Independent Component 1

LITERAL
a. I, Marisa Ruiz, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 34 hours of work.
b. My mentor, Dr. Banh, DDS, and the Dental Board of California (DBC) have helped me complete my independent component. My mentor was gracious enough to let me shadow him and to break down some of his treatments. The DBC gave me a sense of direction for completing necessary courses.
c. Here is a link to my updated Senior Project Hours Log.
d. My 34 hours have consisted of shadowing my mentor, learning about how the practice is run, and taking courses that are required for unlicensed dental assisting (Basic Life Support, Dental Practice Act).

INTERPRETIVE
The work I have completed is important to my project because the best way for me to find out the most important factor to consider when treating a patient is for me to watch an orthodontist at work and to ask questions directly. Additionally, the coursework I completed was helpful in understanding some of the basic knowledge required to enter the dental field. Dentistry is really the first step toward specializing in orthodontics, after all.

Certificate of Completion for course on Dental Practice Act

Certificate of Completion for Basic Life Support course

Watching the making of alginate molds
during slower hours

TADs - an appliance that my first interviewee
explained to me and that I saw my mentor
working on while I shadowed

APPLIED

This component helped me understand the foundation of my topic better through eyes-on (I wasn't allowed to actually do much myself) and face-to-face learning. Whenever I had a question about an appliance or the purpose of a patient's treatment, I had the opportunity to chime in with, "What does that do, Dr. Banh? How does that one work? Does that stay on all day? Where does that attach?" and similar questions. Taking courses helped me by showing me what guidelines an orthodontist (or regular dentist) must follow when treating a patient and what is required of them from the beginning.