Dentistry: A Career Analysis

My whole life, it has been apparent to those around me that I would be a dentist. I am highly inquisitive, passionate, compassionate, experienced, and I love teeth. I remember getting so excited to have my teeth cleaned as a child because my trips to the dentist were so much fun! At a young age, my mother instilled the importance of oral hygiene care. To this day, I wonder if it was the dentist, dental hygienist, or just the dental office ambiance that had me engaged as a young child. Almost immediately after graduating high school, I went to school to become a registered dental assistant and at that point, I figured out that I possess good manual dexterity, which is a fundamental skill to be efficient in the dental field. At the same time, I unlocked the key to my calling, passion. Six years later, I realized I had the potential to

For my senior project I have explored the career of a Dental Hygienist, who is a licensed dental professional who is registered with a dental care association within their country of practice. Their duty is to clean teeth, examine patients for signs and symptoms of oral diseases such as gingivitis, and provide other preventive dental care. They also educate patients on ways to improve and maintain good oral cavity health. Dental hygienist occupation has many important aspects to their job, which makes it a very rewarding occupation. According to my research dental hygienists is one of the top career choices in America, being so, over the years the career has evolved into a high demanding occupation.

My life has truly been transformed by Dentistry; it has boosted my confidence and aligned me with the career path of my dreams. Early on in life, every aspect of Dentistry captured my heart. Learning to cope with my embarrassing smile inspired me to want to help others by giving them what they always dreamed of. Knowing I have the power to make someone's dreams come to life is the reason I wake up each morning with a drive and desire to achieve my goals. While striving with a strong focus, packaged with confidence and sincerity, I will pursue my passion through demanding training. I not only plan to be a hardworking, determined and ambitious student, but with my skills as an orthodontist, it will further my ability to be an active member in

Going to college as a first generation college student is a hard experience to go through, students whose parents did not go to college have a disadvantage because they do not know how to adjust well to living at college.

Are you aware that at least forty percent of the United States is made up of first-generation students? (Earl, 1987.) Being given the label “first-generation,” by definition, means that a student is the first in his or her family to attend and finish college with a college degree. In Hicks 2006 study, he compared the educational barriers of first-generation students to those non-first-generation students. As a result, Hicks found out the first-generation students had different expectations of college, poor academic abilities, lack of social skills, low self-esteem, and more financial restrictions (Hicks, 2003; Thayer, 2000). There are many challenges that first-generation students face in pursuit of a college degree: academic challenges,

A career in Dentistry is my main goal in life. I want to pursue a career in Dentistry for many reasons. Being a Dentist, you get to aid people and make them feel better about themselves. I have the personal qualities to be a Dentist and know that I would be great at the job. I would look forward to going to work every day. Dentistry contains many tools and oral practices that I am not familiar with. It would be awesome to get to be familiar with the lifestyle of a Dentist. Someday, I might even be able to live their lifestyle. Focusing in school is the main priority for all jobs. Dentistry also involves a diverse (longer) college route than most. This means that the academic requirements to be a Dentist are quite time consuming, but the

Most people know what they would like to do when they grow up. Today I will be talking about three carriers I am interested in and that I would like to pursue. When I was thinking about a career I wanted to pursue. I know I would have to be social open-minded. I would like to assist others if needed help. I wanted to be successful. When I thought about it I came up with three careers. I would like to pursue to be a social worker, dental hygienist or agent/management.these three carriers are very different yet A light. How I would achieve working as one of these jobs I would have to know my priority straight maintain a good balance between job and sports getting one of these jobs will be hard but achievable.

Over many years college has been known as a main path to success, yet many students find themselves being first-generation college student and face many challenges that come with it, despite the efforts colleges make to remove this stigma. “Thirty percent of higher ed students today are the first in their family to attend college, while 24 percent-4.5 million- are both first generation and low income” (Opidee, 2015, P.1). These percentages are very high, with 30% of students attending college being the first in their family many students and their families don’t know what they’re getting themselves into when they get to school. Students find that being a first-generation college students affects them even before they start college.

I choose Dental Hygienist as a career for a variety of reasons such as education, interest, salary, schedule, and social interaction. Caring for others and their personals needs is something I am good at. I enjoy interacting with people of different ages and backgrounds, and with this career I am given the opportunity to do this every day. I have always been interested in teeth, and how oral care impacts the overall health, self-esteem, and confidence. A few years ago I got braces on my top and bottom teeth. Throughout the four years I was having my teeth treated I became even more fascinated with teeth. I met Cecile Nguyen who was the Dental Hygienist at the dental office I was going to at the time, she was always so kind, educative and very

It wasn’t until participating in the Texas Mission of Mercy (TMOM) that I became interested in dentistry. It all started when my best friend convinced me to join American Student Dental Alliance (ASDA) with her. Initially I was hesitant, but I wanted to try to open up and experiment with careers in college. Although I was a member, I was not as active in the organization at first. However, this all changed when I decided to attend the most promoted event of the year, TMOM. TMOM is an annual event that provides free dental care to low income residents in Texas. I observed and assisted dentists and dental students for the first time. One lady, in particular, was physically abused by her husband, and she had many missing front teeth. The dentist was able to repair her smile and give her the smile she deserved. It was an incredible experience being able to witness the transformation of a person’s confidence. TMOM was the turning point of my life because the people I encountered inspired me to pursue dentistry as a career.

There is abundant research on how second-generation college students have an advantage on first-generation college students. For one, according to (Garcia, V. (2015), a second-generation student is more informed about entry exams that include placement tests, ACT, and SAT. Simultaneously, these individuals may be unaware of the preparation required to earn a passing score on such exams.

My dream job is to be a dental hygienist and has been the same since I was a little girl. I have an interest in how health can affect one’s body. I would like to educate others how important it is to keep your body, including teeth, healthy and clean. To see people who have not cleaned their teeth in years compared to people who are able to see the dentist every six months, is a drastic difference. Some people may think it does not matter, but lack of dental care actually takes a toll on your health. I want to peruse this career to help other’s think. I will enjoy helping other people by showing them the importance of keeping their teeth cleaned. Contrary to popular belief, a tooth brush does not do all the work, that is also why it is so important to have a dentist to make sure you are getting the cleaning you need to stay healthy. Another reason why I want to pursue this career is I work best in an oriented atmosphere. Making sure people are comfortable with where they are and make sure the patients are taken care of. Creates a very friendly environment. That is why my passion is a dental hygienist.

Our teeth are some of the most overworked bones in our body. We use them to grind, gnaw, crush, and pulverize food every day. Despite this workload, we still expect our teeth make us look fabulous when smiling for the camera. Imagine life without teeth. Imagine life with false teeth. Would we smile as much? Would we still enjoy our favorite foods? Let’s explore these questions further as they have played major role in my short career as a registered dental assistant.

Serving an underserved population has always been my motivation to become a dentist. Throughout my life I have excelled in crafts and am exceptionally talented with my hands. As a result, it has continually been my dream to be in a profession where I could use my hands to change a person’s life by easing their pain or helping them smile again. Being given the opportunity to finally achieve this would be invaluable. I truly want to make a positive difference in this world. This desire has provided me the grit to overcome adversity and withstand the challenges I have faced while applying to dental school. Since helping people is something that I am extremely passionate about, I have had numerous wonderful volunteer experiences throughout the

This reflection acts as my fourth reflection since I have started my internship at Comfort Dental under the Guidance of Dr. Trino Nuno. The semester is coming to an end, and I have enjoyed my time at Comfort Dental., I previously had a clinical and administrative internship at Smile Works Dentistry in Rockwall, Texas and I can now tell you that my experience at these two dental practices was incredibly different. At Smile Works, I quickly got used to the way the practice was run because it was not that complicated and I only had one doctor’s schedule to manage. However, at Comfort Dental I still struggle with managing day-to-day functions. The reason I struggle is that Comfort Dental has three doctors and a lot more staff. Also, the computer system that I mastered at Smile Works is not the same computer system that they use at Comfort Dental. I got the chance to use all to same skills in this internship. I answered phones, checked that patient’s insurance plans are eligible to be billed and scanned paper documents into a hard drive.