According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job prospects for dental assistants are expected to be excellent in the years ahead. In fact, they expect employment of dental assistants to increase by 36 percent by the year 2018. Thanks to population growth and the increasing popularity of preventative dental care, your field has a very bright future. However, to get there, you need to enroll in dental assisting courses where you’ll learn much of the information required to become a successful dental assistant.
There are a few personal characteristics that are beneficial to a dental assistant, and which are not taught in any dental assistant course. These characteristics include the desire to care for people, a calm and friendly manner, reliability, an ability to work well with others, and manual dexterity. If you possess these characteristics, you have an excellent foundation to build upon.
If you’re still in high school, there are classes you can take that will be of benefit to you in your dental assisting courses. Take as many classes as you can in health, biology and chemistry. You may even want to take a class or two in business, if they are available at your school. These classes will all give you knowledge you can build on in your dental assistant online classes.
Classes for dental assisting cover many topics related to oral health and dentistry. While in dental assisting school, you may learn about anatomy (head, neck and oral), dental radiology, dental science, infection control, dental ethics, possibly even office management.
Specific subjects that may be offered as part of your dental assistant online courses include:
Dental Hygiene
Dental Anatomy and Pathology
Preventative Oral Care
Patient Relations
Business Computer Usage
Technical Writing
Mathematical Concepts
Human Anatomy and Physiology
Introductory Psychology
Clinical Dental Assisting
Dental Office Management
Dental Materials
Dental Radiographic Imaging
Dental Specialties
Communication and Teamwork in Healthcare Organizations
While your dental assistant classes will provide you with the knowledge you need to succeed, many of the actual skills you’ll use as a dental assistant will require on the job training and practice. In an internship, or even once you are employed in a dental office, you will practice assisting the dentist during dental procedures, taking a patient’s medical history, providing patients with instruction for care after a treatment procedure, teaching patients oral hygiene strategies, taking and developing x-rays, and more.
A career in dental assisting can be very rewarding for someone with the right characteristics and a quality education. As dental assistant courses can often be completed in as little as one year, enrolling now could mean you are working the job of your dreams in the very near future. If you have yet to choose a dental assisting school, please peruse our other resources to learn more about making your selection.
