Starting School

Today was my first day of dental assistant school. It was a long, overwhelming but fun experience. The class is only on saturdays from 8 am to 5 pm. So I am saying goodbye to weekends for about 3 months. It is going to be tough espcially doing all the homework. Already for homework I have to read about 7 chapters and do the worksheets for each of those chapters, all due next saturday and also I have a test every saturday first thing in the morning on the stuff when learned that week. Also I have 3 research papers during the semester. The first one is due in 2 or 3 weeks. So I have a lot to do these next 12 weeks. I am excited.

Today we had lecture from 8 to about 11:30 when we talked about the names and positions of the teeth. There was a lot of stuff and notes we took. Then we had an hour lunch then lab for the rest. Lab was pretty fun. We basically toured the place which is a dental practice. We have class in the recepition area and our labs are the little rooms you would go in. Anyway, I paired up with a girl whos 19th birthday was today. The teachers, who have real jobs besides teaching us things, say we could be twins. We look a lot alike. It will be interesting to see what happens. There are only 2 teachers and they like to joke which is good. It will make it funner. Anyway, we each went into the x-ray room where we will be taking X-rays of their dummy named Dexter. We got to play around with him and see the computer. We didn't take pictures, just see and feel around. We played with bite wings which are the thing they use to take x-rays. There are different ones. They also have digital which are more bulkier then the bite wings. Then we went into the sterilization room and lloked in allthe drawers to see where everything was. I couldn't tell you where exactly things were or what they were but I know the biohazard garbage was under the sink and also where they sterilize the tools or equipment. They have names for those equipment but I can't rememeber. Then we went and played with the gloves and masks and eye glasses/shield. I have to buy my own pair of eye glasses/shield. We learned the proper process for that. Then we played with the chairs and the light babove the chair. Then we played with the suction and water tools. THe suction is the HVE or High velocity extractor. That was fun. Everybody was the patient. It was interesting letting people that have no idea what they are doing in your mouth to practice. I was a little nervous but at the same time that is the only way you will learn what not to do. It was fun. 3 of us girls had fun. We were all alone, giving each other pointers, laughing and getting each other wet. It was a good experience. The day was overwhelming, just trying to understand what every saturday is going to be like. Its going to be a lot of work.