PATRICIA HOFFMAN JEDNOROZEC, MPH, RDHAPPat graduated as a dental hygienist from Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Dental Hygiene in 1966.She received her BS degree in health education from University of Oregon and Masters in Public Health from San Jose State University.She has been a dental hygienist for over 40 years, and with her background in health education was able to work as a health educator for a county health department for 6 years.  During that time, she worked with the Area Agency on Aging becoming involved with many senior programs that were being developed at that time.Pat has been a caregiver for a close friend of the family as well as her own mother and mother-in-law when they were in skilled nursing facilities. She became aware of the lack of dental attention they received while in these facilities so she went ahead and completed a 4 months course to upgrade her dental hygiene license to a Registered Dental Hygienist in Alternative Practice, which means that she is licensed to enter facilities and homebound patients to assess and clean their teeth, as well as refer for any dental treatment they require to a dentist that will do an onsite visit as well.Pat has been President of the Dental Hygienists’ Association components in both San Francisco and the Peninsula. She has been chair of the Public Health Council of the California Dental Hygienists’ Association for 6 years and is presently liason to the California Nurses AssociationPat also experienced working as a marketing and sales consultant and rep for a corporation where she was able to take their product into the dental market to improve infection control and have the American Dental Association use this product in the dental screenings during their Annual Meetings for the three years she was involved with this company. Pat has been a featured speaker on lectures involving working with fearful dental patients and other areas of dental health.She is a member of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association, California Dental Hygienists’ Association, as well as the Special Care Dentistry Association.