Dental Assiting

[Noches45]

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i've been a dental assistant for 4 years now since my senior year in high school and have learned an amazing deal iof dentistry through my job.
I have heard mixed feelings about this helping or hurting me during my applications. i was wondering 2 things:

1. Will this give me a pretty good advatange when applying?
2. When i do start school, will the professor expect more of me since i'm very familure with the basics? (and will it hurt me?)

thanks guys! and merry x-mas =)

 

[litldime]

i don't see how it would hurt you. When they ask you about dental experience, you will be able to talk about the diff. procedures you've seen etc. If you haven't applied yet, I would incorporate this into your personal statement. it makes sense to have "on the job training" becaue you know what to expect. You also know how a dental office runs.. i think your 4 yrs experience is awesome! As per you second question, no- i don't think the professors will expect you to know more than the basics or anthing advanced based on your experience...they will teach you everything you need to know.... as with everything, some will pick it up faster, and some slower...your experience can only serve as a plus...also its not like all of them will look at your application...
-ld

 

[dmd2011]

i've been a dental assistant for 4 years now since my senior year in high school and have learned an amazing deal iof dentistry through my job.
I have heard mixed feelings about this helping or hurting me during my applications. i was wondering 2 things:

1. Will this give me a pretty good advatange when applying?
2. When i do start school, will the professor expect more of me since i'm very familure with the basics? (and will it hurt me?)

thanks guys! and merry x-mas =)

1. any dental experience is an advantage when applying.

2. your professors will assume you and everyone else know nothing so they
won't expect anything more of you than any other student. plus, its not
likely that any of your professors will know or care about your experience anyways.

 

[DMDreaming]

I've been a dental assistant for almost 17 years and was just accepted at Minnesota. My interviewer made a statement about my "obvious love of and commitment to dentistry". It seemed like it was to my advantage to have had this experience. Also, I have a couple of other dental assistant friends with less years in the field who were also accepted at other schools. The only word of advise I would give you is to be confident but not cocky about what you know. I don't think dental schools look favorably on anyone who thinks they know it all. Good luck!!

 

[Frederico Albin]

are you kidding me man? hahahah
I wish I had the experience that you had hahaha, thats definetly a plus on your application

 

[ibeflossin]

I am a 3+ year Orthodontic assistant and
a) your experience WILL help you get into schools because you already have exposure to the field/passion
b) your profs will not expect more out of you, because they have no idea what background experience you have, and probably assume you have none.

 

[DentPursuer88]

this puts a smile on my face. I finished one year at a community college, then I decided to become a dental assistant to get in the field. Almost done with my training, but I started to second guess my decision. Since you guys think it's good that we will have this experience under our belt, I am happy I made this decision.

With that said, I think you have a great amount of experience and you definately will have a heads up with the admissions process. Good luck to you, and please PM me in the future and let me know how everything goes. Thanks.