Assisting before dental school: ortho vs general dentistry

[slm266]

I just graduated with a BS in Biology this december, have been accepted to school, and now have 8 months off before school starts. I'm looking for a job here in the dallas area.

I have family connections that can help me get a job assisting Ortho or I can just try to find a general dentistry practice that will train me ( i have some experience assisting restorative and surgical procedures but have never been a paid assistant).

For those who have assisted general dentistry and ortho, which do you prefer? Will experience in assisting general dentistry significantly help me in dental school more than ortho will? Or does it not really matter and I should just find something I enjoy.

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[vtizzy]

I just graduated with a BS in Biology this december, have been accepted to school, and now have 8 months off before school starts. I'm looking for a job here in the dallas area.

I have family connections that can help me get a job assisting Ortho or I can just try to find a general dentistry practice that will train me ( i have some experience assisting restorative and surgical procedures but have never been a paid assistant).

For those who have assisted general dentistry and ortho, which do you prefer? Will experience in assisting general dentistry significantly help me in dental school more than ortho will? Or does it not really matter and I should just find something I enjoy.

I have been assisting in ortho for 3 1/2 years now. Assisting in ortho is very hands on. The Orthodontists relies on his/her assistants to do a lot of the work of changing wires, elastics, brackets, impressions, etc. While I have not personally assisted in general dentistry, from what I have seen during shadowing, GD assistants don't do nearly as much. To me it looked more like handing the Dr. instruments and writing down TX notes.

From my perspective, you will have a greater opportunity in assisting in ortho to develop your hand skills.

 

[ScavangerPro]

I have been assisting in ortho for 3 1/2 years now. Assisting in ortho is very hands on. The Orthodontists relies on his/her assistants to do a lot of the work of changing wires, elastics, brackets, impressions, etc. While I have not personally assisted in general dentistry, from what I have seen during shadowing, GD assistants don't do nearly as much. To me it looked more like handing the Dr. instruments and writing down TX notes.

From my perspective, you will have a greater opportunity in assisting in ortho to develop your hand skills.

uhhh.....GP assistants definetly do a lot more than that. They take X-rays, impressions, make temps some even seat crowns, also deal with lab orders and among many many other things. Im not sure what the assistants you saw where doing. To the OP i think GP dental assisting is better than ortho assisting as far as getting more and more familiar with dental procedures. Although I do wonder if you can find a dentist to train you which will take some weeks, knowing that you will be leaving come fall. Either way best of luck

 

[pinhi]

uhhh.....GP assistants definetly do a lot more than that. They take X-rays, impressions, make temps some even seat crowns, also deal with lab orders and among many many other things. Im not sure what the assistants you saw where doing. To the OP i think GP dental assisting is better than ortho assisting as far as getting more and more familiar with dental procedures. Although I do wonder if you can find a dentist to train you which will take some weeks, knowing that you will be leaving come fall. Either way best of luck

i cant agree more.....GD assistants do way more than ortho assistants. In either case however, ur going to learn everything u need to know in dschool.
Working as a GD assistant will give u a ton of patient interaction and will give u an idea of how many dental procedures flow

 

[amalgamgrillz]

uhhh.....GP assistants definetly do a lot more than that. They take X-rays, impressions, make temps some even seat crowns, also deal with lab orders and among many many other things. Im not sure what the assistants you saw where doing. To the OP i think GP dental assisting is better than ortho assisting as far as getting more and more familiar with dental procedures. Although I do wonder if you can find a dentist to train you which will take some weeks, knowing that you will be leaving come fall. Either way best of luck

I've assisted in general for 3 years, and ortho for 4. I'm going to have to disagree with you, kind of. GP assisting has more variety, but ortho is more independent work. Both do x-rays (ortho probably does more..i don't know many GPs who have cephs), impressions, pour-ups, etc.

The main difference between certified dental assistant in GP and ortho, is that in GP you get to do fischer sealants and seat crowns; MOST of your duties (that are different from ortho) are prep work/assisting different procedures. Ortho DA prep work is VERY independent..prepping a patient for bonding is all polishing, priming, etching, de-banding, untying, wire marking....on top of more in house lab-work (in addition to just sending it off to dental labs), intra oral photography, x-ray tracing.

Although, for dental school, you would be much better off doing GP work. Ortho won't really prepare you for first year d-school: it might teach you terminology (instruments, class I vs II vs III, cross bite, etc.), but that's about it. Ortho assisting will give you more hands on stuff, but you will benefit more from assisting in a GP. Ortho is too specific for what you will be dealing with in first year dents. You need to learn how to place dental dams, clamp teeth, set up matrix bands, etc. You won't get that in ortho.

Either way, you need to be certified for both.

 

[vtizzy]

You all make really good points, and I may have spoke out of a little ignorance. In Idaho, where I live, Dental Assistants do not need to be certified, so the scope of their abilities is generally lower than in other states where they have to get a degree. From the shadowing I've done here, the assistants scope of responsibilities is small. For example, dentists seat the crowns and all the assistant does is clean the cement off around the crown.
Regardless of which assistant does more (frankly, I don't really care; argue all you want) you have to consider you only have 6-7 months before you begin d school, your not going to be getting into doing difficult things in either assisting job. You most likely will get more experience related to your dental school doing dental assisting, but in ortho you will be able to get lab experience plus be able to develop your hand skills.
Honestly, you can't go wrong with either. You will not put yourself "behind" going either route considering you will only get 6-7 months of experience. Best of luck in your choice and in dental school!👍

 

[jwillison]

I was a general dental assistant so I may be a little biased. I felt that being a GD assistant was the best place for me. You spend all day watching the Dr. perform his treatments, learn oral anatomy, take x-rays, impressions, etc. I would think that this would prepare you far better than ortho simply because you're getting a broad over-view of dentistry and you're able to become familiar with multiple procedures. Just my two cents, I think amalgamgrillz has the most reputable opinion being both a general and ortho assistant.

 

[7 Iron]

Or, since you have family connections and can easily get into ortho assisting, you could take the path of least resistance 🙂 You'd learn some interesting stuff, I figure, and you'll learn all the general dentistry stuff in dental school anyway.