. .	Hygienics is essential to good dentistry. In a basic equation, those who see their hygienist regularly will have to see their dentist less often. And they risk considerably less pain and are much less likely to lose their teeth. Good dental health also helps maintain good health throughout the whole body, and it can be amazing how many aches, pains, and disorders can originate in gum disease and tooth decay. As true as this is, many people don't like getting lectured about it from their dentist and hygienist, and this causes them to procrastinate and delay in getting their teeth cleaned and maintained. Anita Anderson knows this reluctance very well. With a laugh and twinkle of the eye, she will tell you she "was the world's worst dental patient as a kid." In early childhood, she cried before dental appointments and cringed and brooded in her teens. As a result of her own experience, she sympathizes with patients' uneasiness and goes the extra mile to relieve it. Given her childhood dislike of dentistry, she finds it amusing that she became a dental hygienist. While working at a fast food restaurant after graduating from highschool, a friend of her mother's told her that Dr. Robert Heller, a periodontist, was looking for an assistant, and she took the job. Anita decided to pursue more advanced professional skills, and she went to dental school at the same time as her first daughter began elementary school. After she received accreditation as a hygienist from Milwaukee Area Technical College, she continued to work for Dr. Heller as an assistant as well as hygienist, and she still works with him two days a week. In 2001, she noticed an ad for a hygienist while thumbing through the Kenosha News. The ad was placed by James Fulmer, with whom she had gone to highschool. In answering the ad, she was in part responding to the opportunity to work with an old acquaintance. But there is another dimension to the way she likes to do things. She worked with Dr. Heller, a specialist in gum disease. Dr. Fulmer is a general dentist, with a different professional and personal framework for his practice. Working in the two offices, she says, makes her better at both. The two orientations help her keep up with the rapid advances in methods of dentistry. And the differences keep her from seeing patients as mechanical repetitions on an assembly line. Her sense of the individuality of her patients is the focal point of her practice, and of her satisfaction with her job. Adjusting cleaning methods to the needs of each client provides a perpetual challenge and produces the best results. Many of the patients are Kenoshans she's known for a long time, if not all her life; but there are still plenty of new faces. Talking to them makes the job more rewarding and confirms her satisfaction with her home town. Anita's husband, Bill, is co-owner of Andy's Drive in, two doors west of Dr. Fulmer's office, and Andy's Restaurant, on the corner of 63rd St. and 23rd Ave., a few blocks to the east of the office. The professions compliment and depend on each other. Anita and Bill particularly enjoy camping as a recreational activity. As a student, Anita played violin in her highschool orchestra, traveling to a number of cities with it. She now sings in the choir of the First United Methodist Church, and is learning to play the guitar. She was also on the girls' track team in school.	..