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Being a Dental Assistant is a demanding career. You have to be determined, willing and able to work under pressure. A dental assistant has to be very good at multi-tasking because you will be required to do a lot of work in a short period of time. If you apply yourself completely, Dental Assisting is a very rewarding and fun career.

A Dental Assistant works very closely with the Dentist, he/she must anticipate the doctors every move. The assistant must know what comes next in every procedure, before the doctors asks for it. The assistant is pretty much in charge of the survival of the office, an assistant must get to work before the doctors do, in order to set up the exam rooms. They are usually the last ones to leave as well, for they have to make sure everything is cleaned and properly sanitized.

The duties of a Dental assistant include:

Taking and mounting X-rays (this could be full mouth series, bite wings, periapical, occlusions). Sterilizing instruments (this process, I believe is most important, you have to do each step correctly, first you clean the instruments, then soak them in solution and on to the conclave). Setting up exam rooms for treatment ( whatever treatment the patient is going to receive, be it a filling, root canal or crown, the assistant needs to have all the supplies ready). Cleaning up the room after the treatment (throw out what needs to be thrown out, in their appropriate places, cleaning and sterilizing everything, including the chair and headrest). Pouring and mixing materials ( cements, alginates or temporary bonds, etc). Assistants are in charge of keeping the patients mouth dry at all times, this requires suctions of saliva. There are times when it gets a little difficult to suction when the doctor is working on one of the back teeth, for this the assistant could use a mouth mirror to retract the patients cheek, while suctioning at the same time.

A dental assistants also plays secretary when it calls for you to do so. An assistant must remember to always wash their hands and change their gloves, especially when your in the middle of a procedure and you need to get something out of a drawer, you must take off the gloves you are wearing, get the item and then put on a new pair of gloves. An assistant must know all of the rules and guidelines of ORSHA, first aid kits and any other emergency kits that call for it. Being a Dental Assistant has its rewards, you get to know the patients and build a friendly relationship with them. You will never know what the next day will bring.

If you are good at multi-tasking, being able to communicate with people in a friendly and kind matter, no matter what the situation is, able to handle and work under pressure, then you could very well find that Dental Assisting would be a rewarding career. Most importantly for all Dental Assistants, is to have common knowledge, if your able to execute common knowledge, then the rest will be a fun and exciting journey.

Learn more about this author, M.Vega.
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