June 26, 2023 • 16 mins
The Dental Hygiene curriculum teaches the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective skills that will enable prospective dental hygienists to provide the highest quality of care to patients. It also integrates of and promotes the interrelationship between general education, biomedical science, dental science, dental hygiene science, and clinical practice components of preventative dental hygiene services
Dental Assistants are competent in the technical areas of preventative dentistry; four-handed dentistry; chair-side assisting with emphasis in diagnostics, operative, fixed prosthodontics, pediatric dentistry, orthodontic procedures, endodontic procedures, and surgical and expanded functions; dental practice management; and dental radiology. Students will be placed at two-three practicum sites out in the local dental community.
Achieve More with Athens Tech, the official podcast of Athens Technical College.
A unit of the Technical College System of Georgia. Equal Opportunity Institution.
Athenstech.edu
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:03):
Welcome to achieve more with Athens Tech. The official podcast
of Athens Technical College. This is where you'll discover how
the programs at Athens Tech can connect you with in-demand
and high paying careers. Today, we're going to focus on
the dental assisting and dental hygiene programs. Let's meet some
of the people that make this program great.
S2 (00:22):
My name is Jennifer Burrell. I am the program chair
for Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting. So the dental programs
here at Athens Technical College.
S1 (00:31):
Jennifer, can you talk about the differences between the dental
assisting and dental hygiene programs?
S2 (00:36):
So dental assisting is the individual who sits with the dentist.
So if you go in the office to have a
filling completed, a crown, some dental work with the dentist,
the dental assistant is the one that sits in the
room and helps the dentist by suctioning the patient, passing instruments,
(00:56):
completing some procedures on their own. But they're mostly in
with the dentist and then the dental hygienist is actually
in by themselves and they would clean the teeth so
they could take X-rays, clean teeth, sealant. They can do
several things on their own. And then the dentist would
come in and check as soon as they're complete and
(01:16):
do an exam on the patient.
S3 (01:19):
Well, hello, my name is Allison Leake. I am a
dental programs instructor here at Athens Technical College in Athens, Georgia.
So I teach both dental assisting courses and dental hygiene
courses to students that are looking to go and pursue
a career in the dental profession.
S1 (01:39):
As an instructor who would make an ideal candidate for
these programs.
S3 (01:42):
And ideal candidate for any dental program. You must have
a passion for working with people. So if you don't
like working with people, then this would not be the
profession for you. We talk a lot, so you need
to like to talk and you need to like people,
but also to always say dentistry is is a somewhat
(02:05):
of a gross profession. You are in someone's mouth, you're
dealing with saliva, you're dealing with bacteria, you're dealing with smells.
I always say if you like to pop a pimple,
you might like working in someone's mouth. It is? Yes.
You have you have gloves, you have you wear masks.
(02:29):
But again, this is a health based, science based field.
And so you get down and dirty and you have
to be a hard worker in working in any dental profession.
You are busy from the moment you walk into the
door until the moment you leave for that day. So
you also have to be a hard worker, definitely.
S1 (02:49):
Do you have any sound advice for someone thinking about
enrolling in one of these programs and how should they
prepare themselves?
S3 (02:54):
So our dental hygiene program is a very competitive program.
We look to get into dental hygiene school. We look
at core science classes, anatomy and physiology, one and two
with the labs, microbiology with the lab chemistry, with the
(03:15):
lab and algebra, and basically to get into dental hygiene school,
you really should have about a 3.5 to a 4.0
GPA in those core classes to get you accepted into
the dental hygiene program, the dental Assisting program. There are
six classes that you need to take before getting into
(03:38):
the Dental assisting program. And so you would take all
of those classes and then you would apply to get
into each of the programs.
S4 (03:46):
My name is Hannah Allen. I graduated from the dental
Assistant program at Athens Tech in 2021, and I just
recently graduated from the Dental Hygiene Program in 2023 from
Athens Tech, both programs.
S1 (03:58):
So what were you doing before you enrolled in the
dental programs?
S4 (04:01):
Yeah, so I was actually a preschool teacher, so I
knew I always wanted to either work with children or
be a teacher. So once I kind of worked in
the preschool atmosphere, I was like, Well, being their preschool
teacher and being their dental hygienist is a little bit
different because obviously kids act a little bit different when
they go to the dentist or the doctor and stuff
like that. So I think it kind of opened my
(04:21):
eyes to what I could do as far as dentistry,
because dentistry has so many options. It's not just about
one thing that you can do.
S1 (04:29):
You graduated from both programs. What was the difference in
how come you decided to do both?
S4 (04:35):
So the dental Assistant program, you only graduate with a
certificate and it's only a year. And so you can
use the assisting program to get into the hygiene program.
You get points, you get accepted into dental hygiene through
a point system. And if you do dental assistant, you
get more points. And so I did it because I
had already applied to hygiene two times before, and then
(04:56):
I was advised to go through assisting, which I'm so
glad I did. But I went through a. And then
I had the summer off and then I started hygiene
in that fall. So assisting is a one year, so
it's only summer, fall, spring, whereas hygiene is two years,
so it's five semesters. So you have two fall semesters,
two spring semesters and one summer semester.
S1 (05:18):
Hannah What was the training like? Did you work on
real people or were there mannequins?
S4 (05:22):
So for assisting, we worked on each other, so it
was real people and mannequins. And then for hygiene, whenever
we were trying to meet competency with our instruments, we
would just practice on mannequins. But once we met competency,
we were able to start seeing live patients in our clinic.
My name is Mary Bray.
S3 (05:39):
And I.
S5 (05:40):
Graduated from Athens Technical College in May of 2022, graduated
with a diploma and my Certified dental Assisting certificate, and
I have been working as a dental assistant for the
last year.
S1 (05:54):
What made you enroll at Athens Tech?
S5 (05:56):
So I had been a pharmacy technician for 16 years
and I was really over being a pharmacy technician, and
I chose Athens Technical College because it was close to
my home and I really wanted to have somewhere where
I could go to school every day and be able
(06:18):
to be at home for my family.
S1 (06:19):
What was your inspiration for going back to school and
enrolling in the Dental Assisting program?
S5 (06:23):
So back in the year 2000. My dad had a
heart attack and he's still with me today. He's 75
years old and six months after he had his heart attack,
he went to the dentist and had a whole bunch
of dental work done. And after all, the dental work
had been completed. For those of you who don't know,
(06:45):
there is a link between gum disease and heart disease.
And so after he had all of the work done,
the dentist told him that he prolonged his life by
making the investment in his health and getting the work done.
Most people are not aware that your oral or your
mouth health is tied to your physical health. And so
(07:06):
I felt that if I could help one daddy's girl
keep her daddy in her life for even just a
little bit longer than the struggle that I went through
would be worth.
S1 (07:17):
Jennifer, I want to go back to you on this
one as the program chair. Can you tell us about
the demand for dental assistants and dental hygienists and what
kind of money can they make?
S2 (07:25):
There's a demand for both. And I would say the
pay has increased within the last couple of years due
to the shortage. So for a dental assistant, I would
say currently they would probably start a newer position at
around 20 or $22 an hour and then a hygienist currently,
(07:47):
which is crazy to me, but the brand new hygienist
straight out of school is starting around 40 to $42
an hour.
S1 (07:55):
What can you tell potential students before they apply?
S2 (07:58):
Definitely. It's more of a full time program. They're here
pretty much Monday through Friday every day because we do
have a lot of courses, but we also have a
lot of clinical hours. So there's a lot of hands on.
We see patients at the school, so they they intake
patients here just as they would in a dental office.
And they have several days where they have a half
(08:21):
day or a whole day of clinic where they're seeing patients.
So we get hands on pretty fast and they are
here pretty much full time. I think the expectation of
college is that you can take classes when you want to. Morning,
afternoon schedule and around your schedule. But once you're into
a program, especially the dental programs, you hear pretty much
(08:44):
as a full time job Monday through Friday from 8
to 5. So I think they just have to be
ready for that and to work really hard. It's a
both programs are extremely fast paced and pretty rigorous.
S1 (08:59):
Allison, as an instructor, how much hands on training do
the students get?
S3 (09:03):
Our programs offer so much hands on experience. That is
what's so great about our programs compared to, I guess,
your traditional college programs, is that yes, there is bookwork,
but at least half of the work we do is
all hands on. So for example, in our Dental Assisting program,
(09:25):
in just your second semester of school, you will be
placed in a dental office where you have an externship.
And so already in your second semester you are going
into a dental office and you are learning how to
assist that dentist. You are learning how to take X-rays.
So you are guess in layman's terms, you are working
(09:48):
for free because you are helping. Just jump in because
that's the best way to learn is being hands on
and doing the work is what helps you to learn it.
And so, yes, you'll make mistakes, but you just have
to get in there. You get in that chair, you
learn how to use the saliva injector, you learn how
to use the instruments and the tools. So you are
(10:09):
doing it hands on. And that's the same with our
hygiene program. They have classes, but they're just in class.
Like a typical lecture, a typical college course, but then
they have 9 to 15 hours of clinic a week
where a patient comes in and they treat the patient
just like they would in private practice and clean the
patient's teeth and go through all the steps. So very
(10:33):
much a hands on field.
S1 (10:35):
Now that you've graduated from the programs, would you recommend them?
S4 (10:38):
Absolutely, yes. I don't think that assisting is necessary to
get into hygiene, But again, I use it as a
resource that I could use to help me get into hygiene.
So I think if you need it, it's wonderful to
get you a base as far as dentistry goes because
there's terms and things that kind of cross over from
assisting to hygiene, and it's just a really nice bridge
(10:59):
if you're not familiar with dentistry, but it's not a necessity.
And many of my classmates in the dental hygiene program
had never worked in an office and in an office
did assisting or anything like that. And they graduated and
were fine.
S1 (11:10):
So did Athens Tech help you find a job?
S4 (11:13):
Oh, yes, absolutely. There's many resources that we had just because,
I mean, dentists even seek out Athens Tech hygienist because
we have a lot of hands on training. We have
to see a lot more patients than most programs. So
we just have that really good, strong, like a good
baseline of hands on skills to start our career with.
S1 (11:33):
Mary. What was the workload like and what was the
training you received?
S5 (11:37):
I will say because the actual program is only a year,
you're really packing a lot in in a short amount
of time. So for me, being older and going back
to school is definitely a lot different than being younger
and going back to school. I studied a lot. I
(11:58):
probably studied more than your than your average student. That
doesn't bother me because I'm passionate about what I do
and I wanted to have knowledge in the field that
I was going into, especially summer semester, because most semesters
are 17 weeks but summer. Start is ten weights and
you're really packing a lot in. And after each say
(12:23):
you take a class each semester. And then for me,
I took my like for summer semester two years ago,
I took infection control and I had a board exam
after summer semester was over, but before the fall semester started.
So even when you're out for the quote break for me,
(12:46):
I was getting ready for my board exams. The programs
at Athens Tech are very competitive, so just because you
apply doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get in. Think
some of the other programs like dental hygiene and some
of the nursing programs are even more competitive. But yeah,
just because I know of one of the girls that
(13:08):
was in my class were assisting after she was completed assisting,
actually applied for hygiene. I know of two girls in
my class that applied for hygiene. One got in and
one did. Some people do assisting as a way because
it's based on so many points and you get points
when you go through the dental assisting program. And I actually,
(13:31):
like several of my instructors, wanted me to come back
and do hygiene. But I love assisting so much that
I really just wanted to to stick with assisting.
S1 (13:42):
What was the workload like going through both of these programs?
S4 (13:45):
It would be extremely difficult, I think. But there have
been students who have done it. Yes, they're a few
of my classmates had jobs. Several of them have more
than one job. I was fortunate enough to not have
to work. I think it's ideal to not have to work,
but if you have to work, it's definitely doable. There's
a lot of women who have children, families that want
(14:06):
to go back to school. So it's not just limited
to the younger female or male, whatever. I think that
if you want to do it and you set your
mind to it, you can do it for sure.
S1 (14:16):
So, Hannah, what's your future look like after graduating for
both of these programs?
S4 (14:20):
So actually doing it, this thing opened a lot of
doors for me, so I was able to get a
job basically immediately after school. And I think even my
classmates who didn't do assisting were able to do that
as well. And so now I'm going to work in
a general practice and I plan to get my bachelor's
from a university and hopefully come back to the school
to teach dental hygiene.
S1 (14:40):
Mary, what would you tell future students about the Dental
Assisting program?
S5 (14:44):
Just do it. Don't wait. Don't wait like I did
because the only regret I have in life is that
I didn't wait. But, you know, I also believe at
the same time that we are exactly where we're supposed
to be at this stage in our life. So, you know,
I like to tell people that my son actually graduated
from college before I did. And but that's okay because
(15:07):
we're all on different walks of life and everything. So say, well,
he may not have been the first graduate, but he's
not the only graduate. So it's very, very rewarding. And
I've been told, you know, with the way that the
demand is right now in dentistry, I'll never have to
worry about not having a job. So that's always a
good thing.
S1 (15:27):
Any final thoughts.
S5 (15:29):
I have to say regarding being the 2021 goal student?
Winning that award was just so huge for me. When
I was a little kid, I was told that I
was stupid and would never amount to anything. And now
I'm doing what I love and I'm able to make
(15:49):
a difference in people's lives. And ending with that award
was just absolutely amazing for me. Mean Student of the Year.
I don't even know how that even happened. I just
showed up. I just showed up and did the work
and I formed the relationship and that's what I got
out of it. And it's worth it. The struggle, the effort, it's.
(16:12):
It's all worth it. It's all worth it.
S1 (16:16):
Thanks for listening to Achieve more with Athens Tech. The
official podcast of Athens Technical College. For more information on
the dental assisting and dental hygiene programs, head over to
Athens Tech Edu. This podcast is a production of BGR Group.
All rights reserved.
Welcome to achieve more with Athens Tech. The official podcast
of Athens Technical College. This is where you'll discover how
the programs at Athens Tech can connect you with in-demand
and high paying careers. Today, we're going to focus on
the dental assisting and dental hygiene programs. Let's meet some
of the people that make this program great.
S2 (00:22):
My name is Jennifer Burrell. I am the program chair
for Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting. So the dental programs
here at Athens Technical College.
S1 (00:31):
Jennifer, can you talk about the differences between the dental
assisting and dental hygiene programs?
S2 (00:36):
So dental assisting is the individual who sits with the dentist.
So if you go in the office to have a
filling completed, a crown, some dental work with the dentist,
the dental assistant is the one that sits in the
room and helps the dentist by suctioning the patient, passing instruments,
(00:56):
completing some procedures on their own. But they're mostly in
with the dentist and then the dental hygienist is actually
in by themselves and they would clean the teeth so
they could take X-rays, clean teeth, sealant. They can do
several things on their own. And then the dentist would
come in and check as soon as they're complete and
(01:16):
do an exam on the patient.
S3 (01:19):
Well, hello, my name is Allison Leake. I am a
dental programs instructor here at Athens Technical College in Athens, Georgia.
So I teach both dental assisting courses and dental hygiene
courses to students that are looking to go and pursue
a career in the dental profession.
S1 (01:39):
As an instructor who would make an ideal candidate for
these programs.
S3 (01:42):
And ideal candidate for any dental program. You must have
a passion for working with people. So if you don't
like working with people, then this would not be the
profession for you. We talk a lot, so you need
to like to talk and you need to like people,
but also to always say dentistry is is a somewhat
(02:05):
of a gross profession. You are in someone's mouth, you're
dealing with saliva, you're dealing with bacteria, you're dealing with smells.
I always say if you like to pop a pimple,
you might like working in someone's mouth. It is? Yes.
You have you have gloves, you have you wear masks.
(02:29):
But again, this is a health based, science based field.
And so you get down and dirty and you have
to be a hard worker in working in any dental profession.
You are busy from the moment you walk into the
door until the moment you leave for that day. So
you also have to be a hard worker, definitely.
S1 (02:49):
Do you have any sound advice for someone thinking about
enrolling in one of these programs and how should they
prepare themselves?
S3 (02:54):
So our dental hygiene program is a very competitive program.
We look to get into dental hygiene school. We look
at core science classes, anatomy and physiology, one and two
with the labs, microbiology with the lab chemistry, with the
(03:15):
lab and algebra, and basically to get into dental hygiene school,
you really should have about a 3.5 to a 4.0
GPA in those core classes to get you accepted into
the dental hygiene program, the dental Assisting program. There are
six classes that you need to take before getting into
(03:38):
the Dental assisting program. And so you would take all
of those classes and then you would apply to get
into each of the programs.
S4 (03:46):
My name is Hannah Allen. I graduated from the dental
Assistant program at Athens Tech in 2021, and I just
recently graduated from the Dental Hygiene Program in 2023 from
Athens Tech, both programs.
S1 (03:58):
So what were you doing before you enrolled in the
dental programs?
S4 (04:01):
Yeah, so I was actually a preschool teacher, so I
knew I always wanted to either work with children or
be a teacher. So once I kind of worked in
the preschool atmosphere, I was like, Well, being their preschool
teacher and being their dental hygienist is a little bit
different because obviously kids act a little bit different when
they go to the dentist or the doctor and stuff
like that. So I think it kind of opened my
(04:21):
eyes to what I could do as far as dentistry,
because dentistry has so many options. It's not just about
one thing that you can do.
S1 (04:29):
You graduated from both programs. What was the difference in
how come you decided to do both?
S4 (04:35):
So the dental Assistant program, you only graduate with a
certificate and it's only a year. And so you can
use the assisting program to get into the hygiene program.
You get points, you get accepted into dental hygiene through
a point system. And if you do dental assistant, you
get more points. And so I did it because I
had already applied to hygiene two times before, and then
(04:56):
I was advised to go through assisting, which I'm so
glad I did. But I went through a. And then
I had the summer off and then I started hygiene
in that fall. So assisting is a one year, so
it's only summer, fall, spring, whereas hygiene is two years,
so it's five semesters. So you have two fall semesters,
two spring semesters and one summer semester.
S1 (05:18):
Hannah What was the training like? Did you work on
real people or were there mannequins?
S4 (05:22):
So for assisting, we worked on each other, so it
was real people and mannequins. And then for hygiene, whenever
we were trying to meet competency with our instruments, we
would just practice on mannequins. But once we met competency,
we were able to start seeing live patients in our clinic.
My name is Mary Bray.
S3 (05:39):
And I.
S5 (05:40):
Graduated from Athens Technical College in May of 2022, graduated
with a diploma and my Certified dental Assisting certificate, and
I have been working as a dental assistant for the
last year.
S1 (05:54):
What made you enroll at Athens Tech?
S5 (05:56):
So I had been a pharmacy technician for 16 years
and I was really over being a pharmacy technician, and
I chose Athens Technical College because it was close to
my home and I really wanted to have somewhere where
I could go to school every day and be able
(06:18):
to be at home for my family.
S1 (06:19):
What was your inspiration for going back to school and
enrolling in the Dental Assisting program?
S5 (06:23):
So back in the year 2000. My dad had a
heart attack and he's still with me today. He's 75
years old and six months after he had his heart attack,
he went to the dentist and had a whole bunch
of dental work done. And after all, the dental work
had been completed. For those of you who don't know,
(06:45):
there is a link between gum disease and heart disease.
And so after he had all of the work done,
the dentist told him that he prolonged his life by
making the investment in his health and getting the work done.
Most people are not aware that your oral or your
mouth health is tied to your physical health. And so
(07:06):
I felt that if I could help one daddy's girl
keep her daddy in her life for even just a
little bit longer than the struggle that I went through
would be worth.
S1 (07:17):
Jennifer, I want to go back to you on this
one as the program chair. Can you tell us about
the demand for dental assistants and dental hygienists and what
kind of money can they make?
S2 (07:25):
There's a demand for both. And I would say the
pay has increased within the last couple of years due
to the shortage. So for a dental assistant, I would
say currently they would probably start a newer position at
around 20 or $22 an hour and then a hygienist currently,
(07:47):
which is crazy to me, but the brand new hygienist
straight out of school is starting around 40 to $42
an hour.
S1 (07:55):
What can you tell potential students before they apply?
S2 (07:58):
Definitely. It's more of a full time program. They're here
pretty much Monday through Friday every day because we do
have a lot of courses, but we also have a
lot of clinical hours. So there's a lot of hands on.
We see patients at the school, so they they intake
patients here just as they would in a dental office.
And they have several days where they have a half
(08:21):
day or a whole day of clinic where they're seeing patients.
So we get hands on pretty fast and they are
here pretty much full time. I think the expectation of
college is that you can take classes when you want to. Morning,
afternoon schedule and around your schedule. But once you're into
a program, especially the dental programs, you hear pretty much
(08:44):
as a full time job Monday through Friday from 8
to 5. So I think they just have to be
ready for that and to work really hard. It's a
both programs are extremely fast paced and pretty rigorous.
S1 (08:59):
Allison, as an instructor, how much hands on training do
the students get?
S3 (09:03):
Our programs offer so much hands on experience. That is
what's so great about our programs compared to, I guess,
your traditional college programs, is that yes, there is bookwork,
but at least half of the work we do is
all hands on. So for example, in our Dental Assisting program,
(09:25):
in just your second semester of school, you will be
placed in a dental office where you have an externship.
And so already in your second semester you are going
into a dental office and you are learning how to
assist that dentist. You are learning how to take X-rays.
So you are guess in layman's terms, you are working
(09:48):
for free because you are helping. Just jump in because
that's the best way to learn is being hands on
and doing the work is what helps you to learn it.
And so, yes, you'll make mistakes, but you just have
to get in there. You get in that chair, you
learn how to use the saliva injector, you learn how
to use the instruments and the tools. So you are
(10:09):
doing it hands on. And that's the same with our
hygiene program. They have classes, but they're just in class.
Like a typical lecture, a typical college course, but then
they have 9 to 15 hours of clinic a week
where a patient comes in and they treat the patient
just like they would in private practice and clean the
patient's teeth and go through all the steps. So very
(10:33):
much a hands on field.
S1 (10:35):
Now that you've graduated from the programs, would you recommend them?
S4 (10:38):
Absolutely, yes. I don't think that assisting is necessary to
get into hygiene, But again, I use it as a
resource that I could use to help me get into hygiene.
So I think if you need it, it's wonderful to
get you a base as far as dentistry goes because
there's terms and things that kind of cross over from
assisting to hygiene, and it's just a really nice bridge
(10:59):
if you're not familiar with dentistry, but it's not a necessity.
And many of my classmates in the dental hygiene program
had never worked in an office and in an office
did assisting or anything like that. And they graduated and
were fine.
S1 (11:10):
So did Athens Tech help you find a job?
S4 (11:13):
Oh, yes, absolutely. There's many resources that we had just because,
I mean, dentists even seek out Athens Tech hygienist because
we have a lot of hands on training. We have
to see a lot more patients than most programs. So
we just have that really good, strong, like a good
baseline of hands on skills to start our career with.
S1 (11:33):
Mary. What was the workload like and what was the
training you received?
S5 (11:37):
I will say because the actual program is only a year,
you're really packing a lot in in a short amount
of time. So for me, being older and going back
to school is definitely a lot different than being younger
and going back to school. I studied a lot. I
(11:58):
probably studied more than your than your average student. That
doesn't bother me because I'm passionate about what I do
and I wanted to have knowledge in the field that
I was going into, especially summer semester, because most semesters
are 17 weeks but summer. Start is ten weights and
you're really packing a lot in. And after each say
(12:23):
you take a class each semester. And then for me,
I took my like for summer semester two years ago,
I took infection control and I had a board exam
after summer semester was over, but before the fall semester started.
So even when you're out for the quote break for me,
(12:46):
I was getting ready for my board exams. The programs
at Athens Tech are very competitive, so just because you
apply doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get in. Think
some of the other programs like dental hygiene and some
of the nursing programs are even more competitive. But yeah,
just because I know of one of the girls that
(13:08):
was in my class were assisting after she was completed assisting,
actually applied for hygiene. I know of two girls in
my class that applied for hygiene. One got in and
one did. Some people do assisting as a way because
it's based on so many points and you get points
when you go through the dental assisting program. And I actually,
(13:31):
like several of my instructors, wanted me to come back
and do hygiene. But I love assisting so much that
I really just wanted to to stick with assisting.
S1 (13:42):
What was the workload like going through both of these programs?
S4 (13:45):
It would be extremely difficult, I think. But there have
been students who have done it. Yes, they're a few
of my classmates had jobs. Several of them have more
than one job. I was fortunate enough to not have
to work. I think it's ideal to not have to work,
but if you have to work, it's definitely doable. There's
a lot of women who have children, families that want
(14:06):
to go back to school. So it's not just limited
to the younger female or male, whatever. I think that
if you want to do it and you set your
mind to it, you can do it for sure.
S1 (14:16):
So, Hannah, what's your future look like after graduating for
both of these programs?
S4 (14:20):
So actually doing it, this thing opened a lot of
doors for me, so I was able to get a
job basically immediately after school. And I think even my
classmates who didn't do assisting were able to do that
as well. And so now I'm going to work in
a general practice and I plan to get my bachelor's
from a university and hopefully come back to the school
to teach dental hygiene.
S1 (14:40):
Mary, what would you tell future students about the Dental
Assisting program?
S5 (14:44):
Just do it. Don't wait. Don't wait like I did
because the only regret I have in life is that
I didn't wait. But, you know, I also believe at
the same time that we are exactly where we're supposed
to be at this stage in our life. So, you know,
I like to tell people that my son actually graduated
from college before I did. And but that's okay because
(15:07):
we're all on different walks of life and everything. So say, well,
he may not have been the first graduate, but he's
not the only graduate. So it's very, very rewarding. And
I've been told, you know, with the way that the
demand is right now in dentistry, I'll never have to
worry about not having a job. So that's always a
good thing.
S1 (15:27):
Any final thoughts.
S5 (15:29):
I have to say regarding being the 2021 goal student?
Winning that award was just so huge for me. When
I was a little kid, I was told that I
was stupid and would never amount to anything. And now
I'm doing what I love and I'm able to make
(15:49):
a difference in people's lives. And ending with that award
was just absolutely amazing for me. Mean Student of the Year.
I don't even know how that even happened. I just
showed up. I just showed up and did the work
and I formed the relationship and that's what I got
out of it. And it's worth it. The struggle, the effort, it's.
(16:12):
It's all worth it. It's all worth it.
S1 (16:16):
Thanks for listening to Achieve more with Athens Tech. The
official podcast of Athens Technical College. For more information on
the dental assisting and dental hygiene programs, head over to
Athens Tech Edu. This podcast is a production of BGR Group.
All rights reserved.
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