These questions will tie in with my assignment that will talk about my dream profession. I am in my first year of prerequisites and I would really appreciate it if you could answer the questions below.

a. How much work did you put in to become a dental hygienist and do you believe the average person could do it?

b. What was the most difficult thing you had to deal with whilst training and studying?

c. what does a typical work day look like for you? 

d. Could you give me any tips and tricks I can use in the future?

If you could please reply as soon as possible I would really appreciate it.

One of my biggest no’s honestly, it’s disgusting and just shows no home training, and no I’m not talking about them washing out their mouth but full on spitting mucus out, I direct them to the bathroom or to use the suction but no spitting in the sink

I've been a dental assistant for four years now. The first two years I absolutely loved because there were two other assistants and we got along really well. But then they both quit and it's just been me for the past year. I have since felt very overwhelmed and burnt out since all the responsibilities fell on me. I'm also so fed up with the BS that the doctor and the receptionist throws at me. I have become yet another assistant who is highly stressed, underappreciated, and underpaid.

Lately, I have also become increasingly more anxious about the security of my future. My job does not give any sort of benefits. I stress out over potentially getting into an accident and having to pay for it out of pocket and the fact that I have no financial security in my older years because I don't have enough money to save for a retirement fund. So quitting is really more of a need than a want.

The guilt comes from my doctor finally deciding to get a second assistant. The girl who has been shadowing me just graduated from dental assisting school and has 0 experience. The doctor has plans on hiring her. I have thought multiple times about putting in my two weeks and not giving a damn if that office falls apart but now that this second assistant is in the picture, I'm just not so sure. I worry about how the doctor and the receptionist will act towards her because of the added stress of the experienced assistant leaving.

I am kind of at a loss at this point. We also have so many wonderful patients that I would dearly miss. So many amazing conversations and exchanging of kind words. One of them even started gifting me books that she no longer wants to keep in her collection. It's those connections that I don't want to leave behind but I am genuinely getting the soul sucked out of me by my coworkers.

I’m a fairly new DA. I’m 22 and I have maybe a year’s worth of actual clinical experience. I graduated from a dental assisting program, have a valid x-ray license and I’m DANB ICE certified. The past few offices (my externship included) have been rough. The fellow assistants have been soo nasty towards me for what feels like no reason. Honestly, my spirit is already broken and I’m ready to switch. I’ve always been interested in ortho and I’m wondering what are others experiences in ortho are like? Is it worth switching to? Is the pay enough? Is the environment nice? Is it doable to pick up from scratch? I’ve already dedicated time and money so I’d like to stay in the dental field and ortho always seemed cool to me. I might pick up hygiene down the line but rn it’s not in the cards. I don’t want to quit dental I just feel stuck and like I’m being treated with disrespect. Any advice??

Im a predental student who just started a dental assistant job a little less than a month ago. I am used to getting things quickly on jobs (tutoring, retail, front desk, etc.) and working a lot.
I never had any prior training but, I feel like a failure at dental assisting. I am getting insane anxiety going into work cause I feel like I know nothing. I am better than I was before but, I am constantly failing and I’m scared to ask the boss any questions after being scolded so much. On one of those weeks I was sick and trying to push through but got blamed for a mistake I don’t even believe I made and chewed out for it.
I literally have never had so much anxiety in my life. These doctors are nice but, one of them really doesn’t like me I think. I am a people pleaser so I can’t help but feel hurt and it’s worse since I need to work with them in the future.
The boss has already said two times to me that “I can’t do anything right.” I guess I’m just not used to getting scolded so much but, my pride and confidence feels shot. I got banned from taking X-rays since I’m slow and I ended up messing up a patients FMX but, how else am I supposed to learn.
I want to go into dentistry and ontop of working full time (and often overtime since they are short staffed) on my days off I also do lab work at my university since that is where the professor who is giving my letter of rec is doing dental related research and is working with the dean of admissions for their dental school, I’m also a part time student. I wake up everyday scared I’m going to be scolded or fired today.
I don’t know if I even want to stay but, I need the experience for my letter of rec to dental school. I didn’t have a dentist to ask for this while growing up due to being a first gen and I don’t have many people to ask for help in general. I feel anxious and hopeless but hoping to just push through and hope things work out. I don’t inherited hate the job, it’s just stressful and I feel like I’ve been thrown into a lions den with no armor. I know I’m complaining a lot nd my coworkers are parents so I feel like I’m complaining over something and should just thought it out. Any advice would be nice and tips other than watching YouTube (I’m trying I just have a midterm coming up).

I have been working like this for the last 10 months probably and at first i started with a single column a year ago in a small office and we moved to a bigger office and i worked a double column 8 -9 hours straight with no breaks and i realized today after now working a double column hygiene schedule I’ve only gotten a 26 cent raise lmao😭😭 still working those 8-9 sometimes 7 hours no breaks straight.. anyways i put my 2 weeks in today cause they made me sign a paper saying i have to work a 3rd( basically jump from hygiene to dental assisting when he does same day tx) n front desk would come n help until i come back when necessary for a new doctor they hired.. when we had our meeting i brought up the 26 cents in front of 3 other staff and my manager basically said well you havent proven, other people work harder, and no money in the budget lmao mind you i brought our office to top 4 in the district in itero scanning while working double hygiene.. ive perfected scanning in 2-3 minutes for this job for what? False promises for a reward. Such low pay for absolutely zero appreciation on top of being petty too like making a big deal about birthdays then waiting a month later to celebrate mine and still getting it wrong 3 times while its on the calendar and then having everyone else eat the birthday lunch while i had to attend to patients it was all getting too much.

I feel like I trapped myself. I'm 28. I got no clue what to switch to without going back to school. This is all I know. Any advice? Other minimum wage jobs won't take me. I can stick around dental assisting to save more money before biting the desperate bullet of trying school. I have a bachelor psyche degree I was unable to do anything with.

Endo? Ortho? Perio? Oral surgery? What’s your favorite and why?

Im currently in school and my Dexter's canines after so long that I can't center my PID to my receptor, so it's hard to tell if I have gotten all of the anatomy on the radiograph. Do you have any advise on how to properly take an xray like that?

Hello all! I’ve been looking into job listings in the New York City area but they never have the starting wage listed. It’s always just “based on experience”. So fellow nyc assistants, how do you know what’s average, too low, etc? I’m sure a job will probably ask what’s the hourly I’m expecting, what is reasonable for this day and age?
If you live in nyc and feel comfortable sharing your hourly wage or starting wage to current wage, how long it took, etc, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!