You don't need to hand instruments to be part of the dental team. I volunteer at one of the school clinics now, while in the past I volunteered at a clinic affiliated with one of the homeless centers. In both places, I got to wipe down the rooms, stock the carts, answer phones, greet and seat patients, take blood pressure and temperature, and write down the numbers when they do perio-charting.
Later, I became a registered dental assistant, for which you do not need to attend classes. It only requires watching some slides at home about blood born pathogens and HIV, taking self graded tests at the end of each power point, them filling up the state specific dental assisting registration form and signing on your word of honor that you watched the slides, plus a registration fee. After my registered DA card arrived, I got more involved getting to assist the dentists too.
In the end, it is not the hours to fill in, but the rich experiences you acquire, so keep your eyes peeled and you neurons firing. I like being in the clinic so much, that even now after I got in, I continue volunteering there once per week.
