Dental Assistants School
Dental assisting can involve the duties of a dental receptionist, or a more trained field such as a certified dental assistant or a degreed dental hygienist. While you may be able to be a dental assistant without formal training, most states require education and passing an exam.
There are online schools and brick and mortar dental schools you can attend to receive your certification in a year, or your Associates degree in two years of full time schooling. To get your dental assistant certificate, you will complete classroom and laboratory training, but can take many parts of the courses online. You need to have a high school diploma or the equivalent to take the certificate program or the Associates degree.
A dental hygienist will often be a more “hands-on” dental assisting position, taking on some duties of the dentist, such as cleaning teeth, taking x-rays and showing patients how to care for their teeth. A dental hygienist may have their own set of appointment records for preventive teeth cleaning, and refer more complicated dental issues to the dentist.
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