u/seashia

Trigger warning: office horror story venting

What the actual f#%*$

New grad (1 year out) who just worked her first shift ever at an office 10 mins away from their house! I’ve actually been a patient there before as a teen but my mom hated the service from the doctor and never took us there again🚩. A couple days ago, they put out a shift offer on Cloud, and labeled it a working interview.

First thing when I get there, I’m shown around, the doctor is very nice and understanding of me being new and not as fast. And she even said she was willing to buy any new equipment or things I may need. She was talking to me as if I was already working there/ hired saying things like “usually this blah blah but you will blah blah” things of that nature. She even emphasized that the assistants will take care of EVERYTHING, “all I have to be is her *she paused for a moment* ✨ prophy girl ✨” 🚩 She lets me know beforehand that they are limited by the things they can do because of insurance🚩, and to push irrigation ($100/arch) and arrestin ($75/site) on patients. When she was showing me the schedule, I noticed 3 columns of patients that were stacked up to the brim (I was scheduled 9-2) and asked which column was mine. She said both 🚩. Only hygienist in the office btw.

First patient comes in, it’s a perio matienece, I don’t know what a perio matienece implies, so she just waves her hand and mumbles “here and there” and she’ll do all the checking🚩. I clean, and debribe and probe 2 teeth, which took 45 mins according to her. I’m thinking about how much obvious calc I left behind, and guilt starts eating me up. This is not standard of care. Pt. ends up bleeding a lot but I don’t feel as if irrigation was needed, because I felt bad since it was out of pocket, and only on the UR molars. Per the doctor, she agrees to arrestin in 6 sites and full mouth irrigation. Full mouth. Irrigation. 🚩🚩🚩She then pulls me aside and tells me 45 minutes is WAY too long. She says “I normally see 30 patients a day, cleanings should take 15 minutes. SRPs should be done in an hour. You’re going TOO slow.🚩🚩🚩” I’m over here thinking that I’m doing somewhat okay time wise even though everything was half assed. She saw I was taken aback and said “it’s okay☺️.” Now it’s important to note that I sat down for the first pt of the day, which the doctor was a little puzzled by, ig not used to sitting down.

The other hygienist doc had was sick which is why she was looking for someone part time btw. And doc said it gets busier than this. 🚩

So from then on I saw 9 patients and didn’t finish till 2:45pm. Doctor popped in either before or after cleaning for exams, which included looking in the mouth (sometimes with no mirror) and making quick suggestions to patients on what they need. I knew I didn’t clean off all the calculus in some patients. Doctor never said a word🚩. Never gave advice or pointed out the leftover calc🚩. Never picked up a scaler🚩. Some hadn’t had a cleaning in a year in half. I didn’t know how to navigate about it. It felt WRONG to just leave all the calc in the mouth. I didn’t have time nor did I know how to open up patient charts. There were a stack of paper charts in the front office, I did not chart anything. I let doc know of general findings and cc of patients, she just said ok, and told me not to worry about any of that and to focus on the cleanings. Then pointed out that I should talk to the patients more and find out what they need, as if I didn’t come to her earlier and let her know. I had a NP family of 4 that didn’t speak English, and I’m not good with names right off the bat, and when she came in the room and asked of one of the patients name, everyone including me, was unsure. I asked the pt, her name, which was different than what the schedule said and told the doctor. She was like “you should ask for their name next time cuz that isn’t her name.” But then when the assistant that was taking X-rays asked for her name, the patient gave her the same name she gave me (the doc wasn’t around to listen to the patient give her name that time).

Guys this place was so God awful 😫 is this what I should expect in this career?!?? There were so many red flags I gave up on keeping track.

The doctor stepped out to get coffee and I didn’t even know cuz I was genuinely busy, stressed and overwhelmed with these 15 minute cleanings. She didn’t tell me she left, I only knew because the front desk assistant yelled it to the other assistant out loud. Corners were definitely cut. Barely any scalers, and scalers are bagged in 4, as well as ultrasonics, and I got scolded for switching between cavitron tips(blue to green to red). GUYS😦😦😦 I GOT SCOLDED FOR OPENING THE STERILIZATION BAG AND USING MORE THAN ONE INSTRUMENT IN SAID BAG. THE WORST PART?? THE UNUSED INSTRUMENTS IN THE❗️ OPENED ❗️STERILIZATION BAG GETS REUSED?! YOU GUYSS WHAT THE FUCK?! NO SERIOUSLY?!??!! 🫨🫨🫨

I felt so bad for the hygienist. And was wondering what the doctor does because I mostly saw her sitting around, but also assisted the part time doctor, (who’s name I never got— flooded with 15 min back to back patients over here 👋) with a patient that spoke the same language as her who was nervous.

Y’all the assistants were fighting in front of me (patients could overhear the name calling), and talking shit about each other. The doctor brought one of them in the room to mitigate the situation. You guys, they were arguing in the room I was cleaning. 🫥The doctor was talking it out with the assistant in the same room I was cleaning. The assistant was heated while I cavi wiped the tray 2 feet away. 🫥 Doctor never told me to leave or bring the assistant to another room. 🫥 The problem was that, apparently, the office manager was out so one of the assistants was spending more time front desk than they were helping out in the back, while the other assistant, had to teach me how things operated, taking FMXs, assisting that side doctor, breaking down/ setting up, sterilization. I definitely helped when I could, cleaning and packing instruments, took 1 FMS, and cleaned up and broke down some rooms when it wasn’t busy (1 patient canceled). Overworked assistant argued that I, the newbie, was helping out more than her own seasoned coworker. Doctor treated them both like she was a mom dealing with 2 angry child siblings. Like this sort of thing happens often.

I overheard the doctor while cleaning instruments, tell the assistant to tell me whose teeth to clean and when to not have me spend time cleaning instruments. “Tell her (referencing me), who needs a cleaning. Bring the patient in and tell her to clean their teeth. That’s what she’s here for. Don’t be afraid to tell her who needs a cleaning.” 🤨

I like to maladaptive daydream scenarios so I was imagining myself sticking around, and I knew I wouldn’t even last a week. This is pure torture. My ergonomics were trashed. Because I was standing since sitting wasn’t the norm, and cleanings were so quick, the chair only moved so high, and so did the light, so most patients had improper illumination, and my body was twisted in awkward angles. Rooms generally lacked an OP chair (3 rooms total, 1 with an available chair) or was used for placing down patient belongs. Also the saliva ejector and air water syringe were on different sides of each other and not long enough at all. I struggled keeping patients from getting wet. The fact that the doctor mentioned it was only a half day, shook me to my core, solidifying that I was never coming back there, I just needed to let her down gently because she still kept talking to me like I was coming back in 2 days.

The overworked assistant told me to take a break and drink some water to which I did (took less than 5 mins) while the doctor was gone. A later while, the last patient was having their X-rays taken, doc said, “it’s normally not this chaotic, so if you need a break to get some water or rest, just let me know☺️” according to Cloud I was allotted a 15 min break. So I was like “okay can I take my break now since it’s not busy?” *Last patient of the day mind you.* She said “actually ☺️☝️ not right now, that patient needs sealants and a cleaning☺️”

🤦

How long do u think it takes a new grad to put 8 sealants on a child with a hyperactive tongue muscle, on teeth partially erupted (2 of the 8), with hypocalcification (yellowing pits), and a prophy on top of that? (Patient doesn’t speak much English 😀, no available translator, or phone to translate 😆)

A- 15-30mins, per doctor

B- 45 mins per me because of constant site contamination and scaling the sealant down because of the uneven bite, to which, after all that the doctor dismissed the patient without checking the sealants. Then told me that checking the bite was usually unnecessary🤨 (but was glad I was being cautious! 😀) and that sealants should take way less time. Yes she does know I’m new and that this is my first day. Yes this was the last patient. Yes I sat down for the second time that day to place the sealant. No there was absolutely any way I was going to place all those sealants while standing.

C- A

D- C

I felt bad for all these patients, I wanted to tell them secretly, to find care elsewhere. Oh did I mention it was a 15min cleaning for 6 NPs? 😀 4 didn’t speak English and was new to America (only spoke French) and 2 spoke English and had recently emigrated here. It felt wrong that this was the standard of care being provided to them. Another patient complained about the service here when she was there 6 mos ago and was planning on not returning, and I wanted to tell her “ QUICKLY AT THAT❗️” (she spoke loudly and I didn’t want the doctor to hear that conversation(no doors in the rooms)). In some way, i see why she said a cleaning is only 15 minutes, because I’m not expected to do an oral exam, cancer screening, probing, calculus detection, go over home care, treatment plan, chart (I was never told to chart), or take x-rays. simply clean and suggest products not covered by insurance, and clean up the room a bit here and there.

If this was the first day (working interview at that) and it was only chaotic like this because of 1 missing person, despite it “normally being busy on Saturdays” imagine what the weekday looks like. This was only a half day. Yeah no. She even implied that she wanted me to come in and see patients while she was away the next 2 weeks (that’s like, illegal in NYS?!?)

Generally, I have a hard time quitting and telling employers no (which led to bad job experiences in the past cuz of my empathic heart 🥺) and was almost about to take the job (lol 😆 ) when she asked, but I’m SO GLAD she worded the question of wanting to come back in a way that allowed me to say no and decline the job. Thank God 🙏.

First time declining a job btw, is it wrong, despite all that’s happened to feel bad? 🙁

Don’t get me wrong, the ladies were nice to me, and seemed like nice ppl, but it seems like insurance has tied the doctor by the hands, chin, and legs, and control how much she can do. A slave to insurance and capitalizing off it by shortening cleaning times.

I felt like a cog. I felt used in a violating way, ngl. I felt disgusted more with myself, than the office, after all, I complied by continuing service after the first patient. And despite all this, the office still stands, and patients still return. What can I do in situations like this? Just ultrasonic, prophy, “how are u, cc?, last cleaning?, okay that’s it!,” thrown into the next room to do it all over again. And when it did die down (it technically never died down as there was always the next patient in the waiting room but no one brought them in or informed me they were waiting) I helped where I could.

In the end she took me to the back and discussed the experience. She said I was slow, but was understanding since I was new, and said I just needed to be faster ☺️🫡. I told her, in school I was taught 1 hr for cleanings, and that this place was overwhelming. She said “1hr? 🤨 for a prophy?! Hun, a prophy should be no longer than 15 mins🤢. I can do a good prophy in 15 mins🤭 (I’m a, and I cannot stress this enough, new grad, who hasn’t touched a persons mouth in over a year. I’m going from 3 hour sessions to 15 mins in 1 sitting.). No office should be spending, nor do they spend 45 mins doing cleanings 😒💅.” Then tried to manipulate me into accepting a lower wage for the day. On Cloud she agreed to $50 (average in the area). We were taught to not accept anything lower than that. Now before I told her no I don’t want the job, she told me that my working hours (9-2:45) equated to 6 hours. She was going to pay me for 6 hours. Then after I said “no I don’t think I want to come back 😵‍💫(she offered me to come back and try it out again for another 1-2 days next week before making a decision)” she said, “okay 9-2:30, that’s like 5.5 hours.” She then asked me, how I think I did today, and how much she thinks I should get paid, emphasizing that this was a working interview. I was going to waver and tell her a lower number because maybe I didn’t deserve it (guilt feeling plaguing me), but I just told her that “in school we were taught to never take anything less than $50.🤓” She said okay, then paid me $250 in cash and thanked me for my time, citing good luck on my journey. It felt gross to take the cash, cuz ig I was expecting a check? According to Cloud customer support, getting paid cash as a “same day pay” was normal. But it feels like dirty money to me idk, I left it in my pants pocket and haven’t touched it since. Didn’t mention anything about my W-2, nor did she take down any information for it. I rather at this point do direct cloud pay but I don’t want to be considered a 1099 employee.

Fun fact: on indeed a couple months ago, this place was hiring a hygienist, but listed the pay as 43-48/hr, which is why I think she was hesitant to pay me $50. She also was like “insurance pays/ covers (one of the 2, something along the lines) cleanings for $40 dollars, which is another reason why she seemed iffy of paying me the initially agreed amount.

I WOULD actually wish this place on my worst enemy, but give them carpal tunnel and a lower wage.

Conclusion:

Now this office must be new to Cloud because they have no reviews. And it’ll be obvious from me if I leave a review. I’d be their first and my name is attached to them. I’m definitely the kind of person who writes honest reviews on anything from Google, to hotels, to purchased products, and random surveys. I definitely want to warn other hygienists from this place, but I don’t want to face retaliation because I frequent the neighborhood the office is located in, and I’m their first temp ever from Cloud. They also don’t have any listings listed so they’ll know I’m the sole reviewer. Now I could block them, but again, I live close by and can run into them any time. They’ll know it’s me. I have 14 days to write my review otherwise I miss out forever. And yes I will be leaving a separate Google review in the future idc what Clouds terms are.

Welp, I obviously came home traumatized. I didn’t want to talk at all, I wanted to blot the day from my brain lobotomy style. I honestly just curled myself into a ball and let my brain digest the day in silence. I ended up falling asleep and woke up scared, thinking I was missing my shift, but it was only 5pm 😅. felt SO bad for the patients, I doubted how long I can truly last in hygiene overall. Now I have a headache, and another temp shift scheduled some place else. I’m wondering if this even counts as a first time shift, because it was God awful.

Pros 😀

Super close to my house/ town center! (I can never show my face around the area again)

A doctor who is willing to buy new instruments (yes the scalers had broken tips, silly! Why would u think they’d be in good condition 🤪)

Had my first irrigation, arrestin, pediatric patient (of course I got bit), and sealant patient all in 1 day!

Cons

This office still running for 28 years with active patients

The 15 minute cleanings of course.

And uh.. everything else.

Thanks for reading if you got this far even if ur face is upturned in horror.

TL;DR: NEW RDH did a first time “working interview” at a chaotic office that expected 15-minute cleanings, pushed unnecessary add-ons for money, cut corners on patient care, reused instruments improperly, ignored proper charting/exams, had toxic staff drama, terrible ergonomics, and unsafe/possibly unethical practices all viewed in 5 and a half hours. The dentist pressured me to work faster despite being a new grad, minimized proper hygiene standards, and even tried to lower my agreed pay afterward. I left feeling traumatized, guilty for the rushed care patients received, and shocked the office has operated this way for close to 30 years. I declined the job and is debating whether to leave a warning review for other hygienists due to the fact that I am the sole reviewer (newly listed office on Cloud), and they would know it’s me (I live close to the dental office and frequent the area, I fear running into them)

Background: never did the best in school, definitely never took any class seriously, thus leading me to get deferred for a year, was a risk of being dropped out the program many times, sacrificed my safety to find patients, but in the end, I walked out with a degree in hand. Now to tackle the boards.

I didn’t take my boards right away after graduating last May, due to a well deserved vacation followed by seasonal depression. I always told myself that I wanted to take my boards/ start working the September- November post graduation, but I am the biggest procrastinator who has symptoms that align with ADHD, therefore I either will hyperfocus on something for a while, and then drop it, moving on to the next, or struggle with bringing myself to do something that needs to get done willingly, unless pressure/ deadlines/ consequences are looming near.

The year of 2026 was my deadline because in a perfect world, I would’ve been anticipating earning my bachelors this fall. As I near the age of 25, time definitely felt like it was ticking— and fast. I decided to quit my job in January and focus on finally obtaining my license. I first had to take my ADEX exam, which I did in February, (thank you quizlet! Trust when they say everything you need to know for the exam is on quizlet, there is nothing to get nervous about, sincerely, someone who was nervous.) and once I passed I signed up for the boards to take in April.

The plan was to spend every week studying a subject in school (ex 1 week on radiology, 1 week on path, etc.) until I went through all subjects, then purchasing a study tool to further my knowledge.

That didn’t happen.

So I came to Reddit to get opinions on buying study resources. When I was in school, the big 2 were Andy and student rdh. Everyone either used one or the other. After spending time on Reddit, I’ve been hearing about this booster thing and how it mimicked the exam to a tea, and even had questions on booster show up on the exam. It sounded like a new emerging resource to me, and was reluctant to give it a chance. So I bought booster (on sale) and Andy. There was 8 weeks to my exam at this point The plan was to study 1 week Andy, 1 week booster, 1 week Andy, 1 week booster, and then supplemental quizlets and YT videos on things I didn’t understand leading up to exam day.

That didn’t happen either.

Keep in mind I quit my job so I had a lot of free time, PLUS an easily distracted mind. The result? Spending more time sleeping during the day, going to the gym at wee hours of the night, as well as picking up hobbies I haven’t touched in years like crotchet, and new ones like anime. Luckily Lent came around which eliminated some major distractions, (but I found other things to occupy myself with) so I could somewhat turn my attention to studying.

For 1 week, I studied Booster. At the end of the week, I felt like switching over to Andy would hinder my progress, so I extended my studies to focus on booster for an additional week. This was the breakdown (I mainly used the app version): first I created a 100q exam to see where I stood with my own knowledge, no studying, since this supposedly mimicked the boards, and I failed. Then I went to each subject and answered all the questions the same way, only with my acquired knowledge. I had about a 50% overall. Next, I reset everything and answered the questions again, this time, writing down the key words associated with the answers, as well as the incorrect answers and their explanations to turn into quizlets. I did the same for the videos. As I approached the 2 week mark of using booster, I was confused because everyone kept mentioning case studies mimicking the boards but the app had no case studies. On a whim, I logged in on the website, to find more information such as the community questions, case studies, and study sheets, more information I had to answer on my own knowledge, then convert into quizlets. By the time I was done, I went through all the quizlets for an hour to 2 a day. I had spent about 8 hrs a day studying the past 2 weeks, from morning to evening. I also retain more information at night, so I had some 12-3am sessions, with plans of having every Friday be a 24 hour study session (that never happened). I also downloaded mastery hygiene app and did their 10 free questions a day. The plan was to utilize my last week and sign up for the 3 day free trial to go through all the questions and add the questions I struggled with to a quizlet (that plan never came to pass). By this point I had memorized a good 800/850 booster questions and the answer choices. Now it was time to move on the Andy for the next 2 weeks.

Yeah, no.

I ended up hanging with a friend one day, and never went back to studying (except the 10 mastery questions a day, to keep my streak going). Just sitting in the house doing everything but that for 2 1/2 weeks. At this point I had a week and a half till my boards. Once that pressure loomed on me, my brain finally decided to lock in.

Clearly I study for memorization more than I do for understanding, and that’s all I’ve ever done as my study method, even the rare times I did study in school. Coupled with the fact that it had been more than a year post grad and I haven’t had to test/ study in a way like it was in school, I felt overwhelmed. 2 of my 8 week study plan actually went to studying, leaving close to 3 weeks of dilly dallying, I hadn’t even touched Andy at this point, I had forgotten everything I memorized on booster, I still had a hard time on radiology landmarks, dental anatomy, and a bit of microbiology.

I spent 3 days on Andy (bought the lowest tier and only used the app. The free one that comes with the tier in the AppStore, not the $20 one), doing the same process of going through each subject (except for the suffix and such because at that point I knew what I knew and I didn’t what I didn’t in terms of context clues) and then going through them again to turn into quizlets. I found that Andy’s information was lacking, and more focused on supplemental information. I was glad at that point I chose to study with booster first because I was surely disappointed. The rationals didn’t explain anything, it just said “ b/c/d is not the answer. This is incorrect! A is the answer! Correct!” Compared to booster, with explained why answer choices were incorrect and going into detail as to why an answer was correct. I said to myself, “this can’t be the same Andy everyone swore by?!”

I tried using other boards quizlets but the information wasn’t sticking to me. I also watched more videos on radiology landmarks during this time. The final 4 days of my exam prep was spent on going back and refreshing my brain with my booster quizlets, using a panoramic landmark print out to go over and focused more on the subjects I still couldn’t grasp. At this point, I was averaging about 5-6 hours a day on studying. I originally never planned on studying the night before the exam. In my 8 week plan, the last day, as advised by others, were to truly rest and take my mind off things.

I studied the night before the exam.

Not only that, but I studied well into 2 am the day of my exam, knowing I had to be up at 6 am. Again, just trying retain anything I can, capitalizing off of my ability to retain information in the midnight hours.

Day of my exam:

I was SO NERVOUS when I sat down on that chair. I prayed before I pressed start, prayed after reading the first question, and told God, “yk what? Nvm.” The first question threw me off so bad I was stunned. I’m being so serious when I say I guessed the first 10 questions, I was shaking every time I moved the mouse, and truly wanted to just get up and walk out of the exam right then and there. I was like “yk what, I need to go back home and study some more bcuz I clearly wasn’t ready for this.” But I was like, “yk what? I prayed on this, I spent 3 years in school for this, I studied all that I could for this, I quit my crappy job for this, I spent 653 DOLLARS FOR THIS, I can’t let my sacrifices go in vain.” I moved on to question 11.

After my first 100 questions, I went back to review them as I normally do with any exam I’ve ever taken, but by question 40 something, I was over it, and just said “screw it” im not going back, and just moved on to the next section.

My first 100 questions were heavy on radiology (density, collimator stuff) and biology, the 2 subjects I still couldn’t fully grasp while studying, with a sprinkle of pharm&path. The 80 questions afterwards were easier than the first half, focusing more emphasis on path&pharm, along with biology& radiology (not as heavy). I remember saying “phew” out loud and chuckling in relief to every easy question I had, and holding my breath and tensing up at every hard question I encountered. The community questions were easy, as I never struggled with that subject. They asked such as types of study conducted and graph distribution. The first 75 case studies were straightforward and eerily easy. I had only flagged about 5-9 questions only because it felt too easy to the point where I hadn’t flagged anything. It was definitely a complete breath of fresh air compared to the first half. The second 75qs were a little harder, but not too shabby, got my first stage and grade q in this section, I think I got 1-2 max. This half was mostly identifying lesions and radiographic details the arrow pointed too.

I never initially planned on taking any breaks, I just wanted to run through everything in one go. However, I drank a lot of water before the start of my exam, so I used all breaks allotted to drink more water and pee, as well as going into the hallway to look up the answers to the questions I remembered had stumped me on, and squeezing in more last minute study information.

I kept fidgeting around in the chair because my back was hurting and was tired of sitting down. I kept shifting in my seat every 10 mins or so.

Listen to the people when they say get a good nights rest.

I fell asleep at some point during the last 75 questions of my exam. I was tired physically, and bored of the exam asking me questions over and over. This was the longest exam of my life, and I was never prepared for a test this lengthy in one sitting before. I kept dozing off every so often omggg. I was so mentally check out, I remember thinking, “I wonder what the proctors are thinking rn. They’re probably like this girl is gonna be back here again soon.” Also for some awful reason I came down with a sore throat during the last 20 questions. I finished my exam around 2-3pm. After my exam, I treated myself to a cone and went home, as my sore throat worsened. Yes I looked up questions I remembered, and yes the google results basically told me the choice I chose was wrong. Despite that, I felt good about my exam, that it almost felt wrong to feel good. I remember reading ppl on the sub who flagged 100qs worried they would fail, and passed. Those who flagged 75qs worried they would fail and passed. And here I sat with 55-60 unsure questions. Ik the test wasn’t determined by answering 75% or more correct overall, but even inputting the unsure qs numbers i had +/- 10, I still equated to a passing score overall.

9 business days later?

I prayed as I logged into the ADA site, super nervous as I couldn’t help myself, after receiving the email. I closed my eyes once I scrolled to the scores results. Then I opened it.

I passed. First try. Thank God, because I truly couldn’t have don’t it on my own. At the same time, this felt surreal. I questioned how I could’ve passed. How it was possible. I took a screen shot and spent various times during the day referring back to that picture where it read the word PASS. It didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel true. Again, I checked to make sure that the pass was made up in my head and the real words written were FAIL. I even kept doing the mastery questions after passing, and up to a week after getting my license before finally deleting the app (they changed the layout and stopped displaying the streaks which is what kept me going). I had all these plans of what I was going to do once I passed, that I ultimately did nothing. All the sacrifices and time spent for this one moment, and I decided not to celebrate as initially planned. Instead, a weight felt lifted off my shoulders, as I immediately applied for my license, and became registered in 3 days. Now I face my next hurdle, of working my first shift after a year of not seeing patients, worried I might fail or get dismissed. But ik that’ll pass, and my next hurdle will be how long I can last before I break, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Long story short, my methods aren’t the usual, but it goes to show u that my path wasn’t as perfect as a cookie cutter, and someone may have a smaller/ bigger circumstance than me. I know you got this in the bag, because I didn’t think I could do it, yet came out and survived. Good luck this boards season to the future graduates, and anyone going through it in hygiene school, just know I was in your shoes and despite the hurdles I thought would knock me down, I got back up and made it through the finish line. I know I wasn’t in first place, but I reached it at my own pace, and what matters is that I crossed through. U got this!!!!!!💗💗💗💗💗

TLDR: procrastinated/ fell into a depression after graduating to take my boards, and once I finally got around to studying, only spent a strong 2 1/2 weeks studying because I get distracted easily, yet miraculously passed. My story isn’t the idealistic “graduate->boards ->work in the span of 3 months” post hygiene school. since my path wasn’t typical, I believe that anyone who is struggling can do it.