Like most careers, a dental assisting career can broaden your horizon when you want to shift career paths. When you are working as a dental assisting, you have different sectors you can work in from that isn’t exclusive to dental office and different pathways you can choose to advance as a professional.
First, we want to go over the different branches you can work in as a dental assisting before we discuss possible career pathways. As a dental assisting, you can enter into various departments where you can help dentist that is not in a dental office. You can work in
- Public Health – working in a public health sector, you can expect to work with patients in underserved and marginalized populations in communities. You also serve as a dental educator to patients on proper oral hygiene and healthcare.
- Military – you can serve your country in providing dental care to soldiers and their families across their military bases. You have the opportunity to travel and offer your dental services to other communities in the world.
- State Dental Boards – become a board member where you are ensuring all dental professionals are meeting state requirements to practice. Ensuring dental assistants meet the requirements is critical to providing quality dental healthcare.
- Sales – as a dental assistant, you can become a dental sales representative. Working in a dental practice gives you the advantage of knowing what an office uses and how new up-to-date supplies, equipment, and technology they can use and need for their practice.
- Hospitals – work in a hospital with a team of dental professionals who treat bedridden patients.
- Insurance Companies – having a vast knowledge of dental procedures and treatment can help you process dental claims for insurances.
These are some of the sectors you can enter to broaden your dental assisting experience but to able to experience the different sides of the dental industry. However, sometimes we over time, we want to progress in our profession or field to further develop and grow as professionals. When it comes to dental assisting, upon graduating from a program, you can often find yourself working as a dental assistant in a clinic. But if you are interested in going further and experiencing more professions in the dental industry, dental assisting can be a stepping stone. For some professional advances, additional schooling might be needed.
Some of the related jobs you can go into are
- Dental hygienist
- Medical assistant
- Dentist
- Dental laboratory technician
- A dental office manager or administrator
- Educator
- Consultant
For some dental professions, you will need further training and schooling, but for others, you will need to have extensive experience, particularly if you are thinking of becoming an educator or consultant. The dental industry has many options for you to enter and challenge yourself with both the clinical, business and educational side of what makes the dental industry.
At The Core Foundation, we offer two certification programs in dental administration and orthodontics specialty training for dental assisting, where you can acquire the necessary skills and training you need to help you advance or enter another career in the industry. If you are interested in learning more about our programs, you can contact Natalie Kerr for more information at [email protected] or click on the button below.