DENTAL HYGIENE DIRECTOR ROOTED AT MT. HOOD

Most kids don’t have big dreams of working on other people’s teeth for a living, but a desire to stand out from the crowd led Jennifer Aubry, new dental hygiene program director for Mt. Hood, down the path to dentistry from a young age.

In January, Aubry started in her new position at MHCC. She graduated from the program herself in 2003, and has been a part-time teacher in the program since 2007.

Her interest in the dental profession started at a young age. In fifth grade, everyone had to decide what they wanted to be when they grew up, she explained. Her classmates wanted to be teachers and doctors. While she originally wanted to be a teacher, when she saw that many of her classmates chose that field, she announced she wanted to be something different – a dentist. From then on, that was her goal.

Aubry graduated from Oregon State University in 2000 with her bachelor’s degree in Health Promotion Education. Her first three years were spent in pre-dentistry, but then she started to think about her future.

“I wasn’t sure about the business part of dentistry and a full time career. I started thinking about growing up and being a mom and those types of things and I thought maybe dentistry wasn’t for me,” she said.

Near her graduation, her adviser suggested she go to dental hygiene school because it fit her interests and she had completed all the prerequisites for it. It’s just something she had never thought of until then, she said. After finishing at OSU, she applied for MHCC’s dental hygiene program. She didn’t get in on her first try, but was accepted the next year.

During her time in the program, her Mt. Hood instructor, Kari Steinbock, inspired her to want to teach dental hygiene.

Aubry said, “I could see eight (patients) a day, multiple days a week (as a hygienist).” But if she could teach, say, 18 students every year, how to treat eight patients every workday, “think of how many patients I am treating then,” she said.

In 2007, Aubry learned that an MHCC instructor was going on sabbatical and was asked to fill in. She loved it, and said the college must have loved her as well because she was asked to fill in for another instructor the following term.

“It just kind of snowballed from there. Over the years I’ve taught more, and now I teach in the classroom too,” she explained.

For the majority of her time working at Mt. Hood, Aubry had been content with being a part-time instructor as she raised her four children at home, now ranging from age 6 to14. As they got older, she was ready for a full-time position, so when Raye Ann Yapp decided to retire as program director and teach part-time, Aubry went for the leadership role.

“I’m coming into a good program. It’s been very successful,” said Aubry. She hopes to continue the trend and make sure students are always learning the newest techniques with the newest technology, she said.

Aubry’s favorite part of working at MHCC is how the dental hygiene program is close-knit. She’s gotten to work alongside her former instructors or take over their classes, and now she’s getting to work alongside Krista Moore, a new instructor who was one of her own students.

Students and teachers got a great chance to bond recently when the Student American Dental Hygienists Association club, recently revived by Ilya Babiy, dental hygiene instructor, hosted a trivia night on Feb. 12.

Program students and interested students competed in teams to win points for answering dental trivia questions. There was free pizza and giveaways of dental supplies from a Crest Oral B company representative, and trivia winners all got dental hygiene instruments donated by manufacturer Hu-Friedy.

“It was really fun. It ended up being a good turnout,” said Aubry.

Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her children, she said. She enjoys traveling and is currently planning a trip to France for 2020 to visit her husband’s family, because he’s from there. Other hobbies include reading, learning, quilting, knitting, and crocheting.

Applications have already closed for admission to the Mt. Hood dental health program for the 2019-20 school year. But there will be an info session during Spring Term for MHCC students or other prospective students who want to learn more about the 2020-21 program cycle.

Find more info at: mhcc.edu/DentalHygiene.