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Dental Assisting was my life. Most people wondered how anyone on earth could stand to be inside someone's mouth day in and day out. I was one of those people. I used to think, who would want to give pedicures all day or pap smears for that matter? Yes, people have bad breath. Why do you think we wear masks? I happened to love my job. One day I will return.

The dental assistant is a vital part of the dental team. You need this person to perform tasks of various kinds. For one, you have to sterilize or as some would like to call it "doing the dishes" for the office. It's the most thankless part of the job, but it has to be done for the day to go on. Try to find a newer office with all the high tech toys. An older office may use older equipment that still uses chemicals such as formaldehyde or muriatic acid.

Chair side assisting can be thought of as the glorious part of the job. My favorite part of this aspect was in creating the temporary teeth. I found pride in my work and freedom to use my various skills. I now have an eye for color due to the fact that we scrutinized shades of teeth every day. Some dentists still use amalgam fillings, but most today are directly placing composite fillings. You may find yourself bored to tears when assisting root canals. And get very excited, as I did, in oral surgery settings. Not that I love the sound of bones cracking or watching people get anesthetized, but I love the intense feeling during the procedure and the success of the tooth coming out in tact.
For those of us who like to be independent there are pedo prophys, sealant placements, and tooth whitening. Let's not forget the rubber dam, our trusty friend that we get ever so acquainted with. Photography was also a skill I learned on the job. Along with the computer skills that allowed me to take radiographs and insert our chart entries. Every time I think about chart entries I giggle thinking of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine stole her chart to find out what was written about her.

One overlooked aspect of dental assisting is the interchange of conversation you can have chair side. Not only was the dentist a dear friend that I got to chit chat with everyday. I found companions in the patients that we treated. The Dental Hygienist may spend 50 minutes with her patient, whereas I was able to spend sometimes 4 to 5 hours with. Many great times were spent in my daily life at work. Not too many people can say that.

You might ask, what does a job like this pay? I left three years ago making $20. Currently I think the starting rate is around $16 an hour. It doesn't take long to advance and up the pay scale either. Schooling for this type of work takes about 11 months at an accredited vocational college. Don't underestimate the power of a job you enjoy everyday. And tell your dental assistant how much you appreciate him or her.

Learn more about this author, Amber Lee Martin.
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