Orofacial
Anatomy

Taking the Pre-Health Sciences Program at Niagara College was very helpful because some of the courses furthered my knowledge about the anatomy of the human body than what I obtained from the Biology courses in high school. Due to this, it led me to advance in the anatomy courses in the Dental Hygiene Program. For the Orofacial Anatomy course, the first few weeks covered the surface anatomy of the head, face, and neck regions, and tooth nomenclature which I was able to easily grasp. This was because of the Medical Terminology course that I took in the Pre-Health Sciences Program that taught me many medical and health prefixes and suffixes, and how to separate the components of terms to understand the definition. For example, the prefix for the term “buccal” is bucc- meaning cheek, and the suffix is -al meaning pertaining to, so therefore buccal means pertaining to the cheek. What also allowed me to excel in the Orofacial Anatomy course was the evaluation methods. The fact that we were tested weekly on 1-2 chapters made it easier for me to comprehend the content and succeed on the tests.

 

In term one and term two, I also had Anatomy and Physiology courses in which I was able to apply my knowledge from the Orofacial Anatomy course. This is because similar topics were covered. These include: the muscles of mastication in the muscular system part, and the cranial and facial bones in the skeletal system part. I was able to apply what I have learned from the Orofacial Anatomy course at every first appointment with my clients in the Niagara College Dental Clinic. This was because I would have to gather all of their assessments, so I would apply this content when I would be performing the extraoral and intraoral exams. Besides the muscles and bones of the head and neck, I would also have to palpate the TMJ, different lymph nodes and salivary glands, as well as examine the tonsils to ensure they were all healthy and within normal limits. I learned all about these in this course as they were covered. Not only did I apply this to my clients in the Niagara College Dental Clinic, but also to the residents that I provided oral care to at the LTC facility: Rapelje Lodge in Welland, ON.