Okay, so first you want to identify your support system. This can be your family, friend, spouse, whoever it is, and let them know what you are about to be going through. This is important because in hygiene school, you are really limited to the amount of time that you have to do things outside of school. And you really wanna make sure that the people who surround you are supportive of what you are going through and are going to be there on the days that you have a rough time. It’ll make things a little bit easier if the people that surround you are supportive of you going through dental hygiene school. Take some time to think about your financial situation and what that’s gonna look like for you when you go through dental hygiene school, if you’re able to save money ahead of time, that is ideal. But obviously that’s really difficult. I wasn’t able to save money before I got into dental hygiene school. So just make sure you have thought of all of the expenses and how you’re gonna pay for them. Sure you’re taking full advantage of anything that you can, like financial aid, scholarships, grants.
He’s so extremely organized. I had two planners, one for my patient care and then one for my didactic classes. Some people like to put them together. I like to keep them separate, but just make sure you are paying attention to every single due date at the beginning of every single semester. I went through all of the dates, wrote them down in my calendar, double check, triple check. And then we had a Facebook group page with all the dental hygiene students in my class. And I would also post the due dates for things on there. And if I did miss something, usually another student would catch it and we would be able to make sure we were on top of our dates like that as well.
If you are in a program where you have to find patience, be ready to put in the work to make sure you get that done. It’s just part of the process. There’s not a whole lot that you can do other than going out there and finding the patients. So put in the work and make flyers, post on all the different apps and talk to people, have business cards, find the way that you study the best.
I figured out that I love to study at the library, either by myself or in one of the study rooms. Some of the libraries have these individual rooms, which usually have a whiteboard on them. That was my most ideal way to study. I would basically write everything out on the whiteboard and I would just repeat it. And then I would, if I studied with somebody, I would only study with one other friend, just because if there was too many people, then I would get easily distracted. Find what works best for you.
And then I also found it really helpful to take notes on a computer. So at first I was like handwriting my notes, but then I started to bring in my laptop and that worked way better.
I also had a friend in dental hygiene school where at the end of the lecture, we would check each other’s notes. So if I miss something, I was able to get it from her notes. And if she missed something, she could get it from mine.
Take full advantage of YouTube and hygiene Edge. Hygiene Edge has so many helpful YouTube videos. Make sure you are taking care of yourself throughout this entire journey. It’s okay to take breaks and go for a walk, go watch a movie, watch a TV show, take a bubble bath, make sure you are taking care of yourself because Dental Hygiene’s school is very exhausting. But there is a way to figure out a balance that works best for you. Self care is key.
I introduce to you the brush with Brit podcast. I have so much helpful information here, more than I could ever put on a TikTok video. This right here, I created this about a year ago. It is still very relevant and it is strict. Quickly, dental hygiene school advice.
You can find my podcast on Spotify and on Apple Podcast. It’s brush with Brit, all one word. Here’s another episode. Episode 54, Hygiene School Advice. Episode 32, pressures of Hygiene School. Episode 25, Navigating Hygiene School. Episode 22, Managing Hygiene School. And lastly, No. 2, which I created October 2nd of 2022, this was my second episode, 6 tips for starting Dental Hygiene School. This makes up for seeing all the videos that only talk about how hard hygiene school is. And this gives you at least 3 hours of good, solid advice on how to get through hygiene school.