donderdag 20 oktober 2011

Dental Assistant Training: What Is The Program About?

By Mary Weston


The subject of this article is dental assistant training. Assistants are usually employed by most dentists today. These various tasks that must be completed daily include managing paper work, assisting in patient treatment, taking x-rays, cleaning of materials, and everyday laboratory work.

Dental assistants are not licensed to perform certain procedures and treatments that either a dental hygienist or dentist are allowed to perform. They are commonly called dental nurses. To become a dental nurse, the CDA (Certified Dental Assistant) exam must be passed after completion of a dental assistant training program. The exam is four hours and is required to become an active assistant. Training programs offer many different paths for preparing for the exam.

One method is to complete a two year associates degree program through a university or community college that offers dental assistant training. A GED or high school diploma is required before entering an associates degree program. To become an assistant, it is not a requirement to have an associates degree. Most dental hygienist do have an associates degree, so a two year degree would help if one is looking to advance later in their career.

Another method to acquire training is through a one year course taught by a technical institute or vocational studies school. This version of training is faster paced with a more time being focused towards hands-on development. A GED or high school diploma is needed upon entering the one year vocational schools. The vast majority of students who enter this program finish as dental assistants.

Some dentists also offer on-the-job training to allow various individuals the ability to prepare for the CDA exam. Regulations and rules vary state to state, for this reason it is important to seek out what exactly is or isn't allowed in the area you are looking to practice in. Some states will allow on-the-job training, others will not. To be eligible to apply for certification, one must work under a licensed dentist's supervision for two years.

In dental assistant training, the course work is divided between clinical studies courses and theory courses. Office procedures and fundamentals and dental science are examples of classes included for the theory courses. Updating of patient's records, equipment maintenance and taking of x-rays are all classes that would normally be offered as clinical study courses. These are the classes that one can expect from a one year vocational school or technical institute that offer certificate programs.

Most programs that offer diplomas will provide more classes that expand further into the clinical study courses. Some of the classes that these universities or community colleges might offer are human biology, radiology, oral anatomy and other subjects that are related. These classes will allow the students to work in the field of periodontics and orthodontics.

Associates degree programs, in comparison to diploma programs, will have subsequently more dental assistant training classes. Various classes that can be expected are impression making, safety and health classes like OSHA, dental procedures, and many more. These classes all have their place in prepare the students for the CDA exam and for a career in dentistry.




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