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Day in the life of a Cardiff Met dental technology student

Ellie Peck
Ellie Peck

I’m the first to wake up in my student house, so I get downstairs to have my breakfast before jumping in the shower.

Once I’m ready for the day I hop on my bike for a 15-minute bike ride to Cardiff Met University (Llandaff campus) along the river Taff. Once I arrive at university at around 9:00 am I get my toolbox from my locker and put my lab coat on ready for a busy day of practical work.

Practical

There’s lots of practical work on the course, which I’ve found really useful.

Our lectures are held in the labs which is helpful because it means I’m already in a practical mind set. My week is pretty jam-packed, as we are timetabled in 4 days a week.

At 10:30am we have a half an hour break, in which me and my friends spend in Starbucks to grab our caffeine fix! Since the beginning of year 1 I’ve always spent my breaks in Starbucks at the SU. The atmosphere is very chilled and the barista Josie is always friendly. Being a regular also means that she knows my order off by heart!

I head back to the labs to complete another 2 hours of practical and theory, before heading home at 1 o’clock on a half day or going for an hour’s lunch break on a full day.

teeth

Making dental appliances requires lots of different skills and techniques

This course is particularly practical based, which is important as there are so many new skills and techniques to learn every day. The heavy practical time allocated on this course has enabled me to develop and improve my skills. Over the past three years, this course has provided me with experience in many different areas and disciplines within Dental Technology.

The best experience I have gained from this course has been completing a work placement at the University Hospital for Wales Dental Hospital at the Heath, where we spent many weeks fabricating patient work.

Teeth

Work experience at the Heath hospital has been one of my favourite bits of the course.

At 4.30pm I pack up my work and clean down my desk before heading home. Often I will do some food shopping at Tesco on the way, which is conveniently only 5 minutes down the road from Llandaff campus, on Western Avenue.

Once I get home, the first thing I do is flick the kettle on to have a cuppa. I will then scroll through my social media and reply to any messages from my family and friends.

Once all my housemates arrive home we’ll often all cook dinner together and have a catch up on what we’ve each been up to all day. After dinner, I will either lounge around watching Netflix or hang out with my housemates… or if I’m feeling really dedicated I will actually bring myself to complete any assignments that I have been set!

Read more blogs about our health and social sciences courses, or watch the video below for more on Dental Technology at Cardiff Met.