A dental assistant externship is a short but intensive learning period that gives students practical insight into working in a dental care facility. As this is an integral part of a degree program, it is not a paid position. On the contrary, students practically pay for this experience themselves and gain academic credit for completing it.
During the externship, the students follow dentists and observe their work, ask questions, and listen to explanations. They can examine dental equipment and sit in dental surgeries as observers. They also have the chance to get familiar with dental imaging technologies.
As a dental assistant extern, you might be expected to perform minor tasks such as preparing patients for procedures, sterilizing equipment, or setting up trays, preparing materials, and assisting during procedures. Creating the documentation of case histories and patient information might also be on your to-do list.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a dental assistant extern. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.02 an hour? That's $39,559 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 38,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many dental assistant externs have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed detail oriented, dexterity and interpersonal skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a dental assistant extern, we found that a lot of resumes listed 21.3% of dental assistant externs included dental procedures, while 10.3% of resumes included patient care, and 10.0% of resumes included externship. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the dental assistant extern job title. But what industry to start with? Most dental assistant externs actually find jobs in the health care and non profits industries.
If you're interested in becoming a dental assistant extern, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 35.3% of dental assistant externs have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.9% of dental assistant externs have master's degrees. Even though some dental assistant externs have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a dental assistant extern. When we researched the most common majors for a dental assistant extern, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on dental assistant extern resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a dental assistant extern. In fact, many dental assistant extern jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many dental assistant externs also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or internship.