Dental: Assisting

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Overview

Choose BTC’s Dental Assisting program to train for a position as a dental assistant. Learn how to provide patient care, perform office duties and lab work, while working alongside dentists as they examine and treat their patients. Graduates will find employment opportunities with dental, orthodontic, and periodontal offices, as well as hospitals, public health departments, or in clinics.

Program Outcomes

• Apply academic, technical, and professional skills to effectively contribute to the dental health team
• Apply cognitive retention of dental terminology, theory, and science
• Expose and evaluate intraoral and extraoral radiographs implementing radiation safety and processing skills
• Verify critical thinking, problem solving, and positive work ethics as they directly relate to the Dental Assistant profession
• Validate the importance of National Certification and participation in professional activities and education opportunities.

Program Entry Information

This program typically starts in Spring and Fall Quarters on a space available basis.

Program Start

• To be eligible for admission to the program, applicants must meet college admission requirements.
• To be eligible for the program ready list, all general education courses must be successfully completed with a 2.0 or above. General education courses/prerequisites (excluding DEN 100 and DEN 105) are offered every quarter.
• Students are required to submit official transcripts (BTC can be unofficial), additional application materials, and the Application Completion Form for program ready list placement.
• After acceptance and Prior to Registration for Quarter 1 of the Dental Assisting Program, students must submit proof of the following: 1) Be 18 years of age 2) Demonstrate satisfactory oral health by dental examination 3) Demonstrate satisfactory health status by physical examination and current immunization status 4) Provide evidence of negative test for tuberculosis from physician or health department 5) Complete hepatitis B immunization series (students should note that the cost of this immunization is estimated to be approximately $150.00) 6) Possess and maintain a current CPR card. Minimum CPR required is HO 127-Healthcare Provider (5-hour). 7) Students will be required to create an online account with Certified Background and pay a fee of approximately $119.00 for the background check, Drug Screen and tracking of required health documents.

Testing Requirements

These requirements are for the AAS degree and are lower than those for the AAS-T degree. Please see the AAS-T Entry Page for AAS-T requirements.

• ACCUPLACER Reading Comprehension score of 71 or a C grade in RDG 085  , and ACCUPLACER Sentence Skills score of 71 or a C grade in ENGL 092  .
• ACCUPLACER Arithmetic score of 50 or a C grade in MATH 090   or ABE 050  

Degree and Certificate Requirements

Dental Assisting Degree and Certificate completion requires a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or greater and minimum grade of B/3.0 for all clinical courses, and minimum grade of C/2.0 for all other required courses.

Pre-Program Course Requirements

• AENGL 100 Applied English  or ENGL& 101 English Composition I .
• AMATH 100 Applied Occupational Math  (or higher).
• BIO 105 Essentials of Anatomy Physiology  (this MUST be no older than 5-years at the time you are eligible for placement on the Dental Assisting Program ready list).
• CMST& 210 Interpersonal Communication  
• DEN 100 Introduction to Dental Assisting  
• The Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS V). (Given in the DEN 100  course).

Test Of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS V)

• DEN 105 Head and Neck Anatomy  
• HLTH 133 HIV/AIDS: For Healthcare Professional  
• HLTH 154 HealthCare Provider First Aid and CPR  and CPR NOTE: Certification should be obtained one quarter prior to program application in order to prevent certification from expiring prior to program completion.
• PSYC& 100 General Psychology  

Program Application/Forms

• Application Completion Form
• Criminal History Background Check Notification Form

Programs

• Dental Assisting, AAS

• Dental Assisting, AAS-T

• Dental Assisting Certificate

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