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what steps would you recommend I take to prepare to enter the dental field?
I'm a student who is preparing to study for dental assisting and would like to take the proper steps to be fully prepared for my training.
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Anthony’s Answer
Hello Marley,
It is great that you are thinking about the dental field and dental assistant is a good start and I hope it will get you to interest in more advance work like a dental hygienist or even a dentist.
A good start would be a vocational/trade school training in dental assistant (typically from 3 months to 12 months depending on the program.) There is not much to prepare for dental assisting training since they will give very basic instructions in the course. As dental assistant working in the clinic, you will gain a lot of experience beyond the dental assisting training course. I am saying this because each office will be equipped differently and with more specialized technology. For example, you may be training to take digital xray, but there are so many different digital xray systems out there and you may be trained in one, but not another because the school cannot afford to install all of them to provide the training.
Keep in mind that there are different levels of dental assisting. For example, assisting in the general dental office may be different from assisting in an orthodontist office or an oral surgeon office. Most of the dental assistant program only train for basic assisting. For more specialized training (i.e laser dentistry or in office same day crown etc..) may require continue education (CE) beyond the basic program.
Another thing you may want to do is looking through the job listings for dental assistants in your area to see what the employers are looking for in term of skills and plan your training accordingly.
I hope that will help.
Anthony
It is great that you are thinking about the dental field and dental assistant is a good start and I hope it will get you to interest in more advance work like a dental hygienist or even a dentist.
A good start would be a vocational/trade school training in dental assistant (typically from 3 months to 12 months depending on the program.) There is not much to prepare for dental assisting training since they will give very basic instructions in the course. As dental assistant working in the clinic, you will gain a lot of experience beyond the dental assisting training course. I am saying this because each office will be equipped differently and with more specialized technology. For example, you may be training to take digital xray, but there are so many different digital xray systems out there and you may be trained in one, but not another because the school cannot afford to install all of them to provide the training.
Keep in mind that there are different levels of dental assisting. For example, assisting in the general dental office may be different from assisting in an orthodontist office or an oral surgeon office. Most of the dental assistant program only train for basic assisting. For more specialized training (i.e laser dentistry or in office same day crown etc..) may require continue education (CE) beyond the basic program.
Another thing you may want to do is looking through the job listings for dental assistants in your area to see what the employers are looking for in term of skills and plan your training accordingly.
I hope that will help.
Anthony
Updated
Khushi’s Answer
Hey! It is great to hear that you are starting your training soon!
The best way to prepare for anything in the dental field is by getting as much shadowing experience as possible. This allows you to become familiar with the environment, the 'dental language', the instruments and tool used as well as some of the treatments that are carried out. Of course, as you gain more experience this will become the norm to you but in the meantime you can also check out online resources. There are some great videos on YouTube aimed at students to help progress their learning of the basics so check these out!
The best way to prepare for anything in the dental field is by getting as much shadowing experience as possible. This allows you to become familiar with the environment, the 'dental language', the instruments and tool used as well as some of the treatments that are carried out. Of course, as you gain more experience this will become the norm to you but in the meantime you can also check out online resources. There are some great videos on YouTube aimed at students to help progress their learning of the basics so check these out!
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