Whether you’re a child or an adult student, field trip days at school are always exciting ones. They give you a chance to get outside the classroom and get up close and personal with the things you are learning about. Recently, the morning Dental Assistant class from Ross Medical Education Center in Huntsville, Alabama got the opportunity to do just that.
The dental assistant students were able to make a trip to Oral Arts Dental Laboratories, a local dental laboratory in Huntsville. Oral Arts Dental Laboratories has been very supportive to Ross, hosting their students during the last four impression modules. What’s even more exciting is that each year they are shown new equipment, better technology, more effective materials, and quick techniques that inspire the Ross students to be the very best dental assistants for the dental laboratory technicians.
Throughout their visit to the dental laboratory, students were able to learn from their tour guide Riki Kepler about different sections of the property. Riki Kepler informed students on the milling machines and the different functions and types they carried at the facility. Students also got to observe laboratory technicians use an articulator to create proper occlusion between the patient’s impression of their maxillary and mandibular jaw for a bridge unit.
Career Services Student Support Representative Sophia Langford and Dental Assistant program student Paris Beasley enjoyed listening to Kepler share about the milling machines. Kepler also explained the importance of dental assistants to take good impression on the patients so that when they are sent to the facility and scanned into a computer, the images scanned will show good gingival margins, proper occlusion, and the contacts will be accurate to fit the prosthesis between.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable and educational experience. The staff and faculty at Ross is grateful for the wonderful neighbor and partner they have in Oral Arts Dental Laboratories. They are already looking forward to their next visit.