DAYTON, Ohio  — Across the country, there is a growing need for dental hygienists. The American Dental Hygienists' Association reports the pandemic has led to an 8% reduction in the field due to retiring staff. 

One Ohio mom is working to help fill that gap.

What You Need To Know

  • Dental hygienists are in high demand due to the pandemic

  • Sinclair Community College is working to help fill that need by way of its graduates 

  • Crystal Cambra is one of those graduating after this semester, and her backstory shows why it means more than just a career

  • Sinclair will graduate 20 hygienists this year and is projected to send 33 more out in 2023
​​Roman Cambra, 5, went to the dentist one day to get his teeth cleaned. It's something not many kids look forward to, but lucky for him, his hygienist is his mom Crystal Cambra.

She is a graduating hygienist student at Sinclair College in Dayton — a route that took a few detours. 

“I was in business finance, and it just didn’t really work out for me,” Cambra said. “I had his sister about a year into the program. And I just had to take some time off, be a mom. This guy came along a couple years after that. So I spent six years doing the whole mom thing.” 

Cambra and her husband split up, so now she’s raising her kids by herself, all while balancing classes and work. 

“It takes every single ounce of focus in my body,” she said. “It’s definitely hard being a single mother trying to put myself through school. Their dad lives in Florida so it does just fall on me.” 

Cambra is like many other Sinclair students who work through challenges to complete their degrees. 

“Many of the students here are older. They’re single. They have families,” Sinclair College Dental Hygiene Clinic Coordinator Cindy Leverich said. “It’s much more affordable than a normal university.” 

In addition to the students progressing to earn their degree, they also volunteer their services at the Good Neighbor House, and also clean Service Members' teeth who are being actively deployed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. 

All for the benefit of live experience, because hygienists careers are growing fast as well. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects that job outlook will grow by 11% by 2030, a difference of about 23,000 new jobs. This is on top of those who are leaving the profession. 

“Many hygienists have retired, or they’ve decided this isn’t the field for them, because of the COVID pandemic,” Leverich said. “So right now this is the best time I’ve ever seen for someone to be going into dental hygiene.” 

Which is good news for Cambra and her classmates, who are now less than 75 days away from graduation.

“I definitely took a slower route,” Cambra said. “I had to take less classes because I had to focus on being a mom. But I’m here, I’m almost done. I can’t believe it. It makes me emotional.” 

It’s all so her kids will have a better future.

“I want them to not have to want for things,” Cambra said. “I want them to have a life that I didn't really experience growing up. And I really did it for myself, too, to prove to myself that I can do it. Even being a single mom, working and coming to school full time, it's all doable. It's all doable if you put your mind to it.”

And a brighter smile. 

“He didn’t have a single cavity today,” she said. 

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