 Hello everybody, Andrea Trosti here with N12 Tutoring. So this is kind of an interesting video, which I don't think that anybody ever talks about, but this is a question that everybody asks. So for new dental hygienists, you might be wondering kind of, well, what is a typical day like at the office? And if you haven't been a dental assistant before, you would have no idea, because typically if you're in the dental office as a patient, you don't really know how things are and you don't really know how things are running behind the scenes. Even when I started as a dental assistant, I didn't really know what the dental hygienists did. I just saw them coming in to ask for a check. I saw their schedule, of course, but I didn't really have a good idea of what they actually did. So this should help you guys out a little bit. Now keep in mind that every office is a little bit different, so I can't tell you exactly what could happen. But I've worked in several offices at this point, so I can kind of give you guys a good general idea. So typically per shift, you will see about one patient every 45 minutes. Some offices have a patient every 45 minutes and some offices have a patient per hour. Per hour is nice, because that's obviously more time to do things, but typically it's about 45 minutes. Some offices will have you see patients every half an hour and that's very difficult. I'm just telling you guys that right now. If you can help it, do not work for an office where you only have half an hour, unless you're an experienced hygienist and you're quick and you're able to do that. I can't even clean teeth in half an hour and I have 13 years experience. So just to kind of help you guys out. But having that said, it's not exactly something that you can ask them at the interview, but I would still ask, if they ask if you have any questions, I would just ask how long their typical appointments are. Seeing a child in half an hour makes sense, because they have smaller teeth, they have less teeth, it's usually easier. Even seeing a senior who maybe has six teeth in half an hour makes sense too, because they have less teeth. So just kind of something to watch out for. Usually you are responsible for cleaning your own instruments. Usually you are responsible for setting up your room and cleaning up the room. Now every office is different. You might have an assistant who is, that's the main thing that she does is clean up the rooms, set up the rooms and clean the instruments. But I find typically you are in charge of doing that, which is totally fine. Just make sure to ask somebody to show you sort of how to run things if you haven't been in the office before. And especially if you're a new hygienist, it's easy to forget certain things. Things like the ultrasonic tips do not go in the ultrasonic cleaner, because then you can wreck them. The slow speed handpieces do not go in the ultrasonic cleaner either, because that would damage them and then that's a lot of money, right? The ring kits, sometimes they put them in the stathom under the plastic cycle, but sometimes they put them in the cold soak, because there is a way to wreck them if they're not sterilized properly. So do not be afraid to ask for some offices. You have to put instruments, you would actually wrap the instruments and some offices you would just throw them in as is. Sometimes you put instruments in cassettes and then sterilize them that way. So it does depend on the office. But typically you would all do the same thing and that's put things through the ultrasonic first that can go in the ultrasonic. That usually runs for about 20 minutes and then you would take things out of the ultrasonic. You would make sure they're rinsed fairly well and then you would put them in the stathom and that's where things are a little bit different. You might be wrapping the instruments and then putting them in the stathom. You might be just simply throwing them in as is. It depends on the office, so make sure to ask. But yeah, so typically you are responsible for cleaning up the rooms, sterilizing your instruments, setting up the rooms, that type of thing. Now, if you haven't been in an office before, I would double check with the office if for your first shift, if you're allowed to come in half an hour earlier. I'm finding a lot of offices are okay with that, but then once you start working, they only want you coming in about 15 minutes prior. So just check the office of how early you are allowed to come in for and if you get paid for that, because if you're not being paid for that time, I would not want to come in half an hour early because you're not being paid for that. If you're not being paid for your prep time beforehand, then 15 minutes should be enough. But as a new hygienist, it's nice to come in half an hour early though, because then you can have a chance to look through the charts, you can look through the schedule, but if you've been working for 10 years, then you probably don't have to do that. So it just depends on you, it depends on your comfort level. I've been a temp now for almost a year and I do prefer to come in half an hour early if it's a new office. But once I'm comfortable with the office and I find coming in 20 minutes early is usually enough. So it just kind of depends on you. I would also check with the offices if they pay you past your last patient. Do they pay you for cleaning up? Do they pay you to make sure that all of your charts are properly organized? Do they pay you if you have to catch up at the end of the day? So I would kind of check with that too. That can always be a tricky question to ask, right? Because you don't want to ask too many questions involving money because then they may feel that you're a little bit high maintenance, right? But it doesn't hurt to ask if they pay for the time that you need to set up in the morning and if they pay for the time that you need to clean up at night. Some offices will say yes, but only up to 15 minutes past your last patient. Some of them may say, well, if you work nine to five, you're paid nine to five and that's it. Like there's a cutoff point. So just ask. So then that way there's no surprises, right? Why not? So that's just kind of typically how things run. You will usually hopefully get a lunch in the dental office. I find some offices are an hour lunch and some are half an hour. I don't suggest you ask how long your lunch is because you will find out when you're there, but it's just something to be aware that you might not have that full hour for lunch. It does depend on the office. But yeah, guys, I think those are pretty much the main things that a lot of new hygienists asks me. But if you guys have any other questions, please just let me know because I might have forgotten something. And I'm just trying to think too, like the little things that I would kind of want to know. I guess to make sure to have with you, I do always bring an extra blue pen because I find every office that I go to, there's never enough. I don't know what it is, but there's never enough. So when I go to an office, I tend to bring an extra pad of paper actually too. So if you need to make notes or if you need to leave a note for the dentist, whatever, and bring enough blue pens, blue or black seems to be the color for offices. Oh, and be prepared too. You might be writing your charts on the computer or you might be writing them in a natural paper chart. Every office again is different. Some offices use digital x-rays and some are still doing the manuals. So I would ask about that. For the digital x-rays, it could be the sensors with the cord or it could be the phosphoric plates. So make sure you're familiar with those and the nice thing is these days, if you're not familiar with the technique, you just have to look on YouTube and they have everything there. So it makes it really, really easy. I would ask what computer system they use because that's also something that you can look up on YouTube. But yeah, you know what? I'd say those are kind of the main questions that I like to ask. But like I said, if you guys think of another question that I didn't quite talk about here, please just let me know because I may have forgotten something. And if you're starting your first shift soon, good luck and let me know how it is. Have fun.