Working as an assistant

[onlyahobo]

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Hey guys, I know many of you have managed to find a position as a dental assistant and I'm looking for a little advice. I've been writing emails back-and-forth with a dentist for a while about such an opportunity and he says he'll be giving me a call this weekend to talk about it- I'm psyched. However, I've never worked as an assistant, met the dentist or had a phone interview in my life. I've kind of narrowed down my top concerns and would love any feedback!

a) How much did the dentist expect you to know going into the position?
b) If asked how much I'd like to earn, should I just stick to good ol' minimum wage or does that make me sound desperate?
c) Did you start by shadowing and work up to hands-on or did they expect you to jump right in and work on patients?

I realize every dentist and situation is going to be different, just trying to mentally prepare myself a little. Thanks!

 

[sassykat]

Hey guys, I know many of you have managed to find a position as a dental assistant and I'm looking for a little advice. I've been writing emails back-and-forth with a dentist for a while about such an opportunity and he says he'll be giving me a call this weekend to talk about it- I'm psyched. However, I've never worked as an assistant, met the dentist or had a phone interview in my life. I've kind of narrowed down my top concerns and would love any feedback!

a) How much did the dentist expect you to know going into the position?
b) If asked how much I'd like to earn, should I just stick to good ol' minimum wage or does that make me sound desperate?
c) Did you start by shadowing and work up to hands-on or did they expect you to jump right in and work on patients?

I realize every dentist and situation is going to be different, just trying to mentally prepare myself a little. Thanks!

a) Nothing.
b) I stuck to what they gave me. I think they started me at $10/hr and I got up to $13.50 later. The experience was worth more than the pay, and I was making better money waiting tables so I didn't worry about it.
c) I started as a volunteer/unpaid assistant. They basically made me jump right in and I was very nervous, but just be confident and no one will know!

 

[judottt]

a. nothing.
b. They offered me $10 at first too. and I said that was great, I was just in it for the experience. I did get a raise in a few months though.
c. I started doing hands on stuff. but i do ortho. so its really easy to pick up and easy to train.

 

[randomfilipino]

a) nothing
b) was offered $8/hr, several raises since
c) shadowed the first few day (unpaid) then started assisting the following day, then taking x-rays and everything else a few weeks later - not too bad, but I was constantly dropping stuff and suctioning patient's faces at first

 

[UCLAbruinz]

Did you guys know you were going to get paid before volunteering? How did you guys get the dentists to allow u to volunteer anyways? For me, it's only shadowing pretty much

 

[onlyahobo]

Well, in my situation it's kind of just luck that I stumbled across this dentist. I just read about dentists in the area until I found someone that shared my same ideals, that made it easier to connect. I haven't gotten the job for sure yet though... so maybe my advice isn't the best 🙂. Either way, I think it's best to narrow down your choice rather than just cold-calling all the local dentists.

 

[onlyahobo]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I hear from him. Probably going to go the route of offering to train without pay for awhile and gradually see what I'm worth to him as an assistant, seems fair considering what a great experience it would be.

 

[SeattleRDH]

If you haven't already, get a dental assisting textbook. At the end of the day you may have a lot of questions and if you go home and try to look up the answers first then you are showing initiative. Asking questions is ok but asking too many questions is distracting to the staff that is trying to stay on schedule.

As far as pay, research how much a sterilization tech gets paid in your area and ask for that.

I would hope that the office would not ask you to start working on patients the first day. Be careful! Make sure that they aren't asking you to do something where you need training and/or licensing.

 

[onlyahobo]

Great advice, I hate starting out as the "ignorant new person" so being able to read up on my own would be excellent.