Step Inside our Minneapolis Dental SIM Lab

Have you been looking to get into either Dental Assisting or Dental Hygiene? Herzing’s Minneapolis campus could be where you begin your new career! If you’re looking to build your career in the dental field, we’d love to help you find your path. Our Minneapolis campus helps support you via facilities like our simulation lab (SIM lab) and our clinical instructors. SIM labs provide a transition from classroom learning to clinical training. SIM labs allow students to apply theoretical principles of dental care in a safe hands-on learning environment.

Not all SIM labs look the same. Angela Dahl shares some of the significant features of Herzing University-Minneapolis. We even have some pictures of the labs!

Dental Assisting

This program is offered as both a Diploma and Associate Degree, and it may be the right career for you if you…

• Are very precise and detail-oriented
• Enjoy helping others
• Have strong visual/spatial abilities
• Have good dexterity
• Have good communication and people skills
• Work well as part of a team
• Are interested in teeth and promoting oral health

This is a great place to begin if you are ready to  start your career or are looking to complete your bachelor’s degree later.

Dental Hygiene 

If you’re ready to earn your bachelor’s degree, this is the path for you. It’s aimed at preparing you with the skills and knowledge to provide patient care under the supervision of a licensed dentist.

After completing this bachelor’s degree program, you should be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively and convey aspects of culturally competent, inter-professional health care to individuals and groups from diverse populations.
• Demonstrate the ability to define and articulate organizational, operational, ethical, legal, and managerial issues impacting the field of dental hygiene.
• Generate all required documentation for assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of dental hygiene care.
• Develop acceptable individualized patient care plans using the ADPIE model.
• Evaluate treatment options using evidence-based decision-making to identify risks and develop strategies for positive health and wellness while respecting the patient’s values and goals.

Now that we’ve gone over your program options, how will you gain hands-on learning during them? Our SIM lab, of course!

Hands-On Training in our SIM Lab 

No matter which program you choose, hands-on learning is incredibly important, and something we strive to get right at Herzing. That’s why you’ll be studying in our Dental SIM lab. 

We interviewed Lead Clinical Instructor Angela Dahl to share a bit about the lab and how it will help you become #HUPossible!

An Interview with Lead Clinical Instructor Angela Dahl

• What makes your campus simulation lab unique from other Herzing SIM labs, and how is the lab used as a teaching tool?

Great question! The most unique thing about our SIM lab in Minneapolis is that it’s Herzing’s only Dental SIM! Our Minneapolis campus is unique in that regard, and we’re the only campus that enrolls students in these programs. We are truly prepared and ready to teach them with this unique lab before they get to work on real patients.

Our SIM lab has been created and designed as if the students were working on actual patients in the clinic. Every unit you see has a SIM built into it, and they behave and move much as a real patient would.

This not only prepares students for their future careers but provides students with a fairly accurate understanding of what it will be like to work on a real patient. 

• Who uses the SIM labs on campus? 

All Dental Hygiene and Assisting students will utilize this lab at one point or another. They’re used every single semester to introduce new and important techniques so that students can get all the practice they need before moving on to real patients.

It’s an amazing tool that allows students to be given the ability to practice and troubleshoot in a setting that allows mistakes. You can’t hurt something that isn’t alive, after all!

The lab helps reduce our students’ anxiety once it’s time to move on to actual patients since every model is so accurate and behaves like a real person. Our students and faculty love it, and it’s always great seeing how well the skills transfer onto real people down the line.

• How do the labs work?

Each student is given a station to work with, and this includes a faculty member at the front of the room. There’s a camera that the faculty member uses to stream their work so that students can follow along on their own SIMs. 

While we aim to keep a professional and calm setting, our SIMs will occasionally throw some curveballs to keep students on track. After all, in the real world, patients can be a bit unpredictable!

This lab is key to really understanding what your career is going to be like as a Dental Hygienist or Assistant. Once you’re feeling ready, we’ll transition you to real patients in our very own Dental Clinic! That’s where the real challenge begins.

You read that right: our dental students will not just work on SIMs but eventually transition into work with real patients that come into our very own Dental Clinic. When we say you’ll gain hands-on experience at Herzing, we mean it. You will be prepared for the real world in whatever dental program you choose.

If you’re ready to take the leap and start your new future as a Dental Assistant or Hygienist, we’d love to chat.