Things You Should Know About Becoming A Dental Assistant
This article you will learn all you need to know about becoming a dental assistant
and what the career is like overall including salary, working hours, vacation and the duties.Becoming a dental assistant is a great career which will be working closely with the general public. You will be to flexible in your working manner as you will be working with a of dentists, not just the one. Dental assistant's tend to work very closely with the public and need to be able to handle them correctly. You will see a number of different and skillful procedures being carried out on patients while assisting the dentist, giving you the chance to learn.
People often confuse a dental hygienist with a dental assistant, the truth is they are very different. The carry out very different tasks. In fact dental assistants help both dentists and hygienist's alike when they are working on a patient. Hygienist's help keep their patients teeth clean and healthy, while dentist's repair anything that they may need doing.
There is a very big demand currently for dental assistants in the US and throughout the world. It has been prodicted that dental assistants will be one of the fastest growing careers in 2012 and many more years to come. Which means that finding working in any state in the US shouldn't be that hard and everywhere seems to be short of assistants. You salary will vary on a number of different things but it is pretty safe to say that it will be above the national minimum by about $3. A lot of people that are unsure about becoming a dentist tend to become assistants first to see if they like the industry and then go from there. You will be a first hand look at how the whole industry is run and if you like it.
I know every one wants to know what they could earn doing a job so I will go through it here for you. Like with all jobs there are factors that will effect how much you earn, usually you can change/improve these but not them all. Location, experience and training are the three main things that really can effect your wages. Location is a big factor with almost all jobs and industries, bigger the city the bigger the salary although it does balance out a little when you look at the cost of living. The more training and skills you have the better and more valuable you are to an employer, which in turn could potentially mean a higher salary. This is the last of our three factors, experience and unlike the other two there is not shortcut to this one unfortunately apart from doing hard work and gaining it.
I done some research and found that the median salary for assistants in the US is about $35,000 per year which isn't too bad at all. If we take that figure and work it out to an hourly rate it comes out at around $16 per hour which is higher than the national average. Although this sounds great you have to remember that it is an average wage and lowest end of the scale is a mere $9 per hour while the highest earns are on $23 per hour! You can clearly see that there is a huge difference in these two amounts and that is mainly down to the three things we discussed above.
Working in a dental surgery you can rest assure that you will be working good sociable hours. This is very good news to those people that love spending time with their friends and family. It does have to be said that most people in the dental industry get very good holiday too which is almost always paid. Along with good pay and holiday allowance your family will also benefit from cheap/discounted dental care which could save you thousands. Being able to give your family the best care possible at a very low price is a great feeling that you are looking are them right.
Things that you will be expected to do part of your job with be laying out all the tools the dentist needs, taking notes for the dentist about a patient and cleaning the dental room. You need to be very clear and current with the laws in your state with regards to what procedures you can and can't carry out as each state varies greatly. Asking questions during a interview is not a bad thing, it shows eagerness and interest in the job as long as you don't just to questions regarding pay, sick leave and holiday you should be fine.
If you are good at talking to people and love interacting with them then a career in the dental industry starting as an assistant is great for you. Being a dental assistant means that you will be working closely with a lot of other people, patients and colleges which means having the skills to get along with them is essential.
So now your wondering how long it takes to become a assistant, well its not too long as its normally only about 1 year. Now saying that there are some courses you there that are longer and more detailed but take a little longer than a year. You have to check with your state but in some you can do on the job training and be done even quicker. It is almost certain that you will need to be tested and pass in order to become certified and legal to work in the US dental industry.
Keeping up with the latest procedures and technologies that are improving the dental industry is essential to stay on top of your game. If you hear about a training course that you would like to attend then why not ask your employer and if it sounds good they will more than likely pay for it.
It's very true to say that becoming a dental assistant is a really good job that offers some fantastic benefits and rewards. You shouldn't worry too much about the economy and how its might effect you getting a job as there are many to be had due to the shortage there is of assistants and dental workers in general.
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