Dental assisting is a great career choice for many people. Hourscan be flexible, one can enjoy professional working conditions anddemand continues to grow for professionals qualified to do the job.Training for a dental assisting career can often be completed inless than a year.

But what, exactly, does a dental assistant do?

“The duties and responsibilities of a dental assistantoften vary from office to office,” says Carlos Chavez, dentalassistant curriculum manager at Everest College. “Generallyspeaking, dental assistants can perform clinical and administrativeduties and procedures that don’t require the higher level skills,qualifications and, in some cases, the direct supervision of alicensed dentist.”

According to Chavez, some dental assistants spend most of theirtime working with patients, some handle mostly administrative tasksand some split their time between the two.

Working with patients

“Dental assistants who work directly with patients not onlyprepare them for examinations and procedures, but may actuallyhandle some of the basic hands-on duties,” Chavez says. Theseactivities can include:

* Sterilizing and preparing dental instruments for the dentist’suse

* Handing instruments to the dentist during an examination

* Taking and processing X-rays

* Applying anti-cavity agents to teeth (fluoride)

Managing the office

“Some dental assistants are focused on running the dentist’soffice, dealing with patients and insurance providers, and similarduties,” Chavez says. He said dental assistants often:

* Answer phones and set patient appointments

* Greet arriving patients and help process new patientinformation

* Set up, manage and retrieve patient files

* Process in-office payments and insurance claims

* Order and receive office supplies

Lab work

In addition to office and patient duties, dental assistants mayalso handle basic dental laboratory work, Chavez says. Theseadditional responsibilities can include:

* Pouring alginate impressions, making plaster casts (models)from patient’s impressions

* Cleaning and polishing dentures and other removableappliances

What about actual teething cleaning?

“That’s usually done by a dental hygienist or a dentist. Thesepositions require additional training and skills,” Chavez says.”However, some states allow dental assistants to perform coronalpolishing (simple teeth cleaning) if they have completed additionaltraining and passed a board-approved examination. Many dentalhygienists start off as dental assistants and, after gettingvaluable experience in the field, get the additional education sothey can earn an even better income.”

Job prospects

Although the availability of dental assistant jobs varies fromcity to city, the demand for trained dental assistants is generallystrong, despite the continuing economic downturn. Employmentopportunities for dental assistants nationwide are “projected togrow much faster than average. In fact, dental assistants areexpected to be among the fastest growing occupations over the2008-18 projection period,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS) reports. “Job prospects should be excellent, as dentistscontinue to need the aid of qualified dental assistants. There willbe many opportunities for entry-level positions, but some dentistsprefer to hire experienced assistants, those who have completed adental assistant program, or have met state requirements totake on expanded functions within the office.”

Still, as with most skilled occupations, training and experienceare key to establishing a new dental assisting career or to improvechances at earning a good dental assistant salary.

“Dental assisting requires at least eight months to a year ofspecialized dental assistant training,” Chavez says. “Fortunately, a highschool diploma or its equivalency is generally good enough to begindental assistant training. This is another reason why dentalassisting is attractive to people who don’t want to – or can’t -afford to take the time to get an associate or bachelor’s degreefrom a community or four-year college.”