What You Need To Know About Dental Assisting Jobs

24 Jan

What You Need To Know About Dental Assisting Jobs

Posted By: Leon Astoles / Category: Business News, Self Employed Information

Many high school grads find dental assistant jobs very appealing as a worthwhile career or as a good stepping stone for more advanced courses. One factor to its popularity is the relatively good pay these workers get. Median dental assistant salary is around $27,000 to $39,000 which rivals that of healthcare-related jobs which are more labor intensive, such as that of orderlies and nursing aides. With seniority and further education, it is also possible for a dental assistant’s salary to reach as much as forty-six thousand dollars.

Compared to other unlicensed assistive personnel in other healthcare settings, dental assistants work in comfortable clinics, have predictable work hours, simple, and relatively non-physically demanding responsibilities. Dental assistants are tasked with various patient care, office, and laboratory duties. Their job description includes scheduling and confirming appointments, receiving patients, keeping treatment records, receiving payments, and ordering dental supplies.

They also are very much involved in the preparation of the dentist’s tools and machines, and provide support to the licensed practitioner intra-treatment. In other states, these workers have expanded roles, like coronal polishing, although this of course would require meeting specific training and experience requirements. These personnel are vital to any dental office as they ensure that things run smoothly.

In some jurisdictions in the US, you have to finish a dental assisting program before you can work in a dental practice or clinic. In the past, no formal education is required, and dental assistant aspirants just learned about their roles through supervised training at work. These days however, dental practices are more inclined to hire those who have finished dental assisting program. There are a number of dental assistant schools that offer programs, usually taking close to a year to complete and leading to a certificate or diploma. There are also dental assistant schools that have programs leading to an associate degree, which you may want to consider if you intend on taking expanded roles in the future. The Dental Assisting National Board administers awards the Certified Dental Assistant credential to those who have passed their certification examination. PThis credential is required in at least 37 states.

According to a BLS survey there are already about 295,300 employed in such an occupation in 2008 alone and this is expected to grow to 400,900 by 2018. That reflects more than thirty percent growth rate, which is better compared to other occupations. In that duration, prospects dental assistant jobs will also remain excellent with more openings than applicants, and regular turnover.

Author: Leon Astoles
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