This week I spent some of my time in the orthodontic laboratory with the lab tech. I learned about how retainers are made and the process that goes into making most of the fixed appliances. It was really interesting and I had a really good time. The next day I did not do anything too much out of the ordinary, just shadowing Dr. Ross and watching people get their braces on and off. On Wednesday Dr. Ross decided to put a pontic (false tooth) in the gap between my central incisor and canine. He was waiting before to do this because there was not enough room to fit a pontic.
There was no handbook in the office for me to look at. There are however certain procedures that employees must follow. Like how employees must show respect to their patients and respect their decisions. Some other procedures that the employees must follow include working as a team, doing your best to make the patient comfortable, and following HIPPA and OSHA rules exactly as they are written by the two associations.
My supervisor is the orthodontist and owner of the office so he is in charge of everyone at the office and treats the patients by making the treatment plans and making sure that everyone is getting the proper care that they deserve for the amount of money that they are paying for the treatment. He got his training by going to dental school and then later specializing in his field of practice which is orthodontics.
My supervisor does not find the job very stressful. He says that the hardest part about the job is workload that he must deal with from all of the paperwork with the patients. There is a lot of patients that he sees so I can see how the large amounts of paperwork can be stressful, but he has been doing it for so long that it barely affects him.
The most enjoyable parts of the job in my supervisor's opinion is the satisfaction when a patient gets their braces off. He says that it is not an immediate process. It takes multiple months to make progress and he says that after all of the time he puts into a patient's plan, it is great to see them with beautiful, straight teeth.
The professional behavior is very important at my intern site. The employees are responsible for making all of the patients comfortable with the care that they are getting. The best way for the patients to receive this comfortable care is for the employees to have professional behavior. They must all wear matching scrubs and have a positive attitude. They also can not use curse words or any offensive language because they work mostly with children and that would be inappropriate if they were to use that type of language. They also must keep proper hygiene so that the patients do not think they are being worked on by an untrained, disgusting person.
There are many different jobs in the orthodontic office that require different levels of education and skills. The orthodontic assistants just require on site training that usually lasts for a few months and they usually make around $36,000 a year. The orthodontic lab tech is another job that just requires on site training, but the one at Dr. Ross’s office has experience with dental assisting because she went to college for it. They make roughly $37,690 a year. The other main job at the orthodontic office is the orthodontist himself. They require a lot schooling that takes roughly 10 years. They must go to undergraduate school and then medical school for roughly 4 years and then they must specialize which takes about 2 years. All of the jobs at the office play a very important role in running the office making sure that it runs smoothly. Most other offices have people that work the front desk and put all of the paperwork together, but Ross Orthodontics has some of the assistant do both the orthodontic work and the front desk work.
I talked to Dr. Ross about how he decided to become an Orthodontist. He told me that he never really planned on it. He said that when he was in undergraduate school he had no idea what he wanted to do, but he was always good at biology related topics so he decided that he should go into something in that field. He then realized that he did not want to be a doctor because he did not want to deal with the stress of losing a patient or anything else that may come with that. He then decided that dentistry was the best field for him to go into, but he didn’t want to stop at general dentistry because he said that he thinks it is boring and they do the same thing everyday. He then decided to specialize in orthodontics and that is how he got to where he is today. He does not have to continue his education because he is already specialized in his field and has nowhere to further his education except by experience. He told me to pick a field that I am good at that I will also enjoy. Do not just do something for the money.
Orthodontics is a field of dentistry which focuses on straightening teeth and making sure the bite of the teeth are in the proper position while the teeth are closed. The main focus of an orthodontist is fixing the bite of the patient, but in order to fix the bite they must first straighten the teeth. They use many different appliances to complete this process. The most popular one would have to be braces. They do use other appliances, they just do not last as long and are nt used as often. ("What is Orthodontics?")
Works Cited
What is Orthodontics? (2014, September 15). Retrieved October 30, 2015.
There was no handbook in the office for me to look at. There are however certain procedures that employees must follow. Like how employees must show respect to their patients and respect their decisions. Some other procedures that the employees must follow include working as a team, doing your best to make the patient comfortable, and following HIPPA and OSHA rules exactly as they are written by the two associations.
My supervisor is the orthodontist and owner of the office so he is in charge of everyone at the office and treats the patients by making the treatment plans and making sure that everyone is getting the proper care that they deserve for the amount of money that they are paying for the treatment. He got his training by going to dental school and then later specializing in his field of practice which is orthodontics.
My supervisor does not find the job very stressful. He says that the hardest part about the job is workload that he must deal with from all of the paperwork with the patients. There is a lot of patients that he sees so I can see how the large amounts of paperwork can be stressful, but he has been doing it for so long that it barely affects him.
The most enjoyable parts of the job in my supervisor's opinion is the satisfaction when a patient gets their braces off. He says that it is not an immediate process. It takes multiple months to make progress and he says that after all of the time he puts into a patient's plan, it is great to see them with beautiful, straight teeth.
The professional behavior is very important at my intern site. The employees are responsible for making all of the patients comfortable with the care that they are getting. The best way for the patients to receive this comfortable care is for the employees to have professional behavior. They must all wear matching scrubs and have a positive attitude. They also can not use curse words or any offensive language because they work mostly with children and that would be inappropriate if they were to use that type of language. They also must keep proper hygiene so that the patients do not think they are being worked on by an untrained, disgusting person.
There are many different jobs in the orthodontic office that require different levels of education and skills. The orthodontic assistants just require on site training that usually lasts for a few months and they usually make around $36,000 a year. The orthodontic lab tech is another job that just requires on site training, but the one at Dr. Ross’s office has experience with dental assisting because she went to college for it. They make roughly $37,690 a year. The other main job at the orthodontic office is the orthodontist himself. They require a lot schooling that takes roughly 10 years. They must go to undergraduate school and then medical school for roughly 4 years and then they must specialize which takes about 2 years. All of the jobs at the office play a very important role in running the office making sure that it runs smoothly. Most other offices have people that work the front desk and put all of the paperwork together, but Ross Orthodontics has some of the assistant do both the orthodontic work and the front desk work.
I talked to Dr. Ross about how he decided to become an Orthodontist. He told me that he never really planned on it. He said that when he was in undergraduate school he had no idea what he wanted to do, but he was always good at biology related topics so he decided that he should go into something in that field. He then realized that he did not want to be a doctor because he did not want to deal with the stress of losing a patient or anything else that may come with that. He then decided that dentistry was the best field for him to go into, but he didn’t want to stop at general dentistry because he said that he thinks it is boring and they do the same thing everyday. He then decided to specialize in orthodontics and that is how he got to where he is today. He does not have to continue his education because he is already specialized in his field and has nowhere to further his education except by experience. He told me to pick a field that I am good at that I will also enjoy. Do not just do something for the money.
Orthodontics is a field of dentistry which focuses on straightening teeth and making sure the bite of the teeth are in the proper position while the teeth are closed. The main focus of an orthodontist is fixing the bite of the patient, but in order to fix the bite they must first straighten the teeth. They use many different appliances to complete this process. The most popular one would have to be braces. They do use other appliances, they just do not last as long and are nt used as often. ("What is Orthodontics?")
Works Cited
What is Orthodontics? (2014, September 15). Retrieved October 30, 2015.