By Andrea S. Dedeaux, SDH
Every day in dental hygiene school clinics around the country, there is a student or two who feels the instructors are singling them out as someone to harass. One of the hardest things in dental hygiene school is to overcome this feeling. Not everything instructors point out in clinic is a personal attack — it is a career correction.
Think about why we are there. We learn about the profession, and, yes, we do learn, hands-on. Yes, there is bookwork. But the instructors know we can do that, or we would not be in the program. This is the time to get it, or get out.
Think of the damage that you may cause with any number of instruments in your set-up, giving your patient the wrong information about home care, or incorrect positioning for yourself. The list can go on. Instructors are there to guide us, correct us, and defend us throughout all of our clinic days.
So what if an instructor is a little harsh when correcting you? You can walk away from clinic that day thinking they are out to get you, and only you, or you can use the correction the way it was intended; to let you know you made the mistake and how to correct it.
Chances are you will never make that mistake again.
Andrea Dedeaux is a second-year student at Pearl River Community College in Hattiesburg, MS. She is a member of Phi Theta Kappa and SADHA. Andrea is a wife and mother of two children, and has resided in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region for the past 11 years.
