A Day in the Life of a Dental Hygiene Student—Nicole Anderson

Getting through dental hygiene school is not easy. It requires dedication, organization, focus, and being able to find levity in stressful situations. Prioritizing self-care and time to connect with peers is a must to help you get through the demanding schedule. If you are just beginning or 1 year into your dental hygiene program, we want you to know you’re not alone.

Dimensions Brand Ambassador Nicole Anderson, shares how she is making it through her senior year at Utah College of Dental Hygiene in Orem.

Do you ever look at the person who takes your order while going through the drive through, or the waiter at your favorite restaurant and hand them a flyer with your school’s information on it for a prophylaxis? Because that is my everyday life as a dental hygiene student!

SO MUCH STUDYING

A dental hygiene student’s day is divided up with half of the day spent in class and the remaining half in the clinic. School typically starts at 8 am and goes until 5 pm, but there are occasions when we get out in the afternoon. Those shorter days feel like Christmas morning—pure excitement and happiness!

When school first starts, an A+ is the only way to go and you’ve established a study schedule to ensure you stay on top of all your classwork. But I’ve learned that by about 3 months into the program, you’re praying that the instructor will give you 10 minutes of free time to cram for the quiz at the beginning of the next class. I’m so thankful for my classmates because they will spend countless hours going over the same PowerPoint 10 times before an exam to ensure I pass. I also found that repeating process evaluations and learning experiences to everyone I encounter helps to make everything stick.

INSTRUMENTATION

We spend weeks going over infection control in the clinic when we first start school and eventually move on to learn different instruments and how to use them. Having a cassette full of instruments with each one having a different function can be overwhelming, especially not knowing which end is the working end. When the clinical instructor leans over your shoulder and asks, “Is that the correct working end?” A flood of thoughts fill your head, “I don’t know, is it? Do I even know what I am doing? Should I quit hygiene school? Doesn’t anyone else need help?”

It does get easier when we treat patients with saliva who can talk—so you learn to multitask. After lots and lots of practice, and a failed process evaluation, you do it enough that everything starts to stick! Did I mention how time in the clinic also prepares you to get innovative when you forget to turn on your loupes light before you don gloves? There’s always a way to make it work.

PLEASE LET ME CLEAN YOUR TEETH

For sure the toughest part is finding kind souls who are willing to sit in your dental chair for 3 hours for a couple of days. One of the most discouraging things about dental hygiene school is a patient who doesn’t follow up with his or her appointment. When there are no shows, or a patient you were counting on calls in with a “something came up” excuse, it’s hard to hold back tears. Missed appointments mean a loss in points.

Also, don’t show your patient how happy you are if he tells you he has a penicillin allergy. We know the excitement is only because the allergy fulfills the special needs requirements and increases points for the day, but he doesn’t. So save the excitement for later in the day when you can share the news with your peers.

HOW I THRIVE

Make sure to do something for yourself on the weekends. I spend most of my Fridays working and then my Saturdays and Sundays are spent with my hubby doing things we like such as hiking, baking, and visiting family. I’ve realized that I can better focus on school during the week if I take some time over the weekend to let my mind take a break. Working out also helps relieve a ton of stress, even if it is just 15 minutes a day. Most importantly, make friends! Some of the best support systems I have right now are with classmates. They know exactly what I am going through so we can go through it together!

IS IT WORTH IT?

Dental hygiene school is definitely hard work but worth every second! The moment you see that perio maintenance patient come in at his or her 4- to 6-week re-evaluation appointment and notice how much healthier his or her gingiva looks makes all the hard work worth it! Dental hygiene is such a rewarding career and I can’t wait to use what I am learning in real life, and be able to improve the health of those in my own community.