u/Wayfaring_Witch0626

I'm a relatively new RDA, and plan to attend dental school and become a dentist in a few years. Not naming my office for HIPAA and privacy. It's a pediatric office and all of the assistants do coronal polishing daily, but I don't think everyone has taken a coronal polishing course/certificate. This is what the rules state from my state's dental assisting association. From what I can understand, the experience requirement is waived if I took a CODA accredited program, but I still need to take a coronal polishing course to be legally covered to perform a polishing under direct supervision? Since I want to be a dentist one day I want to make sure everything I'm doing is above board so it doesn't damage my record.

Coronal Polishing

STATE'S Dental Assistants by rule # may be delegated the task of coronal polishing by a licensed STATE dentist under direct supervision.  Certain requirements apply as stated below:

Coronal Polishing Requirements for Dental Assistants

• Have at least one year of experience as a dental assistant (no experience needed for graduates from a CODA-accredited program)
• Successfully complete a current course in basic life support (CPR)
• Complete a minimum of 8 hours of clinical and didactic education in coronal polishing taken through a CODA-accredited dental, dental hygiene, or dental assistant program approved by the Board.

Additional Note:  Coronal polishing must be in accordance with the minimum standard of care and limited to the dental assistant’s scope of practice.  The delegated duty of polishing by a dental assistant may not be billed as a prophylaxis.

Pursuant to (the law), the delegating dentist is responsible for all dental acts delegated to a dental assistant, including application of pit and fissure sealants.

Hi all, I’m a predental student working on my RDA certificate to hopefully get work as an RDA while I finish school. To strengthen my resume, I’m hoping to add Spanish fluency to my list of skills, but right now I only speak Spanish at about a high A2 level, and I don’t really know the terminology except maybe to remind someone “¡cepíllese los dientes dos veces al día!”

Any advice on what I should do to best increase my fluency would be appreciated. Any terminology specific books/courses, or should I just keep digging into a community college Spanish course/my duolingo streak.

Not a medical question specifically so hopefully this is allowed. I am in my undergrad (microbiology, predental) and taking a year off for financial reasons and due to me and my fiancé moving this summer. I would really like to get a job as a dental assistant or front desk coordinator to gain some paid experience in the field. Lots of people recommend doing this kind of work as a predental, but I can't seem to get hired. I hear some people say that it's "so easy" to get these types of jobs, but whenever I apply (online) I am rejected for not having X-ray certs or 3+ years of experience. I am professional, dedicated, and a hard worker. I also have 50+ hours of dental shadowing, which I know is not the same as work experience but I hope it counts for something. I am eager to work and better learn the terminology, but am I just shouting into the void trying to get hired like this? In your professional opinion, would you hire somebody like this? Do I just need to go in person and hand them my resume to get considered? Thanks in advance.

PS, moving to DFW metroplex if any of you dentists are in that area and looking for someone like me to join your team.

Hey, so I'm a sort of non-traditional student halfway through my degree. My fiancé and I are moving this year, so I'll be finishing my degree as a transfer somewhere else. Due to how expensive moving (and the impending wedding) is, I am pretty much confirmed going to take a year off school to work full time and save.

Ideally, I would love to get a job at a dental front desk or even a dental assistant. However, a lot of assistant jobs will not hire unless you did the dental assistant training stuff or have experience already. As a predental student, I'm obviously not planning on going to school for a different thing in the middle of my already really long journey. So basically I'm looking for advice on getting hired for these kinds of positions as a predental student with no official certifications. I feel front desk will be easier to get but I would love assisting, I want to be in the room on the chair, getting more closeup experience.

FWIW I already have around 50+ hours of dental shadowing and I plan on getting more, but I think a mix of paid experience and shadowing would be good. TIA