Dental Hygiene Principles & Professionalism is a course taken at each semester to provide some theory and supplementary information relating to clinic. I particularly enjoyed and excelled in this course in Term 4 of the program. In previous terms, there were complications with teachers. This included Term 1, where Carol had to pass on the course to Nancy a few weeks into it, or Term 2, where Jennifer Turner had to leave halfway through the term. Although planned, this was also an occurrence in Term 3, where all courses are split among two teachers as well.

 

In Term 4, with Alaina as our teacher, the course was no longer dreaded. The organization of lessons and assignments, in addition to her teaching methods, contributed to my success. Alaina put in an active effort to link the content of DENT 1407 to the class's general deficiencies, in order to serve as an aid for developing our skills in clinic. Weekly and biweekly reflections, although tedious at times, were a great way for students to evaluate their own participation in classes and in clinic, and to raise personal awareness regarding what needs improvement. The reflections also allowed the teacher insight on the challenges that are faced throughout the class, and what should be reviewed in class to address this. This made the content of the course to be directly applicable not only to our theoretical knowledge, but also to our clinical skills. Because Alaina developed lessons based on the student needs, clinical confidence was increased as well. Students were more confident in their clinical skills due to the additional information, which led to a general increase in client care. Needless to say, this course was very beneficial to student learning. 

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Due to the fact that this course is directly associated with developing skills and knowledge for the clinical setting, everything learned was and continues to be applicable to clinic. The class on communication particularly stood out to me. Alaina is a very effective communicator herself, which made me very interested in this lesson coming from her point of view. Knowledge is important, but communication is key when it comes to having discussions with clients, particularly oral hygiene coaching. Often, it is not the knowledge or facts, but the delivery of information that may encourage to consider radiographs or fluoride, or even to consider quitting smoking. Alaina provided us with tips and tricks in regards to communicating with clients in an encouraging and positive way, and utilizing these skills showed a dramatically positive outcome in clinic for me personally. In Term 5, I was able to apply what I learned in Alaina's communication lesson to clinic in many scenarios. My greatest accomplishment from this was encouraging a continuing care client to go from smoking one to two packs of cigarettes per day (Summer 2016), to one to two cigarettes every other day (Spring 2017). I believe that through effective motivation, this client will be cigarette-free by the next continuing care appointment, thanks to the motivational skills and tobacco cessation skills I learned in DENT 1407.