Can Dental Assisting Help You Prepare for Dental School?

Can Dental Assisting Help You Prepare for Dental School?

For students planning to become dentists, gaining meaningful exposure to dentistry before dental school can be valuable. One possible route is working in or learning about dental assisting.

Dental assisting and dentistry are separate careers with very different educational and licensing requirements. Becoming a dental assistant does not replace the prerequisites for dental school, nor does it guarantee admission.

However, dental assisting can provide something that is difficult to obtain entirely in a classroom: exposure to the day-to-day operation of a dental practice.

What Does a Dental Assistant Learn?

Dental assistants work as members of the dental team. Their permitted responsibilities depend on state law, training and credentials, but their work can bring them into close contact with dentists, patients and clinical procedures.

For someone considering dental school, this environment can provide a clearer picture of what dentistry actually looks like.

Students may observe how dentists communicate with patients, organize their schedules, work with assistants and hygienists, manage unexpected situations and perform procedures.

That experience can help a prospective dental student answer an important question: Do I actually enjoy working in a dental environment?

Does Being a Dental Assistant Help You Get Into Dental School?

Dental-school admissions decisions involve numerous factors. Applicants should not assume that dental-assisting experience automatically gives them an admissions advantage.

The American Dental Education Association notes that dental schools generally evaluate factors including academic performance, Dental Admission Test results, experiences, attributes and other elements of an applicant's preparation. ADEA GoDental

Individual dental schools establish their own admissions requirements.

Clinical exposure can nevertheless help students develop a more informed understanding of the profession they hope to enter.

It may also give applicants experiences they can discuss when explaining why they want to become dentists.

Dental Assisting vs. Shadowing a Dentist

Predental students frequently shadow dentists.

Shadowing can be extremely useful because it allows a prospective student to observe a dentist at work without committing to an entirely different career.

Dental assisting is different.

An assistant is part of the dental team rather than simply an observer. Depending on the position and applicable regulations, assistants can have responsibilities involving patients, treatment rooms, instruments, infection-control procedures and administrative functions.

Students should not become dental assistants merely because they believe they need the credential for dental-school admission.

But someone who genuinely wants to work in dentistry before pursuing further education may find the experience valuable.