Every year around this time, my community comes out of the woodwork. I’m winding down for my slow season, resting more and getting ready for the holidays, and the hygienists in my world are gearing up with the same plan. Next year. Next year I’ll figure out myofunctional therapy. Next year I’ll have more time. Next year it’ll finally be the right time to leave dental hygiene.

I love that you want it. I just don’t love the plan, because “next year” has a price tag, and nobody reads it. So I recorded this one from the front seat of my car on an Alabama country road, and I want to walk you through exactly what one more year in hygiene costs you, and what you can do about it before another January rolls around.

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This article is based on The Profitable Myofunctional Therapist™ podcast, Episode 96: The Cost of One More Year in Hygiene. You can listen to the podcast here.

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There Is No Perfect Time to Leave Dental Hygiene

A lot of the women in my world know they can’t be in hygiene forever. Some of them are desperate to get out. And they’re still waiting, because they believe a better time is coming, a year with more room in it, a season where the kids are older or the schedule is lighter or the bank account feels bigger.

Friend, that time is an illusion. There ain’t no time genie coming to rub the lamp and give you extra hours in the day. The hours you have right now are the hours you’re going to have, and the only thing waiting changes is how far behind you start.

I say this with love, because I’m a recovering perfectionist myself. Perfectionism is procrastination wearing a nicer outfit, and “I’m waiting for the right time” is one of its favorite outfits.

Cost #1: Your Body and Your Runway

Let’s start with the one you can feel. Another year in the op is another year of eight patients a day on the same wrists, the same neck, the same back. That isn’t me being dramatic. In a study of 95 dental hygienists published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 93% reported at least one musculoskeletal disorder. You already know which part of your body is keeping score.

The second cost is quieter. The longer you wait to get the skill figured out and dialed in, the longer it takes to get your business started. Every year you spend talking about myo instead of learning it is a year of runway you don’t get back.

If you want to see what this looks like eight years down the road, I wrote about what I got instead of a 204-SD when I left.

You Control the Pace

Here’s the good news. You get to decide how fast this goes.

I got out of hygiene fast, because I was desperate and I had to get out of there. A lot of my students do it differently. They build myo as a side hustle, or they cut back to part-time hygiene to free up time for their business. One student who started with me a few months ago has already cut back to part-time and temps on her other days, so she can move into myo full time when she’s ready.

Think of it as gas and brake. Some of you are miserable in the op and want to floor it. Some of you are fine with a slow ramp. Either way works. The only version that doesn’t work is leaving the car in park for another year. For a real look at how the move happens, read what the move from hygienist to myofunctional therapist looks like.

Cost #2: Your Head Start in a Field That Isn’t Fringe Anymore

When I started in myofunctional therapy almost a decade ago, it was pretty fringe. Not a lot of people were talking about it, and plenty of people considered it a little woo-woo.

Now you can’t go to an airway conference, an ortho conference, or an RDH continuing ed event without tongue ties, airway, or myo on the agenda. The profession grew up while a lot of hygienists were still thinking about it.

I want to be clear, there is no mayor of Myo Town. There is room for you. But the longer you wait, the more people get in ahead of you, and building visibility gets easier the earlier you start. If you’re still deciding whether your hygiene background fits, start with why dental hygienists make strong candidates for myofunctional therapy training.

Cost #3: A Year Behind on AI

This is the one I think about the most. The technology is moving fast, and the people learning to use it right now are learning to collapse and compress time, getting more done in a lot less of it.

I live this every day. I run a solo business, and I have AI helpers that pull my metrics, tell me what’s happening on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, and scout forums, Facebook groups, and Reddit threads every night for the questions people are asking, so I know what to blog about and what to podcast about. That’s how I have time to drive to town twice a week and go to the gym, and yes, I still record the podcast on the way.

If you’re waiting until next year, you’re not just a year behind on your business. You’re a year behind on learning the tools that make running one possible without it taking over your life. If you want to see what that looks like in practice, here are the five AI employees that run my week.

What Waiting Doesn’t Change

Your hygiene paycheck a year from now probably won’t look much different than it does today. That’s the trade you make when you wait. You keep the familiar, and you give up the year.

Owning a business is different, and I won’t pretend it’s easy. Nobody hands you money for doing nothing, and nobody should. What a business earns depends on your market, your offer, your pricing, your effort, and your follow-through, and no one can promise you a number, including me. What I can tell you is that you control far more of those pieces as a business owner than you ever will from behind someone else’s chair.

Build a Life-First Business, Not Another Year of Someday

Maybe what you want isn’t about money at all. Maybe you want to be a more present mama, a less stressed version of yourself, a wife who isn’t running on empty by Thursday.

That’s the whole point of a life-first business. You decide what your life needs to look like first, and you build the business around it, not the other way around. You can’t do that from inside a schedule someone else owns.

Already Trained? This Part Is for You

If you’ve already finished your myofunctional therapy training and you’re trained but stuck, your version of “next year” sounds a little different. It’s next year I’ll get clients. Next year I’ll get the business side figured out.

The Profitable Myofunctional Therapist™ is a twelve-week program for myofunctional therapists already in business. It teaches you to build a modern, AI-powered practice with smarter systems, one department at a time, starting with CEO & Setup, then Marketing, then Sales. If that’s where you are, book your Get Unstuck Call and we’ll figure out your next step together.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the right time to leave dental hygiene?

There isn’t a perfect time, and waiting for one usually means another year in the op. The right time is when you decide to start building, at whatever pace fits your life, whether that’s all at once or part-time while you learn.

Can I learn myofunctional therapy while still working as a dental hygienist?

Yes. Plenty of hygienists build their myo skills and business on the side, or cut back to part-time hygiene first. LMT60 is self-paced and fully available from day one, so you can learn around your schedule.

Is the myofunctional therapy field too crowded to start now?

No. More providers are talking about airway and tongue ties than ever, and there’s still room for you. The earlier you start, the more time you have to build your visibility and your referral relationships.

How long does it take to learn myofunctional therapy?

It depends on the training and on you. LMT60 is designed to take you from knowing nothing about myofunctional therapy to confident enough to see your first client, and it includes 4 months of access. Your pace, and how much you put into it, shape how long it takes.

How can AI help me run a myofunctional therapy business?

AI can take on a lot of the work that eats a solo business owner’s time, like tracking your numbers, drafting content, and researching what your ideal clients are asking. It works best when it knows your business, your voice, and your ideal client. See the AI employees that run my week for real examples.

Keep Listening: Related Episodes

• EP83: From Hygienist to Myofunctional Therapist: What the Transition Really Looks Like, the step-by-step reality of making the move once you stop waiting.
• EP95: Eight Years Without a 204-SD, and What I Got Instead, what leaving hygiene looked like for me, eight years later.
• EP93: My Top Five AI Employees and What They Do, the AI side of Cost #3, and how it gives a solo owner her time back.

Stop Waiting for Next Year

If you’re still in the op and you heard yourself in this post, I don’t want you to be in the same place next year at this time.

Your next step can be as simple as learning the clinical skill. LMT60 is self-paced clinical training built for hygienists. If you want the clinical training and the business framework together, the LMT60 + The Profitable Myofunctional Therapist™ Bundle is the full pathway. And if you’re not sure which one fits, book your Get Unstuck Call and we’ll talk about where you are, where you want to go, and what makes sense for your life.

Xo,

💙 Carmen

About Carmen Ball

Carmen Ball (formerly Carmen Woodland) is a renowned, global myofunctional therapist, business coach, and host of The Profitable Myofunctional Therapist™ podcast. Over the past decade, she has helped thousands of people in her private myofunctional therapy practice (Impact Myofunctional Therapy – formerly Integrative Myofunctional Therapy) and coached hundreds of trained therapists to build profitable online businesses of their own. She is the creator of The Profitable Myofunctional Therapist™ program and Learn Myofunctional Therapy in 60 Days or Less (LMT60), a clinical training program for dental and health professionals. Carmen’s approach is simple: you already have the skills and the license. Now let’s build the business around them. She works with therapists around the world who are ready to stop spinning their wheels and start building a business they are genuinely bonkers about.