Currently I am Registered Dental Hygienist, and June 2020 is my senior year in the Dental Hygiene program at NYC Collage of Technology. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive about the prospect, of becoming a hygienist, but it was the next logical step to pursue in my field. This decision however, was not based simply on an academic pursuit and/or a career decision. What motivated me was the sayings: “there is more happiness in giving than in receiving,” My decision stems from a humanitarian consciousness, the need to do more, and a sincere desire to help people to improve their oral hygiene care. This will prevent needless pain, suffering and trauma, I witnessed especially while working in the Oral Surgery clinic at a city hospital as a Dental Assistant. I would always find myself encouraging the patients to ‘save your teeth,’ and not to extract them to solve an immediate problem [fear and inability to pay for a root canal treatment] for in the long run an extraction is permanent, and will create other problems in the future…
Here in my ePortfolio you will find various activities highlighted in articles and/or, Case Studies, Articles and Power Point Presentations. They dealt with a variety of subject matter, some are of personal interest to me while other are assignments. The Case Studies reported on patient management within a dental setting, detailing the complexities encountered, while administering treatment. Most of the Articles and Power Point Presentations, mainly highlighted relating topics.
The chronology begins with my four years at City Tech. The first two years in college, were the prerequisite years. The Dental Hygiene program, required specific classes such as Mathematics, English, Chemistry and Biology, totaling a minimum of over twenty plus credits.
The Dental Hygiene courses were the last two years. The classes dealt with all aspect of preventative dentistry. Not only were there lecture’s on its principles, but an additional aspect of directly treating patients with an actual clinic. At first we practiced on each other, then on our families and friends. In the last year we treated clinic patient that made appointments through the school.
Overall, despite the demanding nature of the program, I have no regrets. It was however a rewarding achievement, and I felt that I have accomplished a dream that I had, which was to go to college. One of the many perks I gained was, the friendships that I formed with students from different nationality, and from all over the world…
These memories will forever be with me…
