 Hello everybody, Andrea here with Dental L Tutoring. So you want to become a dental hygienist or maybe you think you do. This is something that you are considering doing either if you are in school, college right now, maybe you're even younger or maybe you're in your 40s. That's okay, I'm going to tell you guys what it typically takes to become a dental hygienist. So this does vary depending on where you live, but universally it's about the same. So basically you will need to attend a college or a university. I attended two years of college and that helped me get my dental hygiene diploma. But before that you do need very good grades in high school in order to get in. So look at your English, your sciences, your math. I would say those were the main ones. I did not have the best marks in high school. I wasn't a horrible, but I wasn't a 90% type of person. So I went to a private dental hygiene college back then. If you had the money, you could get into a private dental hygiene college, but they would only accept a certain number of applicants per month. And you did have to go through a little more of an extensive interview process. But if you have the marks, you can basically get in anywhere you want. Again, you guys, I just didn't have the marks in high school. When I went to college and I was actually learning things that I wanted to, my marks really improved. So don't worry if you have horrible marks in public school, high school, even college. If it's not related to dental hygiene, it doesn't mean you won't do well in dental hygiene. I do not like math. I do not like science. English, sometimes I wonder. My marks were horrible, but I loved the dental hygiene program. My marks skyrocketed. I maintained my honor status. So don't worry about that either. Now, what a lot of people ask me is, why is there a difference between the college program and the university program? Well, that really depends on you. My college program actually took four years in total. So it's typically two years. Mine took four years. This is a long story, but the first time I went to a dental hygiene college, my program shut down about a month before I was supposed to graduate. The owner of the college literally walked out, shut the doors, apparently the college went bankrupt. That cannot happen anymore. It's a very long story. I do have a YouTube video on that if you're curious about my journey. So I went to a private dental hygiene college then in Toronto for another two years. So my program in total took four years, but I am also a specialist. So in some areas, you can move on to become a dental hygiene specialist. Also referred to as a restorative dental hygienist. That took in total about a year. So half the year was basically theory and then you would go to where your college is. Mine happened to be in Ottawa. So yes, I did move to Ottawa for a short time. And that's where I did my clinical testing. So you basically learned the hands-on component, how to place composites, a melgum, cementing crowns, bridges, all kinds of things. So if you're able to be a restorative dental hygienist where you are, that's another option for you. But you do have to work for a certain amount of years before you're able to even consider applying to becoming a dental hygiene specialist. But being a dental hygiene specialist, again, also called a restorative dental hygienist, you have to take that in a college program. So you have to apply, you have to get in. It's not cheap. So let me talk about the money for you. When I became a dental hygienist, my program cost $45,000 for two years. It's probably more now, you guys, with inflation, with everything, it's probably more now. My restorative dental hygiene program cost about, I wanna say $11,000. Again, it probably costs more now. So it's not the cheapest program out there. But it's 110% worth it. If you like teeth, if you like being with people and you want to kind of put that all together, that's where a dental hygienist comes into play. There are other professions, such as being a dental receptionist, a dental assistant. I will save that for another video. I have done both of those. They are absolutely amazing as well. And then of course, you could also become a dentist. So I'll save those for another video, but this is specific to dental hygiene for this one. So it's not cheap, but it's absolutely worth it. And a lot of people ask me simple questions like is it hard? Do you think I can do it? I'm 40 years old, should I apply to become a dental hygienist? So to make a very long story short here, I do have some more YouTube videos on this. The dental hygiene program is not easy. It's not a piece of cake. I highly recommend you do not have a job when you're in the dental hygiene program because you'll be doing homework, projects, studying every single night. You do not get time off. If you do, you're missing something. I never had time off. To be perfectly honest, when we moved into second and third semester, when you start seeing actual patients. So the first semester is typically theory. The second and third and fourth of course is seeing patients. In clinic, I probably cried every day. Not in clinic, I would have waited till I hid in the washroom and started to cry, but the instructors are very, very picky. Clinic is not easy. If you miss one little piece of plaque or charter, they're going to yell at you. The instructors I had, they yelled at us if we did something wrong, if we missed something, you constantly had to be on it. You had to be there, but that also makes you an amazing dental hygienist. So would I change anything? No. Would I take the program again? No, but I would if I had to because I cannot imagine doing anything other than being a dental hygienist. In some areas you can also be a dental hygienist and have your own business. I do that as well. I am currently a mobile dental hygienist where I travel to patients' homes and I also see patients in my own home. I'm allowed to do that without supervision of a dentist. That is only in certain areas though, it is specifically called an independent dental hygienist. You're not allowed to do this everywhere. In other areas, you're allowed to administer local anesthetic as a dental hygienist. I cannot do that here in Ontario, but in other areas you can. So it really does depend, excuse me, on where you plan to work. So comment below if you guys have any questions. Being a dental hygienist is the most amazing career. Definitely do a search on my YouTube video. Oh my God. What am I saying? Do a search on my YouTube channel. This is live, unedited, you guys can tell. Do a search on my YouTube channel for being a dental hygienist, dental hygiene, working as a dental hygienist. I have tons of videos where I talk to you about how it's actually like to be a dental hygienist and why some people might think they wanna be a dental hygienist, but this is what you have to do and you might not be the right person for being a dental hygienist, so maybe a dental assistant is better for you. So I talk about all of that in other videos, have a look. I will link some of those to the description down below to help you out. Make sure to like this video. I would really appreciate it. That does help me in my channel. And if you haven't yet, definitely click subscribe. That helps me as well. So thank you guys. Let me know if any questions and I will talk to you guys in the next one. Bye for now.