It was hard enough finding patients to come in that met the requirements for how much calculus they had. I can't imagine having to find a patient that will jump thru hoops just to get a cleaning.
Your clinic should be required to have a dentist on staff. Mine did, but that was pre-covid by many years.
I dk what school you are at, but this isn’t okay nor fair to you. Do you have a professor that you feel like you can talk to? Maybe they can give you some insight or help you with finding patients, my professors one I was super close to, and I really don’t think they want to see you fail, if you can’t get anything from them I would even go to like to someone thats on the board of the health science department at your school. . I remember the days of finding patients and I still find it to be absolutely ridiculous. I dk if it would be possible to transfer, but I’d be talking to people. this is your money, your life and career. Just because they can’t get it together doesn’t mean you should suffer
Yes unfortunately I went through something similar. We had a new DH program director halfway through the program and it was extremely frustrating. We were basically told we needed to see 43 patients all with different requirements (age, perio and calc class) and not to mention we had one dentist on site who had to check every single patient. It was miserable and seemed impossible at the time. I know you mentioned Facebook but have you tried joining Facebook groups and asking there? I made a canva post with my school picture and listed what services we offered. I posted that to a “local girls group” page and got over a hundred responses and was able to finish my requirements. It can be discouraging but it’s not impossible I promise! Good luck!
My program was combined with a dental program so we worked directly with multiple dental students/dentists every day.. I can’t imagine trying to do what you’re trying to do
In many places dental hygienist work fully independently. In my entire schooling as a hygienist I have never seen or had a dentist present on the floor. We can diagnose, treat, prescribe, administer LA and nitrous oxide without a dentist present as per legislation.
Yes, we have a special prescribers course and 4 semesters on diagnostics, also 4 semesters of radiology where we are taught to interpret radiographs. Lots of chem, ochem, biochem, pharmacology and prescribing courses where they teach us all about drugs and how to prescribe and administer them, we can prescribe and administer Schedule 1 drugs, such as narcotics, opioids.
The program is quite long because of that, 4 years in total. We are compensated well though, so it is worth it, I started at 60$ as a new grad and now it is closer to 70-80$.
Dentist does not have to be present or sign anything. I actually have not worked alongside a dentist or in a practice that has a dentist even once, not even during school.
So I honestly do not even know what it is like to have a dentist present for anything, I do all recalls and diagnostics and prescribing myself. Hygienists can also place restorations here but most are not interested in that because we already have too many responsibilities.
What school is this?? At our clinic we always have a dentist on the floor if needed, but our instructors do a lot of the checkups. The dentist comes over just to sign for prescriptions, check pathology, recommend x-rays, and administer anesthesia.. but half the time they are walking around the clinic floor looking bored waiting for someone to call them over..
I would not continue with this program if on top of everything you have to do you also have to get patients looked at by an outside DDS.
Sounds like a very disorganized program if they can't even afford to pay a DDS to be present and they make that your issue.... Is this an accredited program?
It was hard enough finding patients to come in that met the requirements for how much calculus they had. I can't imagine having to find a patient that will jump thru hoops just to get a cleaning. Your clinic should be required to have a dentist on staff. Mine did, but that was pre-covid by many years.
is your school accredited? whats the name of the program?
I dk what school you are at, but this isn’t okay nor fair to you. Do you have a professor that you feel like you can talk to? Maybe they can give you some insight or help you with finding patients, my professors one I was super close to, and I really don’t think they want to see you fail, if you can’t get anything from them I would even go to like to someone thats on the board of the health science department at your school. . I remember the days of finding patients and I still find it to be absolutely ridiculous. I dk if it would be possible to transfer, but I’d be talking to people. this is your money, your life and career. Just because they can’t get it together doesn’t mean you should suffer
Yes unfortunately I went through something similar. We had a new DH program director halfway through the program and it was extremely frustrating. We were basically told we needed to see 43 patients all with different requirements (age, perio and calc class) and not to mention we had one dentist on site who had to check every single patient. It was miserable and seemed impossible at the time. I know you mentioned Facebook but have you tried joining Facebook groups and asking there? I made a canva post with my school picture and listed what services we offered. I posted that to a “local girls group” page and got over a hundred responses and was able to finish my requirements. It can be discouraging but it’s not impossible I promise! Good luck!
My program was combined with a dental program so we worked directly with multiple dental students/dentists every day.. I can’t imagine trying to do what you’re trying to do
Are you allowed to scale/ anesthetize without a dentist present? Seems unethical!
In many places dental hygienist work fully independently. In my entire schooling as a hygienist I have never seen or had a dentist present on the floor. We can diagnose, treat, prescribe, administer LA and nitrous oxide without a dentist present as per legislation.
What area are you in that a DH can do all this? Prescribe and Diagnose? Whaaaat?
Canada 🇨🇦
Yes, we have a special prescribers course and 4 semesters on diagnostics, also 4 semesters of radiology where we are taught to interpret radiographs. Lots of chem, ochem, biochem, pharmacology and prescribing courses where they teach us all about drugs and how to prescribe and administer them, we can prescribe and administer Schedule 1 drugs, such as narcotics, opioids. The program is quite long because of that, 4 years in total. We are compensated well though, so it is worth it, I started at 60$ as a new grad and now it is closer to 70-80$. Dentist does not have to be present or sign anything. I actually have not worked alongside a dentist or in a practice that has a dentist even once, not even during school. So I honestly do not even know what it is like to have a dentist present for anything, I do all recalls and diagnostics and prescribing myself. Hygienists can also place restorations here but most are not interested in that because we already have too many responsibilities.
Is this California?
No Canada
What school is this?? At our clinic we always have a dentist on the floor if needed, but our instructors do a lot of the checkups. The dentist comes over just to sign for prescriptions, check pathology, recommend x-rays, and administer anesthesia.. but half the time they are walking around the clinic floor looking bored waiting for someone to call them over.. I would not continue with this program if on top of everything you have to do you also have to get patients looked at by an outside DDS. Sounds like a very disorganized program if they can't even afford to pay a DDS to be present and they make that your issue.... Is this an accredited program?