Dental/Chairside Assistant

[horns2001]

Hey everyone-
I have a question. I have in the past had some dental assistant experience with my cousin who was a Dentist. I feel that I dont have enough hours (about total of 40 hours). I need to gain some more hours but I can no longer work for my cousin since he doesnt work closeby anymore. What did all of you do to gain the clinical experience? Did u just call local dental offices to see if they would hire a dental assistant or look for ads? I cant seem to find any ads looking for unlicensed dental assistants. I dont just want to volunteer, because if I spend my time working I want to get paid (I have already done dental research work ). What should I do just go ahead and offer to volunteer for free? I just need about 50 hours more of experience then I think I'll be in good shape. Thanx

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[Yah-E]

Horns2001,

To be honest with you, I feel that dental schools rather see you volunteer your time at a dental office than see that you were there to work as a dental assistant! Don't get me wrong, any dental exposure is fine, but when dental school sees it, they'll probably think that you're there to work and not there to figure out if being a dentist is what you want to do! I don't know, just my opinion.

As far as dental assisting without a certificate, I know a lot of dentists train their dental assistant right off the street if they like you! None certified assistants are definitely there, but it may be different from state to state. Here in Arizona, the dental office that I shadow at has 4 dental assistants and two of them are trained within the office and later took and passed the dental assistant certification exam!

If I were you, I would just volunteer once a week for four hours a day, your additional 50 hours will add up in no time! Afterall you'll have plenty of time to volunteer before you'll submit your application with AADSAS in June or July!

(4 hours a day)(once a week)(5 weeks until AADSAS starts 2003 Entering Class applications on May 15, 2002) = 20 more hours can be added to your already 40 hours!

If you don't submit your application until July or August, then you'll definitely have enough time to reach 100 hours in the clinics!

Again, this is all my $0.54