Archive for April 28th, 2008

4 Careers in a Dental Hygiene School

Monday, April 28th, 2008
by Charles Edwards

Everyone will get to try out the dental chair at least once in his or her life, be it for a tooth extraction or a cavity filling. This also means that we will have another person sticking a hand into our mouth to inspect our teeth, gums, and mouth. We need to make sure that this individual is a trained professional who has passed through a dental hygiene school.

If you are also interested in dental care and hygiene, too, then you should undergo the study, training, and exams that is required from people with dental career before you can treat others.

But before you decide on entering a dental school, you should first know the different types of dental careers being offered. The following are four of the careers:

Dental Assistants

Dental assistants serve as the third hand of the dentist. They do the office tasks like ordering supplies, scheduling appointments, and tending to patients for the dentist.

The duties of dental assistants include the following:

- Charting patient treatment - Disinfecting and sterilizing instruments - Making casts of teeth and temporary crowns - Managing the dental office - Passing the proper instruments to the dentist - Polishing the teeth - Preparing dental filling material - Preparing the patients for treatment - Processing dental x-ray film - Providing oral hygiene instruction - Taking impressions or models of teeth for study purposes

Dental assistants are required to be graduates of accredited dental assisting training programs, but they are not required to have national certification offered by the American Dental Assisting National Board.

Dental assistants work in clinics, dental laboratories, private dental offices, dental schools, hospitals, and other public health places. On average, the annual salary of dental assistants was 14.08 dollars per hour in 2006.

Dental Hygienists

Dental hygienists are focused on the following:

- Applying of preventive agents like fluorides and sealants to teeth - Educating about oral health care, oral health problems caused by diet or tobacco, selection of toothbrushes, use of dental floss, etc. - Evaluating patient’s oral health - Exposing, processing, and interpreting dental x-ray films - Removing calculus deposits, plaques, and stains along the gum line

Dental hygienists need to graduate from an accredited program. After which, they are then eligible to take the state and national licensing exams. The state administers its own licensing examination, while the national exams are given by the American Dental Association.

Upon completion of the licensing process, the title as Registered Dental Hygienist is then given.

Dental Laboratory Technicians

A dental laboratory technician basically creates and repairs braces, bridges, crowns, dentures, and others using gold, silver, plastics, porcelain, and stainless steel according to the dentist’s prescriptions

Dental technicians work in commercial dental laboratories, dental offices, dental supply companies, and research facilities.

Dental technicians are also not required to obtain certification from the National Board of Certification of the National Association of Dental Laboratories.

The median annual income of dental technicians during 2005 was cited to be 32,012 dollars.

Dentist

Dentists are titled as Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) or Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD). Dentists are general practitioners who supervise the work of dental assistants, dental hygienists, and dental laboratory technicians.

Dentists specialize in diagnosing, examining, preventing, and treating abnormalities, diseases, and injuries of gums, adjacent tissues, teeth, and structures of the mouth.

The American Dental Association named dental specialties for dentists:

- Endodontics or root canal therapy - Oral and maxillofacial surgery and radiology - Oral pathology, which studies mouth diseases - Orthodontics, which is the correction and prevention of poorly-positioned teeth - Pediatric dentistry - Periodontics, which is the treatment of the gums and bones of the mouth - Prosthodontics, or the making and applying of artificial teeth and dentures - Public health dentistry

Dentists work alone or in group practices. They work in companies, dental clinics, hospitals and laboratories, and public health agencies. In 2006, the average salary of dentists ranged from 136,600 to 186,368 dollars.

Studying dental care and hygiene is expensive, especially when you put up your own practice. You will have to spend a lot on equipment and staff. However, if you really want to pursue that field, then go to a dental hygiene school that offers the specialty you want to study.

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Pet Question and Answer - Which Is The Best Pet For You?

Monday, April 28th, 2008
by Paige Harbold

* Question: How do I choose the pet that is right for my family?

In the first place, never buy a pet on a whim. Bringing a cute kitten or puppy home just because it was too cute to pass up can be a mistake.

Discuss the matter of pets together as a family before making the purchase. Remember to consider the following important issues: personal attention, grooming, playtime, daily feeding, vet care and house and potty training (if pet will be indoors). Consider asking each person in the household why they want a pet. Be sure your children understand that a pet is an important member of the family, not a toy, and that the pet’s needs must be considered just as much as the humans’ needs.

Take note of your lifestyle. Assuming, for example, you live in an apartment in the city or you need to work long hours. In this particular situation an easy-to-care-for-pet like a fish, bird or cat may be a good choice. If you do a lot of jogging or running, then a dog would be a good companion for you.

If you’d like to understand the needs of a potential pet, make a point of seeking out and talking to breeders and other pet owners. Find local pet shows and talk to the judges. Use Google to search for specific breeds to learn more about the pet you are thinking of purchasing. It goes without saying that you should consider the ages of your children when planning to add a new pet to your household. An often overlooked issue is to consider the life expectancy of the pet and how this will affect your children.

* Question: Is it best to get a pet at a pet store or an animal shelter?

It’s really a matter of individual choice. However, personally, I would say it is advisable to get pets from a shelter. The animals are well-cared for by the staff and are aware of an environment involving people. The shelter’s staff can help you find the pet that you want. The staff can tell you which dog enjoys long walks, which animal loves children and which cat likes to curl up on your lap. In addition, animals from a shelter have already undergone medical treatments such as immunizations, spaying and neutering.

If you plan on getting a pet from a pet store, be sure to get a briefing from the store owner regarding that animal’s behavior, especially with dogs, cats and other animals having a good amount of interactions with people.

* Question: What is the best way to decide which dog is best for me?

Use the following as a guide for finding the perfect dog for you:

- Spend time reading pet guides to learn about a specific dog breed’s temperament and background. Use Google to search the internet for more information about the more people-friendly types of dogs.

- Find a vet to discuss details about the characteristics of the breed you are looking for. Ask questions to understand more about the dog’s breed.

- If you decide to purchase your puppy from the pet store, be sure to ask for the dog’s status — for example, the dog’s history, physical or behavioral problems as well as anomalies of the breed. If you do not want to use a pet store, you can also find dogs and other animals at your county’s animal shelter or through a private breeder.

- Lastly, ask for your friends’ assessments and experiences with various types of dogs they have owned.

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Are Address Books Still Necessary?

Monday, April 28th, 2008
by Wendy Jackson

Having an address book is necessary to keep in touch with your friends and family. An address book will help you arrange your contacts in a manner that makes it easier to find their contact information. Typically address books are easily available near your phone or in your pocket.

For junior soccer coaches, Tupperware agents or arrangement organizers an address book might be one of their most powerful tools. When you have all the addresses you need collected in one place it is much easier to reach the person you need when you need to. An address book is typically located near the home phone or in the car for those who work from that location.

The most typical information to keep in an address book is the usual information like the contacts full name, address and phone number. You can also store additional information like cell phone number, email or website. Many take notes about peoples birthdays in their address book as well. You can also store information about their favorite topics to talk about and information you will benefit from remembering about that particular person.

Many will argue that you do not need an address book when you got the white pages or other phone books. The problem with these is that there are too many people in them. You also need to have a phone book for every city you have friends living in. An address book will only have the contacts you use on a regular basis.

The later years we have been blessed with a lot of electronic devices to store our contact information on. You have your cell phone and your Outlook account, as well as several website and applications to store information about who you know and who you need to bee in contact with. The problem with these is the risk of loosing information when your cell phone dies, or when your computer gets too old to load your data.

One of the most popular designs in address books are the floral address books. They give a feel of something valuable that is worth taking care of. Floral address book designs also looks good beside the phone in our homes.

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