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.
Dental Assistant Extern Overview
Working as a Dental Assistant Extern
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.
What Does a Dental Assistant Extern Do
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.
How To Become a Dental Assistant Extern
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.
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Dental Assistant Extern Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of dental assistant you might progress to a role such as office administrator eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title operations manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Dental Assistant Extern
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Federal Reserve Bank Assistant Examiner Summer 2021 Internship Assistant Examiner Summer 2021 Internship | Federal Reserve Bank Federal Reserve Bank | 09/13/2020 09/13/2020 | $39,65309/13/2020 $39,653 |
Swca Inc. Office Assistant Intern Office Assistant Intern | Swca Inc. Swca Inc. | 02/15/2020 02/15/2020 | $41,74002/15/2020 $41,740 |
University of Richmond Dental Assistant Extern Dental Assistant Extern | University of Richmond University of Richmond | 01/23/2020 01/23/2020 | $30,11501/23/2020 $30,115 |
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Dental Assistant Extern Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Dental Assistant Extern. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Dental Assistant Extern Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Dental Assistant Extern resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Dental Assistant Extern
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 21.3% of dental assistant externs listed dental procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and dexterity are important as well.
- Dental Procedures, 21.3%
- Patient Care, 10.3%
- Externship, 10.0%
- Instrument Trays, 5.6%
- Oral Hygiene, 4.9%
- Other Skills, 47.9% See All Dental Assistant Extern Skills