Friday, September 23, 2016
Dental Hygiene Program Orientation Day
The long awaited day finally just ended. It was a bit dissapointing at first this morning when after walking to the college I realized that they had the orientation going on for all the future students. I asked the guy sitted next to me what he was taking and he mutted "Wielding!". Not to be biased on any course but I bet you I would have told you from the word go he was not in dental hygiene.
Around noon the very cool Dr. B came and asked the DH students to follow her to the Building E(Our next home for the next 23 or so months). What a relieve! We got to meet the faculty members who introduced themslves and left hastily. Favourite part we got to meet our classmates for the next 23 months. Introductions were based on writing your name and 3 things about you. You had to exchange your card with your seatmate and they had to introduce you. I was very lucky because I'm not the only guy in the class. Cool guy from NY will be the other dude in the class. Although all the classmates seem to be really nice,mature and focused people.
Abunch of senior students came in hardy taking in our questions and showing us around the school. Very happy,confident and helpful bunch. They seemed so in love with the course and so sure of themselves. Hoping one day we will get to their level. We got instructions about the clinic. We have to find patients on our own when the time comes for the clinics. Its a huge part of succeeding in the course. Not just finding the patient but also finding the RIGHT patient. The earlier you start establishing good rapport with the community,fellow students and any other potential future patient the better.
For now everyone is happy and excited to start despite several heads up that it's not going to be easy. But people have been through it and came out successful. We are the samllest class so far that has been admitted in the program and we are all hoping to graduate together as a class. First day of class will be on 28th of Sept which will be on a Wed and after my Birthday. Thats pretty cool considering there is enough time to celebrate the birthday and nurse the hangover on Tue and hit the class on Wed. First we will be getting the text books and then class. Lucky to have been exempted from English Composition as I took it in community college and passed pretyy well. That leaves me with Chemistry for Health Sciences (4 credits) and Anatomy and Physiology 1 (4 credits). Monday through Thursday from 7:30AM to 10:00AM and then A&P in the afternoon from 1:00PM to 3:40PM. All that up to 11/1016 before switching to Chemistry for Dental Hygiene and Anatomy and Physiology 2 then we will call it another term. So first 2 terms, brace for Chem and Anatomy folks.
To all the guys that we just got in with, we can do this folks!!!
Keep it right here for all the updates. Phtoto Credits (Pinterest)
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
5 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW AND DO BEFORE STARTING DENTAL HYGIENE SCHOOL.
1. SPEAK TO SOMEONE ALREADY IN THE FIELD
This will be very helpful as it will give you insight on what to expect at the school and after school. You do not want to go into a career that you are not sure about. Every once in a while when I do my dental cleanings at the clinic I make sure I introduce myself to the hygienist and let them I admire the great work they are doing and that I would to be like one of them someday. Ask them few questions without being overly intrusive into their private lives. Once in a while I have got very valuable information from the hygienist working on my teeth. You might met a few very demotivated hygienist who will try to discourage you from going into the field but always remember not everyone will be for your goals. Ignore those ones but politely.
2. COMPLETE YOUR PRE-REQUISITES COURSES
This will mostly depend on where you want to go to school for your Hygiene course. I strongly advice you to take a couple of science classes to see how you will stand up to the science classes in the program. My top recommendation is college level Anatomy and Physiology as well as a few Chemistry classes. Math classes help on in passing the entrance exam too. A lot of English classes will be needed too so if you can knock those out of your way that's a big plus for you. I managed to do a couple of basic classes that I have had them waived on my first year classes which is a big plus for me as I can concentrate on more troublesome classes. I did them all at a community college and that helps too.
3. MAN-UP AND KNOW WHAT YOU WANT
Lets face it. This course is tough. And so are you for deciding to even venture into it. But one thing you need to know even before walking in through those doors, you have to stop the whining and grow up already. You might be living with your parents but you are not a baby anymore. Hygienist do not get paid 70k a year for nothing. The schooling is even shorter but the workload is a whole different ball game. Always set your goals and know exactly what you want because it is not going to be a walk in the park. be ready.
4. SAVE SOME MONEY UP
You have to spend some money to earn some money,right? Wrong! In dental hygiene you have to save some money to graduate with less student debt! Before you begin school just know there is a whole lot of medical vaccines and immunizations to be done. The fact that it's almost impossible for you to go to school and work full time means you are most likely not covered by employers dental,medical or eye insurance. All this is going to come from your pocket. Be sure to do your exams and immunizations just before you quit your job so the payment comes from your employer. If you have no full time job save some money as you will need to buy books,pay fees buy instruments and scrubs in some cases. The money you save will go a long way to ensuring you are not thinking about money when you should be thinking about the head and neck anatomy.
5. READ EXTENSIVELY ON DENTAL HYGIENE AS A CAREER
This is a good way to ensure you feel familiar on what goes on in the dental world. There is a couple of magazines you can subscribe to and that going to be really helpful. I personally read the RDH magazine and follow several blogs on dental Hygiene. To subscribe to any of them follow the following links. http://www.rdhmag.com/index.html
In other news, I have just received a packet from the dental Hygiene school with a list of things to do for pre-clinical classes and believe you me, Its a lot of things to get done. State background check, Child abuse clearance, Health screenings, Physical exams, eye exams, and a tonne of immunizations to get or prove I got them. We have have to Nov 1st to get it all done or you will be kicked out of program if not completed. Orientation is on 23rd and keep it right here for what will be going down on that day.
As usual, thanks for stopping by folks!
This will be very helpful as it will give you insight on what to expect at the school and after school. You do not want to go into a career that you are not sure about. Every once in a while when I do my dental cleanings at the clinic I make sure I introduce myself to the hygienist and let them I admire the great work they are doing and that I would to be like one of them someday. Ask them few questions without being overly intrusive into their private lives. Once in a while I have got very valuable information from the hygienist working on my teeth. You might met a few very demotivated hygienist who will try to discourage you from going into the field but always remember not everyone will be for your goals. Ignore those ones but politely.
2. COMPLETE YOUR PRE-REQUISITES COURSES
This will mostly depend on where you want to go to school for your Hygiene course. I strongly advice you to take a couple of science classes to see how you will stand up to the science classes in the program. My top recommendation is college level Anatomy and Physiology as well as a few Chemistry classes. Math classes help on in passing the entrance exam too. A lot of English classes will be needed too so if you can knock those out of your way that's a big plus for you. I managed to do a couple of basic classes that I have had them waived on my first year classes which is a big plus for me as I can concentrate on more troublesome classes. I did them all at a community college and that helps too.
3. MAN-UP AND KNOW WHAT YOU WANT
Lets face it. This course is tough. And so are you for deciding to even venture into it. But one thing you need to know even before walking in through those doors, you have to stop the whining and grow up already. You might be living with your parents but you are not a baby anymore. Hygienist do not get paid 70k a year for nothing. The schooling is even shorter but the workload is a whole different ball game. Always set your goals and know exactly what you want because it is not going to be a walk in the park. be ready.
4. SAVE SOME MONEY UP
You have to spend some money to earn some money,right? Wrong! In dental hygiene you have to save some money to graduate with less student debt! Before you begin school just know there is a whole lot of medical vaccines and immunizations to be done. The fact that it's almost impossible for you to go to school and work full time means you are most likely not covered by employers dental,medical or eye insurance. All this is going to come from your pocket. Be sure to do your exams and immunizations just before you quit your job so the payment comes from your employer. If you have no full time job save some money as you will need to buy books,pay fees buy instruments and scrubs in some cases. The money you save will go a long way to ensuring you are not thinking about money when you should be thinking about the head and neck anatomy.
5. READ EXTENSIVELY ON DENTAL HYGIENE AS A CAREER
This is a good way to ensure you feel familiar on what goes on in the dental world. There is a couple of magazines you can subscribe to and that going to be really helpful. I personally read the RDH magazine and follow several blogs on dental Hygiene. To subscribe to any of them follow the following links. http://www.rdhmag.com/index.html
In other news, I have just received a packet from the dental Hygiene school with a list of things to do for pre-clinical classes and believe you me, Its a lot of things to get done. State background check, Child abuse clearance, Health screenings, Physical exams, eye exams, and a tonne of immunizations to get or prove I got them. We have have to Nov 1st to get it all done or you will be kicked out of program if not completed. Orientation is on 23rd and keep it right here for what will be going down on that day.
As usual, thanks for stopping by folks!
Thursday, August 25, 2016
WELCOME TO MY DENTAL HYGIENE STUDENT BLOG FOR THE NEXT 2 YEARS!!!
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