“I fell in love with dental hygiene once I started learning about the profession,” Justin Nance says. “What drew me in was the ability to really spend time with patients and build relationships. That’s something I wouldn’t get to do as much in a traditional dentist’s role.”
This story is part of a series on the challenges and solutions related to oral health in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. It is made possible with funding support from the Delta Dental Foundation.
Justin Nance once thought he would become a dentist. As a high school student shadowing local practitioners, he pictured a future spent in dentistry. But a simple piece of advice from one of those dentists changed everything: consider becoming a hygienist first.
He took the suggestion and never looked back.
“I fell in love with dental hygiene once I started learning about the profession,” Nance says. “What drew me in was the ability to really spend time with patients and build relationships. That’s something I wouldn’t get to do as much in a traditional dentist’s role.”
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Justin Nance presents to fellow Hygienist Inspired ambassadors.
Now, 17 years into his career, Nance still treats patients every Friday in a private practice and stays hands-on during summers when classes pause at
Rhodes State College in Lima, Ohio, where he serves as dental clinic coordinator and full-time faculty member.
He’s also starting a new role as an ambassador for
Hygienist Inspired. This test program, created by the
Delta Dental Foundation and the
American Dental Hygienists’ Association, is meant to solve two big problems: fewer people going into dental hygiene and not enough access to care.
Bolstering the hygienist field
Hygienist Inspired is part of a growing effort to reimagine how the profession recruits and supports future hygienists. Nance and other ambassadors across nine states are engaging with people who might never have considered the field – high schoolers, undecided college students, and even patients sitting in the dental chair – and encouraging them to join the field, especially in communities with insufficient care.
The program’s monthly training sessions equip ambassadors to reach four core audiences: students, parents, career changers, and fellow hygienists interested in becoming “inspired allies.” Allies promote the profession in their own networks without taking on the full ambassador commitment.
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Justin Nance pictured with fellow ambassadors for Hygienist Inspired.
Ambassadors talk with patients, visit schools, and do other outreach. They also help people understand the important role dental hygienists play in keeping communities healthy.
Their work is helping to fight a nationwide shortage of dental hygienists, which has gotten worse in recent years because of the COVID-19 pandemic and a high number of retirements.
“I knew it was something I needed to be part of,” Nance says. “It’s not just about building the workforce. It’s about improving lives and health outcomes in communities like mine.”
Life-changing work
Nance lives and works in a region of Ohio where many residents face barriers to dental care. At Rhodes State, he coordinates community clinics that offer free or low-cost services for children and adults without insurance. He says students are often motivated by their families’ health struggles, and they’re beginning to understand how oral health connects to chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease.
“I always tell my students, we’re not just cleaning teeth. We’re preventing disease,” Nance says. “And that can change someone’s life.”
During a school visit, Nance met a student who wanted to become an EMT. After learning about dental hygiene, she decided to join a dental assisting program. Now, she’s on the waitlist for the hygiene program at Rhodes State.
“That’s the kind of impact this program can have,” he says. “Just one conversation can open someone’s eyes to a new opportunity.”
As president-elect of the
Ohio Dental Hygienists’ Association, Nance is also working at the state level to advocate for outreach, access, and equity. He emphasizes that the pathway into dental hygiene can be affordable and flexible, with strong pay and family-friendly hours.
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Justin Nance alongside fellow dental hygienists.
“A lot of students think their only option to help people is to go into nursing,” he says. “They don’t realize hygiene is part of health care, too, and that we play a big role in prevention and education.”
Nance estimates he has taught more than 1,000 students in the past 11 years. He stays in touch with many of them after graduation and offers guidance as they navigate their early careers.
“When someone tells me they’re feeling burnt out or unsure, I usually say, ‘You just haven’t found the right office yet,’” he says. “Once they find the right team, that spark comes back.”
For Nance, it all comes back to relationships, whether with students, patients, or peers.
“This is exactly where I’m meant to be,” he says. “As a hygienist, an educator, and now an ambassador, I get to make a difference on multiple levels. And that’s what this work is all about.”
Photos provided by Justin Nance and the Delta Dental Foundation