As you all may know, Manchester Academy no longer does work experience in Year 10. To replace this, the school has started more focused courses that we can go on to help us with our future careers. 

One of the courses is dentistry which also covers medicine. Consequently twenty students attended the Dental School on 9th June to find out more about what dentistry entails.

• We were escorted there by coach with 20 of our students and accompanying us were Ms August, Ms Delfino and Ms Warburton. When we arrived, we were taken to the room where trainee dentists practice on "phantom heads". 
  
  These are model heads with teeth. The dentists use these to practice before they are set loose on real people. The heads models contain teeth and various dental procedures can be carried out on them.
  
  The head of the Dental School Dr Nick Grey led the morning while Dr Iain Pretty, who is already working with Manchester Academy, and his team facilitated the event.

• We were shown a presentation about what being a dentist is all about, what kind of dentists there are and the diseases that you could get in your mouth that they can cure.
  
  For example, gum diseases and teeth that had been worn away by decay, plaque and acids. So during the time that we were there, we had to drill holes in these fake teeth and fill them with the fillings and setting them with the blue light.

• This activity was very exciting and all students got to have a go. Even Ms August joined in and achieved a very creditable B grade! Some students obtained As! 
  
  The tools were easy to use once you got to know how they function. Drilling the hole was fun as it let off water so that the tooth would not burn.

• After that we had to suck up all the water with another piece of equipment. Then we were given the filling to put in the whole to make it look like a proper tooth.
  
  To make it look like a tooth were given several tools to mould the filling into shape. After this step, we were given the blue light which would then dry the filling and make it become hard and would act like a part of the tooth.

• Once we finished one tooth, we were allowed to go onto another tooth so we know what we are doing. Because we had to leave the building for 12 p.m. 
  
  The time went very quickly and in next to no time we were on our way back to school. Everyone had enjoyed the activity, especially Ms August!

• The morning was a fantastic experience and the students of Manchester Academy will continue to work with Dr Pretty to develop and plan 'Skills Escalator'. This is part of an ongoing programme with Manchester University Dental School.

By Aliyah