WSCC prepared student for summer clinical experience 

HANCEVILLE, Ala. — Wallace State Community College Dental Assisting student Caitlin Overton said she was fully prepared when she stepped into Dr. Paul Bussman’s office for her summer clinical rotation. She admits to being a little nervous at first, but that eased once she put to use what she learned from her instructors.
“I’ve loved it,” she said of her clinical experience. “I assisted with composite fillings, extractions — simple and surgical extractions. I took several full-mouth impressions, quadrant impressions. I assisted with seating crowns and assisted with temporary crowns.
“I also got to work up front in the office, making appointments and getting familiar with their Dentrix system, where they chart everything. So once I graduate and start looking for a job, that will help me to build up my resume, that I’ve worked on that computer system.”
Overton said her time at Wallace State helped her with all of those tasks. “Everything we’ve done throughout the dental assisting program, dental materials, radiology, everything. So I didn’t come in feeling completely lost, just nervous. But now I feel a lot better about it and more comfortable.”
That’s the goal of dentists like Dr. Bussman who take on students like Overton, to get them comfortable working in the close confines of a dental practice.
“They are very well trained,” Dr. Bussman said of Wallace State students. “They just don’t have the experience, and that’s where we hope to be able to help. It’s always good for them to get the school training, but it’s also good for them to see how it actually works in the office.
“Caitlin has been great,” Dr. Bussman added. “The best student we’ve ever had.”
With other family members working in the medical field, Overton said she knew that’s where she wanted to be working. She focused on dentistry after having braces, she said.
Her ultimate goal is to be a dental hygienist, but having only graduated from high school two years ago and not having enough time to complete both the basic core classes plus those required for a dental hygiene degree, she decided to first earn her degree in dental assisting. “Now that I look back at it, I wouldn’t have done it any differently. I don’t regret it, because it’s really helped me a lot.”
Overton will enter the Wallace State Dental Hygiene program this fall.
For more information about Wallace State or the Dental Assisting or Dental Hygiene programs, call 256.352.8000 or visit www.wallacestate.edu.
 
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUBeilkevKE&list=UU3PrRAYNzk8jG4XbtndD79Q