 Hello, everybody. Andrea Trowsky here with Dental L Tutoring. So let's talk about your internship or your externship. You know, depending on where you live, you might have to do that either before your program or after your program. So I remember I had to do my internship that they had called it for my dental assisting class. So I took the dental assisting program and then I needed a certain number of hours to do the dental assisting in an office. And I do remember I needed, I don't remember the exact amount of hours, but I had to work in a dental office free of charge and just learn as much as I could for about a month. I remember working Monday to Thursday because they were not open on Fridays. And it was full day, so it was nine to five. And that's just kind of what you had to do in order to graduate, okay? And it is such a good idea especially if you've never worked in a dental office before, it does help to have that. And it just makes you a lot more comfortable as well when you do start to work in the office. Because even I remember, you know, learning from the textbook is one thing, learning from your teachers, learning from your classmates, learning, you know, taking the test, taking the exam, all of that. But as soon as you actually are hands-on, learning something in the office, it's so much more, I guess, useful for you. Trust me, I didn't realize as silly as this may sound, but I did not realize how much I did not know until I took my internship. And let me just kind of talk to you guys about that a little bit. So depending on the office where you are, it might be a little bit different. Excuse me. But what I did was I just asked the dentist that I had had since I was a kid. I just simply said to her at one of my cleanings, I said, hey, I'm in the dental assisting program. I'm almost done. I need to find an office that will allow me to just kind of watch them, learn. You may have to sign a couple of things, you know, to make sure that you feel confident that I could do dental assisting outside the office. And she was awesome. She was like, yeah, sure, that sounds perfect. I know other students in my class, they had to ask the school to find a place for them for whatever reason, because some offices just don't have the time to sit there and train you. But how I see it is it's kind of like free labor in a way because they don't have to pay you. You can't do the actual duties per se, you know, because you're not an actual dental assistant, but you can help by cleaning the lab, by setting up the room, you know, cleaning up the room, things like that. So how I see it is it's good for the offices to help you out and they don't have to pay you and you do learn so much. But anyway, so I remember, you know, you don't know what to expect. So my first day, I was nervous. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to look stupid. I was just happy to just sit there and watch because you don't know what to expect. If you've never worked in an office before, you don't know anything, right? Like you learn things in school, but you don't know what things look like even, right? So I remember my first day, I was just comfortable to just sit and watch. So I do remember they had a dental assistant who was in charge of the sterilizing area. So she sort of showed me around first because the dental assistants and the dental hygienists have patients, right? So they can't actually stop what they're doing to show you. But if they have somebody who's in charge of this sterilizing, they have more time. So she was able to show me, you know, how they put dirty instruments through, how to set up the rooms with the clean ones, how to clean up the rooms after patients. So like she was awesome. She was able to show me all of that. Plus I could ask plenty of questions too. So I remember seeing, you know, trays for cleanings, trays for a composite filling, you know, let's say trays for extractions, trays for just all kinds of things. And I remember saying to her like, oh, like, can you explain to me all of these trays and what the instruments are? Because I did learn them in school, but it would just help, you know, for you to teach them to me. So she was awesome. Like she taught me so much. I remembered helping her set up the rooms for the assistants and hygienists, clean up the rooms after that, especially if they were behind. I remember seating patients as well. I remembered filing charts. Like it was just really, really helpful. And then after you're done all of that, you start to work in an office and you're like, okay, this actually isn't as nerve wracking as I thought it would be because now you have experience. So I've probably watched for a day or two. So not a lot. So if you're planning to just watch for a month, that won't happen. And if that's all you want to do, then this probably isn't the position for you, you know, ask questions, you guys. You might be nervous. You might be not sure, but ask questions. Do not be afraid to ask questions and you're not learning anything by simply watching. Okay. I totally understand you wanting to watch the first day, maybe the second day, but then that's it. You have to get in there. I remembered actually assisting the dentist probably after three days or four days. I was nervous. Okay, you guys, I was nervous. I remember exactly. I was assisting her with a composite procedure. And one of the things that she said to me was you are doing excellent, but you passed the instruments too slowly. You know, you have to take it, pass it and put it in my hand. Not like really, really slow, right? But if she hadn't have told me that, I wouldn't have known. So I was like, oh my gosh, okay, awesome. Thank you. So then from there, I was passing them. It was easy. It was no problem. So she did help me so much. I remembered for teaching me how to mix certain things how to rinse, you know, properly. She would show me how to hold the suction a certain way. She was so, so helpful. And I learned a lot from them. Plus every assistant will have something else to say. You know, every assistant will be able to teach you something else. Even now, we have students come in, not often because we are a busy practice, but we do have students come in maybe twice a year. And you can tell the ones that want to learn and the ones that are just sitting there doing nothing. You know, the worst thing is if you're on an internship and you show up late, you take a lunch for too long. You sit there and watch. You don't ask questions, you know, things like that. Obviously, please show up on time. Make sure your uniforms, you know, ironed. It looks nice. Don't be late, obviously. You know, just help out as much as you can and don't stand around and do nothing. You know, the dentist might say something to you like, okay, for this procedure, it's kind of complicated. You might not learn a lot from this. See if anybody else needs your, you know, help, right? That's fine. Ask the other assistants. Ask the hygienists. Ask anybody if they need your help. Don't just stand around and do nothing because you're not helping anybody and you're not helping yourself either, you know, because it's a good idea to learn. Even depending on the office where you are, they might have, all of their charts might be on the computer. They might be paper. They might be a combination. Ask for help. Have them show you how all of that works. So when you are actually in an office, you're a lot more confident because it does help to be confident. There is nothing worse than being nervous, being anxious and not being confident, but your first time, of course, in an office you will be feeling all of that and that's normal, but your internship is amazing. So make, I guess, the most use out of it. For hygiene, I didn't have to do that. I don't know if it was just because my school, you didn't have to do that, but I was kind of glad that I didn't have to because I was a dental assistant first, like I would really learn anything and I did work in the same office too, but I guess depending on where you live and which school you're going to, you might do an internship for your dental hygiene, but I find it's just mainly for assisting. So if this is you and you're about to do your internship, don't be nervous. You will learn so much, honestly. After your time, you'll think to yourself, oh my God, I learned so much in that time. More than I felt I learned in my entire school program. That's what I said. I felt I knew nothing almost and then having to actually be hands-on was huge, especially for taking impressions. May I add that was amazing to just kind of see how it's supposed to be done because it's nice to see everything, how it's supposed to be done in the office. Ask questions and every assistant, every hygienist, every dentist will offer you different tips. So don't be afraid to ask, okay? So I hope this helped. If you guys have another idea for another video, let me know because I love to read all of your comments, questions and feedback. So please just let me know and I will see you guys in the next one. Thank you so much for watching.