An oral surgery assistant works in an oral surgeon's office. They generally provide support to an oral surgeon by assisting them with prior preparation for medical procedures, preparation of equipment before the surgery, preparing patients for the surgery, follow-up care, and administrative duties such as scheduling patient appointments and maintaining patient records.
Oral surgery assistants usually work in clinics, hospitals, universities, or government agencies. They work closely with patients to ensure they are comfortable. A successful oral surgery assistant should have organizational skills, computer skills, listening skills, administration skills, attention to detail, and communication skills.
Oral surgery assistants work full time. They typically work in shifts and are expected to be on call when their services may be needed. In private practice, their work schedule is often based on patients' scheduled appointments.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an Oral Surgery Assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $29.26 an hour? That's $60,859 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 Oral Surgery Assistants 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 Dexterity, Listening skills and Organizational skills.
If you're interested in becoming an Oral Surgery Assistant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 21.2% of Oral Surgery Assistants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.5% of Oral Surgery Assistants have master's degrees. Even though some Oral Surgery Assistants 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 an Oral Surgery Assistant. When we researched the most common majors for an Oral Surgery Assistant, we found that they most commonly earn Associate Degree degrees or Bachelor's Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Oral Surgery Assistant resumes include Diploma degrees or High School Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an Oral Surgery Assistant. In fact, many Oral Surgery Assistant jobs require experience in a role such as Dental Assistant. Meanwhile, many Oral Surgery Assistants also have previous career experience in roles such as Dental Assistant/Receptionist or Assistant.