astrida wants to help grow the New Grad RDH podcast more. This podcast is specifically for new dental hygienists to help answer many of the new graduates’ questions, ease their fear, and build their confidence in going into the dental hygiene field after graduation. Her focus has been on bringing mentorship and support to the new hygienists because she believes they are our future, and without helping build them and support them in their careers, they can’t progress on. She wants to try and build this podcast as much as possible and help as many graduates so they can be confident and successful in their careers.

Lacy Walker

LACY WALKER, RDH, BS, CDA, FAAOSH - dental hygienist, speaker, owner of Shared Hygiene, LLC, & writer w/ 25 years of experience in the dental field working in a psychiatric hospital, cosmetic, restorative, DSO, and periodontal practices. Lacy is the CE Director for A Tale of Two Hygienists podcast & Public Relations Chair for the AADH. She has a passion for the oral-systemic connection & is published in DACE, RDH Magazine, & DrBicuspid. Lacy is an approved provider of CE credits through AADH.

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