Becoming a Dental Assistant

Series Summary

The dentistry profession dates back to 7,000 B.C. Modern dentistry has made huge strides and today uses specialized tools to make the process much more enjoyable. Dental complications, such as cavities, root canals and common diseases, are now cured quickly and efficiently. In addition, the education requirements for the dentistry profession have also improved care. A general practitioner of dentistry requires a bachelor's degree and a doctoral degree from a accredited dentistry program. Dentist's can specialize in over nine recognized fields, ranging from public health to maxillofacial surgery. With salaries averaging over $130,000, it is not only a well-paid profession but also a very crucial one. In this free video series on the dental profession, licensed dental assistant Michelle McPhail discusses several important issues regarding dental health. McPhail begins by explaining how to become a dental assistant, eat with false teeth, use an electric toothbrush, treat infected teeth and clean dental implants. She also discusses how to prevent sensitive teeth, floss, care for a tooth after a filling, pick a toothpaste and get a fluoride treatment. Watch these free videos and learn more about dental health today.

Video Transcript

"So, are you interested in becoming a dental assistant? Well, my name's Michelle, and I'm a a dental assistant with Solutionz, and I'm going to kind of give you a little bit of insight on what you need to know on becoming a dental assistant. First of all, you would really need to determine on if you want to be a dental assistant. A great way to do that is to go to your general dentist or a dentist in your area and ask him if you can shadow him for the day, just basically follow him around, or maybe one of his assistants around and you know watch what they do. Also, you really need to take in consideration if you can look in somebody's mouth all day, because that's pretty much what a dental assistant does. If you can stand that and look in somebody's mouth and you're able to see, you can you can stomach some gory things, then probably being a dent assistant would be a great option for you. You would then need to contact your local schools as far as your colleges. You would need to get licensed. You can either get become a certified dental assistant or a licensed dent assistant by the state that you live in. Becoming a certified dental assistant is just basically you get your radiology degree, and you also are able to perform expanded functions duties which is making temporaries, removing stitches, removing and placing perio packing. And then also too you'd be able to learn on how to perform four-handed dentistry. So, being a dental assistant is a great rewarding job, especially if you're a caring person, and if you have a lot of enthusiasm it might be a great career option for you. So once again, my name's Michelle, and I'm a dental assistant with Solutionz, and I hopefully I've helped you make a determine on how you can become a dental assistant."