subject: Career Outlook For Dental Assistant School Graduates [print this page] Are you considering enrolling in a dental assistant school? Have you recently graduated from a dental assistant school? This article will discuss the career outlook for dental assistant school graduates. It will discuss the nature of the work, training and advancement, employment statistics and the job outlook for future dental assistant school graduates.
Dental assistant school graduates play an important role in the dental office: they make patients feel more at ease in the chair and help the dentist provide relief to those with painful dental conditions. They work alongside dentists, assisting while they examine and treat patients, providing them with proper instruments and materials during a patient examination. In many dental offices, Certified Dental Assistants perform clerical and laboratory duties, as well.
Many dental assistants learn their craft on the job, however an increasing number are now trained in dental assistant schools. Most of these programs take roughly one year to complete. Many states require dental assistants to obtain a license or certificate to perform more advanced functions such as radiological procedures.
In a majority of states, there are no formal training or education requirements to obtain an entry-level dental assistant job. However, taking courses at a dental assistant school will leave you more highly qualified and allow you to perform more advanced functions.
A period of on-the-job training is commonly required for those who have graduated from a dental assistant school. Dentists have their own style and an assistant must learn this style before they can be comfortable. Other things that will need to be learned at a new office include information such as where instruments and files are kept.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, dental assistants held roughly 295,300 jobs in 2008. About 93 percent of all jobs for dental assistants were in dental offices. A small number of jobs were in local, state and federal governments or in physicians' offices.
The job outlook for graduates of a dental assistant school is excellent. According to the BLS, employment for dental assistants is expected to increase much faster than average. Employment is expected to grow 36 percent from 2008 to 2018, which is extremely fast relative to other occupations. The increase in number of jobs in the dental assistant industry is expected to be among the largest for all occupations over the ten-year projection period.
Population increase, greater retention of teeth by older and middle-aged people as well as an increased focus on dental care for all individuals will fuel the demand for dental services. Recent graduates will replace older dentists and are more likely to hire one or more assistant. Also, as dentists' receive more work, they are expected to employ more dental assistant school graduates to perform routine tasks.
