For my interview I chose to talk to my high school Dental Assisting teacher from the Virginia Technical and Career education center.
Meredith Davis, Dental Hygienist/teacher at Virginia Beach Tech and Career center
Radiation certified, infection control certified, CPR certified, and bachelors in dental hygiene
What inspired her to go into the healthfield was that she had a ton of orthodontic work done as a kid and this sparked her interest and love for the dental field. She thought what they did to fix her smile was truly remarkable and looked up to the staff working in the office. She also thought that the relationships of the people in the office would make it a fun place to work. As a kid, instead of playing barbies or pretend chef she would play pretend dentist. After this she never gave up her dream of working in the dental field and took her schoolwork very seriously in order to reach her goal.
Her path to her current job began when she was a young child. Ever since being a kid she knew she wanted to get into the dental field. She kept good grades and studied hard even in high school. She attended ODU as a dental hygiene major and got into the program first try as she had outstanding grades and determination. After becoming a dental hygienist she worked in private practice dentistry starting at age 21, and worked in private practice for 17 years, and then a new opportunity opened up for her. My first year teacher at the VB Tech and Career center was retiring and Ms. Davis heard about the job opening. She applied to teach the dental assisting program and got the job. So now, she teaches a class of seniors and a class of juniors in the field of Dental Assisting to prepare them for future careers in the dental field.
In private practice her main responsibilities were patient education, performing dental cleanings, assisting the dentist with procedures, and seeing her patients every six months. There were also many other things that went into her job as a hygienist in private practice which included cleaning instruments, prepping rooms for operation, cleaning rooms after procedures, filling cavities, and assisting in oral surgery. Not, as a dental assisting teacher her main responsibilities are to teach the class required material, have the students assist in basic procedures in the lab once a week, write coursework, grading papers, and making sure each student was understanding the course material.
Her favorite parts about working in private practice is seeing her patients every six months and catching up with them and getting to know them. Every six months she sees her patients teeth and makes sure they are healthy and clean and also catches up with the patient on a personal level. She gets to build strong interpersonal relationships with her patients this way. Another one of her favorite parts about working in private practice was the relationships she had with her coworkers. Some of her favorite things about teaching dental assisting is when her former students come back to visit her, and building bonds with her students and with the patients they see in the clinic once a week.
The most surprising aspect of her career now is that she is a teacher, and she never would’ve thought she would end up as one. She also found it surprising that she really enjoys teaching dental assisting and might enjoy it more than working in a dental office.
The most challenging aspects of working in private practice included long hours, inflexible work schedule, and workplace drama. She would be on her feet all day with short breaks and this would make her feet and back hurt very bad by the end of the day. Her work schedule did not really allow for sick or vacation days, and she had long working hours. The hardest part of her teaching job is keeping the kids attention spans, and getting everyone to understand the course material.
Some advice she would give to someone entering the health field is to first off know what you are getting yourself into with the workload and study hours. She would make sure they know how selective the health field is and you have to be super good with time management and be self motivated. Another piece of advice she would give to them is to take time to take care of yourself because in the health field you are taking care of others and sometimes forget to take time for your own health. She also says if you want the best benefits go into the health field in the military.