Interview Essay: A Career As A Dental Assistant

A few weeks ago when I went to the dentist I asked my hygienist a bunch of questions while she was working on my teeth. She was telling me how she has always had a passion for teeth and she would never trade her job for any other. She started off as a dental assistant and decided to go back to school to become a dental hygienist. I asked her what her favorite parts of the job were, she said she has great benefits and that my dentist pays her as much as a doctor would make. Some of her favorite parts of working in a dental office is that she has close relationships with her coworkers because of the size of the facility. She likes working as a hygienist better than an assistant because she is pretty much her own boss and can do things the way she prefers to do them.
As we were talking you could tell that she loves her job, but I also wanted to hear about the negatives. She says that she hasn’t experienced much negatives with the job other than small signs of carpal tunnel right in the beginning because of the repetitive movements that she does throughout the day. When her jobs gets too routine my dentist allows her to work as a fill in for the dental

assistant which is a nice change because she enjoys variety. Another negative that she mentioned to me was finding a job as a new dental hygienist because people don’t typically get hired when they have little to no experience in the field. She also warned me that it is common for dentists to only hire part time workers so they don’t have to give them benefits or as much pay.
A week later when I went in to get my cavity filled I decided to interview my dental assistant also to see her perspective.

Some of the main points that she made was that it is best to go to school for both a hygienist and an assistant because having different job routines gives your wrist a break and it makes your job have more of a variety to it. She also mentioned that I can further my associates degree to a bachelor's degree and be able to get more of a teaching position with it. What I learned from talking to my hygienist and other employees within the facility is that your work experience all depends on who you work for and who your co workers are. I’m thinking that I will find a part time job right out of college just to get experience and then after a few years I will be able to find a high quality place to

work.