 Hello everybody Andrea Mayaska here with dental tutoring. So let's talk about being a dental hygiene student So you might be wondering is it worth it because it's quite expensive to go to school. I find no matter where you live It's pricey, you know compared to other programs. It's expensive Some again, it depends on where you live, but it could take two years It could take three years or I know for me it took 18 months for the dental hygiene program now Aware I live so I'll focus on that so our tuition for everything So for the 18 months was $45,000 and this is when I went to school now This was at a private college though, too So the price is usually a little bit more I didn't really look at prices of other schools So I can't quote on that but it is a little bit more But I also wanted to get done the program faster So in 18 months opposed to two years so that made it a lot harder So as a student it's harder to be in a more accelerated program because you have to learn everything faster Usually there's more pressure because you have to learn everything faster Your marks just simply have to be higher because you know you have to pass and To be a dental hygiene student at least where where we are you have to have a 70% average in all of your classes So not in total but for every single class there were a few classes where you needed an eighty percent average so not all of them and That's hard. That's hard to maintain You know we all want to get that 90 to 95 percent average But that can be very very difficult when you have to study for five tests, right two assignments Do two oral presentations all in the same week So that is what being a dental hygiene student is all about is you don't have one test a month or a couple Tests a month. You will probably have at least two tests a week Whereas some weeks you'll have nothing which is rare, but you might have a week where you'll have nothing to do You know nothing to study for there is no tests nothing But then the week after you might have six or seven different tests plus an exam on top of that and The thing about exams and midterms is for a midterm You have everything on that midterm that you have learned so far in your class So like three months worth of material Whereas an exam is everything that you have learned in that class so it takes longer to have to study for midterms and exams When I went to school, we probably had at least two tests a week But then on top of that we had projects that we had to work on we had group projects So we had to meet with students outside of classroom time. We had to prepare for clinic We started seeing real patients Well, first I'll say we saw our student partners the second semester So the second term which at the time I felt that was so fast because I still felt that I was learning everything you start your Hand skills in clinic on a dexter probably about two weeks in So yeah, so you do learn fast and then within Usually at the end of the first semester the beginning of the second semester is when you start to see your student Partners you start to see real patients probably the end of your second semester So it doesn't take a year. It takes a couple months for you to be doing all of that So something to keep in mind too and that was probably the most Nourishing thing for me and probably for everybody is to have to learn the skills so quickly on A dexter and then have to jump onto a student partner because they're still real people But they understand, you know that you are a student, but it's still nerve-wracking to have to work on a real person So you have to do that and then right away You have to jump in to seeing your mom dad friends brothers sisters Classmates or sorry, I shouldn't say classmates Co-workers, you know, look you see real people who aren't in your class. So yes, they understand your students But there's still an extra level of professionalism that you have to maintain because they're real life patients and you have to treat it as such Plus every single patient counts. So when I went to school, you aren't allowed to make mistakes Okay, you might feel that you are entitled to make mistakes because you're a student But by the time you are seeing real people as patients in your class in clinic You're not allowed to make mistakes if you make a mistake you fail that whole patient And then you have to bring another patient back and in school you start off It takes about six appointments to clean teeth Okay, one person because you have to go through all of the paperwork you have to go through the assessment phase The dental hygiene diagnosis phase the planning the implementation the evaluation So all of that takes six appointments starting off and that's somebody healthy Okay, you might be wondering why does it take so long? Well, it takes so long because you are not the only student in the class So that means even if you finish a part of the paperwork Soon well, there might be three instructors for 20 people So those three instructors, it's a first come first serve So they will go to the students who are done first and then move on from there So you may have to wait a half an hour for them to mark that small area before you move on I remember how it was in my program where we would have to do with the medical and dental history first So we would be updating their medical dental history It could take two minutes if they're perfectly healthy It could take a half an hour if they have high blood pressure They've had a heart attack if they're not sure the type of meds they're on or why they're taking them You may have to look them up. You may have to make a phone call so that can take time So let's just say a half an hour, but then even though that's done The instructor has to come and mark that if they're marking for other students then you have to wait So the only thing that you might be able to get done in that one appointment Is the health history and the medical history and the dental history? Which in the real world takes about two minutes if there's medical issues and might take five minutes But that's it whereas the school it takes a lot longer. So be prepared for that So let's say that that's all you had done in your first appointment The second time the patient comes in for clinic you have to go through the assessment phases But even at that stage the patients probably like okay, let's take and so long Hopefully they understand you are a student and this is why it takes time This is why their treatment is at low cost because you know what you're doing Even if you don't pretend you do But it's more about having the instructors having to mark everything step by step and to make sure that you're on the right path The unfortunate thing is is let's say you get a lot wrong during the assessment phase So let's say you're having it marked by an instructor and they marked a lot of it wrong You might know at that point that you have failed your patient. So you're thinking okay never mind I don't want to see this patient again because I have to bring back another patient anyway You can't do that you have to see that patient until the end So even if you know you have failed that patient meaning you have to bring back another one anyway You still have to complete that until the very end because you can't just leave the patient hanging You know, you can't just say okay, sorry. I failed you so actually you don't have to come in anymore I'm not actually going to clean your teeth because I failed you and I need to get other people I don't have time to not do that. So you can't do that, right? Like that's just not a nice thing to do plus It's always a good idea anyway to see the patients until the end because come time Let's say the end of the semester if you're a couple points short The instructors look at everything so they will look at all of the patients that you saw until the end So let's say you're five points short of being able to finish. It does happen. They will look at everything They will say okay So so she saw four patients that she knew she was failing but for the rest of that patient She did great So they will likely pass you because they have seen that you have improved Whereas let's say you're short five points, but you were missing a lot of patients or they could tell that 10 of your patients you failed pretty much right away, but then they just didn't come back or You told them will I told them not to come back because I failed them They likely will not pass you and then you have to do it all again anyway So that's the thing that even if say you're five points short If you don't pass that portion of clinic you have to do it again So let's say you saw 15 patients You will have to see 15 new patients again It can't be the same patient because they all need plaque They all need charter and in hygiene school you need to see a certain number of healthy patients So like me you probably Where you have minimal plaque and then you need to see a certain number of well They have moderate plaque moderate calculus. They have a couple periopockets, but you know It's not too too bad So you need a certain number of those patients and then you need a certain number of those Heavy stain heavy smokers brush once a week those types of patients So you need to see many different types of patients and that's hard to find I do have a video as well talking about how to find patients and what I did what I was in School to make it a lot easier. So make sure to watch that because that will help but That's what hygiene school is pretty much all about so you have that the theory portion Where you learn in classes and then you have the hands-on portions and of course clinics So it's like a roller coaster up and down up and down You're happy. You're sad. You're angry. You are so excited to pass a patient But then you're mad and sad because you failed to two tests You're mad because you have to take a class over again because you did not maintain that 70% average and then you're happy because that 70% average turned into an 85% average, but then you're sad again because your next patient in clinic you didn't pass It's a roller coaster of emotions But it's worth it because if this is something that you want to do Stick through it and just remember that everybody Passed right we all had to start off somewhere. We all were nervous. We all were anxious We all hated our lives for two years But it's worth it because hygiene is amazing and there's nothing out there like it where you get paid the way you do You can work part-time full-time temp if you can work two days a week you can work overtime It's totally up to you. So stick with it You can do it if you guys have questions Just just make sure to comment below and I'd be happy to answer them and it's Easter weekend So I will also say happy Easter and thank you guys so much for watching