Offered at MCC (Code: MVDNT)

The 11-month Dental Assisting program provides training in the skills and knowledge necessary for successful employment in a modern dental facility. The program is accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation. Graduates are eligible to write examinations for Certified Dental Assistants, Infection Control, and Dental Radiation Health and Safety.

Six basic areas in the Dental Assisting curriculum are:

• chair side assisting (seating/preparing patients, implementing infection control, preparing instruments/materials, charting, and passing and receiving instruments)
• infection control (universal precautions, OSHA and HazMat standards, office asepsis)
• radiographic techniques (exposing, developing and mounting dental xrays)
• office management (keeping schedules, receiving patients on the telephone and in person, keeping clinical and financial records, computerized recordkeeping, filing insurance claims, ordering supplies)
• laboratory techniques (preparing dental amalgam and cements, pouring and trimming models)
• patient education (teaching preventive dentistry)

A grade point average of 2.00 or above is required for each program requirement. For successful completion of this program no course failures are allowed.