A dental assistant is a great trade school job that you can land with just a couple years of training in the technical trade school of your choice. If you are considering possibly pursuing a career as a dental assistant, it may be a good idea to learn the basic tasks you would complete on a given day, and how much you can expect to earn per year.
As an assistant, you are in direct submission or supervision of a dentist. You will assist in any task that a dentist will do, such as oral surgery and daily cleaning procedures. You will be required to prep the dental room, gather and arrange tools and instruments that will be needed for a particular surgery or cleaning. From there it will be the dental assistants job to hand the needed tools to the doctor during a patients visit. You will also provide another other assistance a dentist may require, such as recording any findings the dentist may make during a procedure. From there you may be required to do the cleaning and sanitizing of tools and instruments after a patients visit. You will spend good amounts of time visiting with different patients, so being a good people person is always a good thing.
How much money can you expect to make in a given year as a dental assistant? Of course this amount will vary quite a bit, based from experience and schooling. In most cases the more experience you have the higher you base pay will be, and the school you attend can have a say so on where you get hired, as many tech schools offer job placement programs to help students find work immediately after graduation. As of recent you can expect a dental assistant salary to be between 30,000 and 40,000 per year. This is variable not only to experience and schooling, but also your location. The salary will definitely vary depending on where you live.
A dental assistant is a great way to make a respectable living and if you are considering going back to school, why not really consider a career that will earn you great wages, and not take a lifetime to achieve.