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Dental Assisting

 

Wallace State’s programs boast a top-notch reputation with outstanding licensure and job placement rates, small class sizes and an award-winning faculty.  Choose Wallace State’s Dental Assisting certificate or degree for a career in a highly-rewarding, high-demand field at a fraction of the cost of attending a university.  And if you do choose to continue your education, you’ll be two years ahead on an advanced degree, with employment potential and cost savings to boot.  

Discover your story in Dental Assisting at Wallace State!       

Graduates of the Wallace State Community College Dental Assistant program will be prepared to perform the numerous duties required to work in dental offices, hospitals, and clinics.

 

About the Program

A dental assistant helps with the direct care of patients under the supervision of a dentist.

Dental assistants perform a variety of patient care, office, and laboratory duties. They work chairside as dentists examine and treat patients. They make patients as comfortable as possible in the dental chair, prepare them for treatment, and obtain their dental records. Assistants hand instruments and materials to dentists and keep patients’ mouths dry and clear by using suction or other devices. Assistants also sterilize and disinfect instruments and equipment, prepare trays of instruments for dental procedures, and instruct patients on post-operative and general oral health care.

Some dental assistants prepare materials for impressions and restorations, take dental x-rays, and process x-ray film as directed by a dentist. They also may remove sutures, apply topical anesthetics to gums or cavity-preventive agents to teeth, remove excess cement used in the filling process, and place rubber dams on the teeth to isolate them for individual treatment.

Those with laboratory duties make casts of the teeth and mouth from impressions, clean and polish removable appliances, and make temporary crowns. Dental assistants with office duties schedule and confirm appointments, receive patients, keep treatment records, send bills, receive payments, and order dental supplies and materials. Upon successful completion of the Wallace State program, graduates will be prepared to function as Dental Assistants in dental offices, hospitals and clinics.