What to Expect Working as a Dental Assistant in Alberta
Dental assistants play a vital role in any dental office. Learning more about this career will help determine if a job as a Dental Assistant is the right path for you. Often, tasks may range from oral duties to assisting dentists with patients, taking care of administrative tasks, and more. Training in becoming a dental assistant professional will give you a comprehensive series of options and paths in this career. So, here’s what you can expect!
Flexibility With Tasks
As a dental assistant professional, you will be in charge of many different tasks according to your office workload and how many other staff there are. Most offices in Alberta, for instance, will have one to two dental assistants per dentist. Some of your responsibilities will include processing x-rays taken by the dentist, more intense work like polishing crowns, a routine task like taking vital signs, administering sealants, and fluoride. You will also handle booking client appointments, among other things.
Team Spirit
As a dental assistant professional in Alberta, you’ll be expected to have a highly friendly and social attitude towards clients and staff alike. You’ll need to be good at filling in gaps where there isn’t enough human power to complete tasks. This often means noticing where your help is needed and being willing to perform various tasks. You’ll also interact with the general public and a large number of varying people. That means your people skills will need to be great since you’ll need to be working with many different people.
Constant Growth and Development
Even after your training at Columbia College in Alberta, you’ll continue to learn and grow as a dental assistant professional. In the office setting, you’ll likely come across tasks you have forgotten or didn’t learn, but ones that can be taught to you on-the-job. Overall, you’ll need to be extremely flexible, quick on your feet, and ready to tackle just about any problem the office throws at you.
With a median salary of $51,546 and a higher demand for Dental Assistants in Alberta, many individuals are looking to change careers or take advantage of accelerated training to enter the work-force sooner.
College courses, such as the Dental Assistant Professional Diploma offered by Columbia College, provide a variety of theory and hands-on training to ensure the skills and knowledge learned can be used in real-world scenarios to excel in any tasks related to this career path.
