Dental Hygienist at Edmonds’ Green City Dental Named Master Clinician by American Dental Hygienists’ Association

Edmonds, WA (September 12, 2019): Barbara Kempkes Tritz was awarded the Hu-Friedy/ADHA Master Clinician Award at the American Dental Hygienists’ Association’s annual meeting this year in Louisville, Kentucky. This recognition honors a clinical hygienist who shows outstanding expertise in relating the interdependence of clinical practice and patient education for the improvement of patient compliance.

Tritz is a clinical dental hygienist in the office of Green City Dental in Edmonds, Washington, who is passionate about understanding oral-systemic connections to help her patients achieve better overall health.

Her tools include some that most might not expect an average dental hygienist to rely on, such as a chairside microscope to show patients the bacteria and other pathogens in their mouths that may be affecting their oral and whole body health alike. The state-of-the-art office where she works also includes a perioscope - a tiny camera that can be slipped under the gums so she can evaluate conditions that can’t be seen with the naked eye.

A gifted clinician, Tritz routinely welcomes fellow hygienists into the office to learn about biological preventive dentistry and how she uses natural products to help promote oral and total body healing and wellness.

In addition to her practice at Green City Dental in Edmonds, Tritz is the owner/operator of Washington Oral Wellness in Kirkland, where she practices orofacial myofunctional therapy. “Myo” addresses disorders of the muscles and functions of the face and mouth - disorders that may affect facial and skeletal growth and development, as well as chewing, swallowing, breathing, and oral hygiene.

Known by her patients as the “Queen of Dental Hygiene,” Tritz maintains a blog of the same name, where she writes about oral wellness, proper breathing, gum disease, tooth decay, proper orofacial development, and related topics. She also volunteers, teaching these matters in local schools and to professional groups alike.

“Barb is superb,” says one of her patients. “She knows more than any hygienist I’ve ever seen. Though cleanings take longer than I was originally used to, it’s because she does such a thorough job and really coaches you on how to keep your mouth healthy.”

Tritz and her husband Tom live in Kirkland. She is the daughter of Dr. Paul H. Kempkes of New Hartford, New York, and Ms. Inge Horn of Dunnellon, Florida. She is a graduate of Onondaga Community College’s dental hygiene program and holds a BS in dental auxiliary teacher education from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and MS in business from Husson College (now Husson University).

The American Dental Hygienists’ Association is the largest national dental hygiene organization, representing the professional interests of more than 185,000 registered dental hygienists across the US. It was founded in 1923 to integrate oral hygiene into the broader healthcare delivery system in order to improve the public oral health and overall health. Dental hygienists are preventive oral health professionals, licensed in dental hygiene, who provide educational, clinical and therapeutic services that support total health through the promotion of optimal oral health.