523 From Dental Hygiene to Glam: The Story Behind Glam Studio

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My experience was years and years of just suffering, and there's a piercing that actually

has helped a lot of people feel relief from migraines, whether it's decreasing the intensity

of them or decreasing the amount of times you get a headache.

And I had to go to a tattoo shop, which, like I said, there's great people piercing

out there at these places, but it was very, very intimidating for me.

I felt very out of my element, and I got my piercing, and that's what kind of brought

that up to, was like, that could be a better experience for a lot of people.

In my mind, before I had background on piercing, I thought, oh, you're just shoving needle

through the ear, and that's how you do it.

But there's a lot of things that affect the way that things heal.

So just like angles with injections for dental hygiene, ankles are very important for piercing

and the way that we get things to heal.

Welcome back to the Tell of Two Hygienous Podcast.

I am David Torres, and this is episode 523.

In this month of January, we are hosting dental hygienists.

We're basically talking to them about how they started their side gags, proggyz, and businesses,

all while practicing hygiene.

And whether you've been here since episode 1 or just brand you, welcome to our conversation.

We're here with my co-host, Jessica.

Hello, podcast world.

I'm Jessica Atkinson, and I have the thrill of introducing two of my favorite hygiene

pernoors, Lindsay and Lorraine.

And they have offered a cute little bio, a combo bio, of where it all began.

And I'm going to start with this little bio and give you a teaser on what we're going

to be talking about today.

So back in 2016, Lindsay, a licensed dental hygienist, for more than 20 years, she does

not look it.

I wish you guys could see her face.

She's very young.

I still watch.

Well, she met Lorraine, who's been in the field for 16 years at a dental office in Oram.

Her shared passion for clinical excellence led them to become instructors at my alma

mater, the Utah College of Dental Hygiene, where something interesting started to happen.

They noticed that more and more students were sporting piercings, even if they weren't

allowed in clinic, but not always in the safest or most sanitary ways.

And that observation sparked an idea.

They started a business of piercing, yes, a piercing business, in addition, they also

do whining.

And I'll have them talk a little bit about that as well.

In addition to the joint bio, I would like to know what each of you individually would

love to be known for.

Like if you were to give your elevator speech, and this was like what you're going to leave

the world of to be known in your professional space, what would it be?

Oh, that's deep.

What else did I hear?

If I was to give my elevator speech, well, first off, I would for sure want people to

know that the world of dental hygiene has been, I'll just start, Lindsay, you know, I

don't know if she goes for it.

The world of dental hygiene has been something that's been valuable in my life, and I feel

like I have had a role in that that's fulfilled me, and that's one thing that I want people

to know.

And then the entrepreneurial spirit in me has always been there, even before I found hygiene.

I do want to be successful at whatever I do.

And being able to start this business honestly has been just as fulfilling as being able

to graduate from dental hygiene school and go on and feel like I was successful in

the career.

Uh, the biggest thing, I don't know if there's one main thing, I just, I just hope I'm making

a difference.

I hope I make a difference somewhere, whether it's in my hygiene career or in a little

girl that comes again in a piercing that they feel like it was a great experience.

I love that.

And I would say, I would say kind of the same thing.

I mean, when I was going to high school, I knew dental hygiene was for me.

That was my ultimate goal.

And I think for me, it all kind of boils down to a patient experience.

I think one thing that Lorraine and I do really well here is the experience that people

get.

I love that they can come in and say, you know, they feel like we're friends.

They know that they're in a clean sterile environment.

But just the friendships that you build, well running a business, and same thing from

client perspective, I think, you know, I just made my day when I could build those relationships

over the years and provide good dental hygiene care or services being an entrepreneur.

You're going to go down in history.

I can feel it.

I hope so.

We're trying.

Well, you've gone down in my own personal history.

So I had an opportunity to be one of their clients, which was so format.

Tell us a little bit about how I became one of your, well, this actually, how I became

your client, it started our discussion about me getting a second piercing started way

before I actually got it, which I really appreciated part of that patient experience

is that it was a process.

And you know, with any, whether it's in your dental chair or your piercing studio, sometimes

these people aren't ready for what maybe they want or what maybe they need.

And so tell us a little bit about how I came to sit on your piercing studio table with

many other people.

Do you want to talk about the house?

So another co hygienist that we work with, she is a part of UDHA.

And she just, we were talking one day at lunch and she's like, I want you guys to come

to the Utah Dental Hygiene Association meeting and do piercings, be a vendor there.

And so we, there, there's a lot of hoops to jump through as far as getting licensing

from the Salt Lake County Health Department, each place that we go in Pierce.

We have to follow strict regulation rules as far as getting our temporary permits, but

we jump through all of the hoops and we were able to come as dental hygienist slash piercers

and, and be at the dental hygiene convention.

We spent the whole day on our feet there.

We did.

You did.

So I as a participant of this conference was able to be on the vendor floor and got my

ears piercings with all of my friends.

It was awesome.

It was super fun.

There was always an audience.

Yeah.

I think I thought felt was really great was, you know, people realizing we were hygienists

doing our second little side gig.

But as we, we use a peridonal probe to actually map out the ears and map out your ears and

measure, measure to make things look right and, um, but it was so fun.

The hygienists, as we were measuring, they were taking selfies, you know, because they

were excited that we were able to use a peridonal probe in our air piercing business.

So I got to, I got to ask those because I've noticed, most of our listens are obviously

dental professionals.

And me now thinking back about getting an ear piercing with a, well, not what a peridonal

probe, but like getting a measured.

I'm inspired to get another ear pierced and you know what I mean?

Like I want to be able to kind of like relate that experience, but I am so curious to hear

you guys describe the main difference between getting a ear piercing traditionally to what

you guys provide and how you kind of tied that back into the dental world.

I think that's kind of what God is going is there's, we teach sterilization, we teach

at the school, you know, how to keep bloodborne pathogens from entering places they shouldn't

be.

And just knowing kind of what we know that there's, there's a lot of education on that and

then there's people with little education on that.

And possibly just taking an online test in the, in the piercing world to get a certificate

isn't the same as living that every single day, like you do in a dental office.

And so we felt that there's a lot of funky fun tattoo shops that do this kind of thing.

And to each their own, that's great.

And there's a lot of groovy and funky piercing shops that don't do tattoos, but are just

kind of, we noticed there were chairs in those shops that were cloth, which was kind

of alarming to say the least because you can't wipe down a cloth chair.

And we just realized that a lot of times when you go to the mall, they're just piercing

with a gun.

And it's actually very traumatic for your tissue when you pierce with a piercing gun.

So we wanted to do this whole needle, needle piercing.

We wanted to get an autoclave.

We wanted to make it the most health.

You know, if you think about it, it, it could be considered a medical procedure.

And we didn't want the place to feel like a doctor's office necessarily, but we also

didn't want it to feel like somewhere that was not appropriate for a medical procedure.

So I think we have a good mix of that.

And with the needle, if you want to talk a little bit about why the needle is better.

Yeah.

So the hollow needle actually, because it's a, it's got a sharp edge, it actually just

slices right through the ear, which it doesn't cause the trauma that the piercing gun causes.

That's fascinating.

Yeah.

I never would have imagined that that was like a thing.

Again, I'm, I'm feeling inspired to get an ear piercing guy in there for you guys and

hook me up.

Hey, I know a great place.

David, when you're in Utah, I know a really great place.

I will absolutely be in that chair and taking selfies probably blogging the whole experience.

I'll even take a picture for you.

I had, I had a good friend, I have a, I have a video of it, I have a, I have all the things.

So with my experience, something that's stuck with me is the earrings that I got came in

an autoclave bag.

They opened the autoclave bag in front of me of my brand new earring that had been sanitized,

sterilized, all of the above eyes.

And that had been, that was a new experience for me.

I've, I've had, I have multiple piercings.

So I've had multiple experiences.

And this was the first time I really felt that I, I was being extra cared for.

There was that extra layer.

And it wasn't just a, a layer of care.

It was a layer of education that I felt that I was like, wow, this is something that

most people wouldn't think about when they're getting their ears pierced.

That these, these things are going into your body, into an open wound, per, you know, I,

I just had a hollow needle piercing, I have exposed skin.

And I, I, to put something in there that's been autoclave, I think sets you apart.

And I'm wondering what your experience has been with the community on maybe experiencing

something that seems extra.

Um, I'll just tell what first came to mind when you asked that is how many people have

told us, honestly, and I didn't know any better either.

Wow, I never realized what I was doing when I just got my ears pierced as a teenager.

And I showed up at this little hole in the wall place and some young girl had this device

and they pierced my ear.

I just thought I was getting my ears pierced.

There's nothing more to it.

And I think honestly, most of the people that really watch for the care that we put into

it are surprised at the difference just like you are, you know, well, why do they need

to be sterilized?

What else, Livy?

Um, one thing that kind of, we did an apprenticeship with an amazing piercer.

And when we got there, she knew that we were dental hygienists.

And she said, you know, we're going to talk about some of, we're just going to briefly

go over bloodborne pathogens and, and how we do things here.

But it got to the point where Lorraine and I were kind of looking at each other.

She, she had her earrings all in a little plastic tub that weren't sterile.

She would dip him into barbicide before she would pierce with them.

And Lorraine and I just knew that that could be done a lot better.

And so actually we have our own dental grade autoclave that we have purchased.

And we actually bagged an autoclave and organized all of those earrings and it takes a lot

of time.

It's a, it's a big step for us.

But one thing that's been great is the lady that did the apprenticeship with us.

She actually reached out to us and said, Hey, can you guys help me get an autoclave?

Can you guys show me what system you use to keep those earrings sterile and organized?

And so we've been able to collaborate with her and share our expertise from a dental

hygiene perspective with sterilization and, and we've helped her out as well.

Collaboration is key and that kind of, that's amazing that you're able to kind of make

an industry change as well, right?

Setting up those standards a little bit higher.

Can you guys take me back to who decided this?

Who's ideas was this collaborating with each other?

Like who, who was the person responsible for saying we need to start a business?

Wasn't me, let's just say that, it wasn't me.

Well, I, Lorraine is very creative.

Lorraine and I have worked together for about 10 years.

But for me, I just, I needed something more than just dental hygiene and some of the

students came in and they had been to the lady that trained us getting piercings and

I just thought, gosh, we give, I love injections.

That's my favorite thing to teach, my favorite thing to do.

I just thought we could be so good at that.

And the Lorraine and I, Carpool to work and Lorraine has struggled with some migraines

and she, I got talking to her about piercing and she's like, you know, it'd be a great

thing to have a great sterile environment with dental hygienists doing these piercings

rather than having to go into a tattoo shop or, you know, we wanted to provide us a safe

space for little girls to be able to come in and have that great first experience getting

those piercings.

So I kind of thought about it and I said, I think I'm going to do this apprenticeship

and the Lorraine's like, let's do it.

And so that's kind of where it started.

And then going back to the migraines, my experience was years and years of just suffering

and there's a piercing that actually, you know, has helped a lot of people feel relief

from migraines, whether it's decreasing the intensity of them or decreasing the amount

of times you get a headache.

And I had to go to a tattoo shop, which like I said, there's great people piercing out

there at these places, but it was very, very intimidating for me.

If I felt very out of my element and I got my piercing and that's what kind of brought

that up to is like, that could be a better experience for a lot of people.

And then on top of that, we thought, well, what else, if we're not going to be piercing

24 hours a day at us at a studio to make money, what else could we do?

And that's why we added other expertise of whitening, which we do dental grade whitening

in collaboration with the dentist.

So we have a dentist on our on our board that helps us to be able to do that.

And then we also started offering toothed gems, which also has collaboration with the dentist

because people are putting those on with super glue.

That's not, yeah, that's not good.

Yeah, we had a patient in the other day at the school that had been to Hobby Lobby

and had their grail all super glued up.

Oh, my God.

Fascinating.

Yeah.

That I just cringed.

Yes.

And just the implications, I just cringed the things that I see people do without a background

knowledge of what that could be doing to your teeth.

Yeah.

Have you experienced people coming in that you think to yourself, oh my, if they're

if they were at a pop up tooth whitening gem placing mall situation, this, this could

have gotten really sideways.

I think that's what's frustrating is, you know, being a licensed dental professional,

there's people out doing whitening that have no dental background.

There's people out doing tooth gems that have no dental background.

In fact, I've watched a lot of videos and, you know, there was one lady that I watched

and she was etching the tooth and she's like, this is how we clean it.

And I'm like, that's not actually how it works.

But there's just no dental knowledge.

But the thing for me is, you know, we have to jump through a lot of hoops as dental professionals

to make sure we have that collaboration with the dentist and be regulated that way and

do things very well.

But then there's people who don't have the dental knowledge that just do it all the time.

Yeah.

I think for us to, at first, we're like, well, do we want to off for tooth gems?

Because there's a little controversy in your mind.

Like, do you want to, you want to put that on someone's tooth?

It can't be possible.

No, that was super good.

And that's why we decided, you know what, there's people that are going to do it.

Why would we not offer to have that done with dental grade supplies?

On a tooth that a dental professional has looked at and agreed whether they can see, you

know, a reason to visit a dentist first before you approve something like that.

I just feel like people were going to do it anyway.

And it's not our, our baby, like we said, the piercing is our baby of our, our business.

But, you know, where it all started was the piercing and it just kind of groans.

Yeah.

When you guys are talking, I keep on having this clip from, um, oh my heck, the, the name

of the sitcom just went out of my head.

With Amy Poler and it's Ron and why can't I think of it's a, it's, it's, it's arts and

a wreck.

Thank you.

Thank you, David.

I was going to ask that.

I was like, I don't know.

Well, the thing that kept on coming my head is 30 rock.

I'm like, no, no, not Tina.

Hey, Amy Poler.

I'm like, I'm like, I get in the right lane anyway.

But there's this time that Ron is in like a home depot as, you know, and the guy comes

up and is like, hi, is there anything I can help you with?

And Ron looks at him.

He goes, I know more than you.

And walks out.

And I think, I think so, I think so often we, we hear of these situations or, um, experiences

where you go, you know what?

I have a knowledge base that is deep and wide and can be applied to these situations

and make them more, you know, health conscious, make them more effective, make them safer.

And I really love that you two have taken that opportunity and said, hey, you know what?

Peer sings a deal, whitenings a deal, tooth gems, that's a deal.

And people are doing it and we can do it in ways that will preserve tooth structure.

We can do it in ways that will be more conscious of sterilization.

We can do these things with our knowledge base that makes it better.

And that's amazing listeners.

This is super important to understand.

I mean, Lindsay made a comment.

I love giving injections.

There's a lot of us that are like, yep, that's me.

And there's a lot of us who are like, no way.

Like injections is the toughest part of my job.

Lindsay, obviously you mentioned that injections was part of your passion.

Do you guys have like a favorite procedure slash what you like doing with your personal

business?

And tell the listeners how being able to find a passion of giving an injection,

translating to a business, you know, the work, things that we do.

Hollow Needled IA's.

Yes.

Hollow Needled.

If we're going to talk about IA's, yes, that's my favorite injection to give because

it's a challenge, right?

If I had my perfect job all day, I would give injections room to room to room.

Like that.

I love it.

But there's a lot of similarities.

You think in my mind before I had background on piercing, I thought, oh, you just shove

a needle through the ear and that's, that's, that's how you do it.

But there's a lot of things that affect the way that things heal.

So just like angles with injections for dental hygiene, angles are very important for piercing

and the way that we get things to heal.

If things aren't parallel, it leaves earrings on a slant, which can cause trouble with after

care with the healing and then also with trying to get your earrings in.

For me, one of my favorite procedures here at the studio, I like to do date piercings.

They're challenging, just like the IA injection.

It's not just poke a hole through the ear.

It sexually feels like a procedure and there's certain things that you have to do as far

as making sure your needle is in deep enough so that the earring doesn't reject.

So angles and depth, there's a lot of knowledge more than what you think, oh, just put a, put

a needle through the ear.

Yeah.

And I would add, just even when you, when you're, when you're trying to translate the

knowledge that you have, for me, what comes from dental hygiene is when that person walks

away and feels aware, just like you said, Jessica, I, I, I left knowing things I never knew

about getting a piercing and after care that I never had been taught.

I love with dental hygiene when someone walks away with more information than they came

with that they'll use.

And I think that I have a lot of pride in knowing that when someone leaves, I've given

the opportunity for them to ask questions, I've given them the opportunity to be confident

before we ever pierce their ear, just I think that translates for me in some sense.

I do like injections, but, you know, that would be more, more of where I think it translates.

Your motivational interviewing skills, take S, if that's what you call it, that is, I love

that.

And one thing, one big thing that has stood out to me as we've done this business, you

know, we have a lot of studios that do aesthetic grade whitening.

And it's always interesting we've had a couple of different cases that they've came in and

they've spent a lot of money trying to whiten their teeth.

And they get in here and we look at them and we can see that they've got a dead tooth

and on vital tooth.

And it's interesting to me that people will go and spend money and people can whiten teeth

with no dental education.

But then come to us and it's almost life changing because, you know, hey, I can't get this

start tooth in the front to whiten, you know, and then when Lorraine and I can educate

them on what's happening, why all of this money that they spend, it's not helping to change

the whitening or the aesthetic results of their smile.

But just having that dental knowledge and being able to get them in the right hands is

a great thing.

Being in the right hands.

And you are the right hands to get piercing and you're the right hands to get whitening.

You're the right hands.

Yeah.

I love that.

We hope so.

Well, I was, they sent a little article, not little, this is a great article, not little,

this is a big deal that you have hanging in your studio.

And the, I'm looking for the author of who wrote it so I can give credit for credits.

So Tiffany says something that I really loved and I want to read it from her article.

She said, glam studio pros isn't just a place to get piercings or whiten your teeth.

It's a business built on trust and professionalism in a world where beauty services can sometimes

feel rushed or risky.

Lindsay and Lorraine offer something rare, a place where science meets style and where

your health and healing are always prioritized.

And I really think that that encapsulates who you are as professionals and what you will

be known for is that patient experience of recognizing in someone that they deserve to

be cared for and cared for really well.

And I just want to give a huge shout out and thanks to you for taking dental hygiene knowledge

and showing that it can be applied in so many ways that really elevate the human experience.

I have a lot of friends in this industry, in the dental industry that they think about

doing things like this all the time, but there's a lot of hesitation.

If you guys just listen to what Jessica said about the article and you feel like you have

goosebumps on how enlightening it was and inspire, I want you to remember that sometimes

we hesitate starting because of our fears.

But sometimes you wake up one day and there's an amazing article written about your business

and how far you've taken it and how you can inspire others to do the same.

Lindsay and Lorraine, what words of wisdom and inspirations do you have for that one

person who's like 2026 is the year where I'm going to get it going?

I would say do it.

I am so grateful for this business and what it's brought for me and my family.

It's amazing working with a partner.

We feel like we really balance each other out.

We have different strengths, but I would say don't wait.

I wish I would have done it sooner.

And I mean, that rings to me too and maybe for me it was, I don't know if I'm ready

to stop doing one thing and start doing something else.

And like Jessica said, we still teach at the college and we've made this business happen

at the same time.

If you think that you're going to have this day where you're like, today's my ready day.

I'm ready.

That day may never come.

And in fact, the day that it does is probably something no one's ever experienced because

really you just have to take the step.

Just have to go.

Being ready isn't a thing.

Mike drop, but I won't, I won't drop my mic because it's brand new.

But I am just really grateful to be able to associate with fellow professionals that

have a vision for how dental hygiene can be applied in so many different ways.

And thank you for my beautiful second piercing.

And you guys are looking for any inspiration or how to's.

You can contact glam studio pros.

We will link all of their information in the show notes.

So if other people want to reach out to you, which is for what you've given us, what

is the best way do you think?

If they want to reach out to you, if they see the phone number on our website or Instagram,

we always watch Instagram for messages.

And then there is a contact or a chat on our website as well.

So any of those we're always watching and ready for and David, we're ready for you.

Oh my gosh.

I got to be in town.

And we will record and document this whole experience.

I am down.

You will leave a permanent mark in me, like, as you have it.

So if you have an all of our listeners today, thank you so much for joining us.

And we will see you having us.

Yeah.

And I will see you later.

And I would about to say, we'll see all you listeners later.

But I won't see you.

But I will in the ether, listen to your ears, listening to me.

That's not making sense.

But until next time, thanks for coming to a tele to a genus.

We appreciate you being here with us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Today's episode of a tale of two hygienist podcast.

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