Hi,
First of all congrats on wanting to pursue your passion. I feel your position/experience as a dental asst. will only help you in your journey to dentistry.
Here is what you need to do to get accepted. You must have 90 semester hours of undergrad work. Higher than 85-90% of dental students have a 4 year degree. As far as whether to pursue a B.S. or B.A. degree---it doesn't matter, just get a degree that you can perform well in. A gpa of 3.3+ and a science gpa of 3.3+ should be adequate. (obviously some get in with lower and higher GPAs.) Sometimes it is easy to pursue a Biology degree----due to the amount of prereqs. you are required to accomplish before applying to dental school. Those prereqs are:
1 year of Biology
1 year of Physics
1 year of inorganic chemistry
1 year of organic chemistry
1 year of English/writing
College math---some school req. Calculus
Many dental schools want to see some psychology classes on your transcrips.
Of course after the reqs. you must take the DAT. (Dental Admission Test) This test is comprehensive of every prereq. except physics. The test is given at Sylvan testing centers nearly everyday of the week. It is roughly a 4hr. 30min test.
Then you will you complete the application process which includes: (this can be done before the DAT is taken----infact an early app. is helpful. The first date you can send an app. is June 1.---the year before you enroll.) 3-4 recommendations, a personal statement (page long and explaining you unique"ness" and reasons for choosing dentistry.) and finally the interviews with the admissions' department of your intended schools.
In my experience attending an accred. 4 yr. univeristy to do your prereqs. and degree----is best. Although you can do SOME prereqs. and General education courses at a community college, I wouldn't do all of them there. Any courses you took for dental asst. training is 99% unlikely to pass for prereqs.
This in a nut-shell is the path you will take. I'm sure I missed a detail here or there, but generally speaking----this is it.
Good luck on your journey, don't let the curriculum discourage your vision of your dream/passion.
R.R.B
