Dental Assistant

AmeriTech College offers a 38 week Dental Assistant program at our Provo campus.  This program provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary to assist a dentist or hygienist.  Students learn patient preparation, chair-side assisting, front office skills, radiology techniques, laboratory procedures, dental materials preparation as well as sterilizing and disinfecting instruments and equipment, preparation of tray setups and various dental procedures.  Graduates are qualified to sit for the Certified Dental Assistant exams.

Program Length

The Dental Assistant program is 34 semester credit hours in length. It consists of 30 weeks of classroom training followed by an externship of 8 weeks (300 hours) in nearby dental offices for a total of 38 weeks.  Student externships may be completed in a general dentistry office or in a specialty practice such as oral surgery, pediatric dentistry, periodontics or orthodontics.

Instructional Focus

The Dental Assistant program consists of three parts:

1. THEORY. Classroom instruction provides students with theoretical knowledge through the use of textbooks, lectures, guest lecturers, demonstrations and audiovisual materials.

2. PRE-CLINICAL PRACTICE. Students learn intra-oral procedures such as: oral radiography, oral hygiene, chair-side procedures and assisting, patient preparation, impression techniques, rubber dams, infection control procedures, rubber cup prophylaxis, and anticariogenic agents. Additional skills include: sterilization, tray setups, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and front office skills.

3. LABORATORY. Dental materials and radiography (x-ray) labs are taught in conjunction with each of the modules. These labs consist of projects such as model pouring and trimming, impressions, cements, fabricating bleach trays, temporary (provisional) crowns, custom trays, bitewing radiographs, periapical radiographs, and panoramic radiographs.

Accreditation

AmeriTech College is institutionally accredited by the The Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools. The Dental Assistant program has been accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association, a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council on Post-Secondary Accreditation and the United States Department of Education. As a result of this accreditation, graduates of this program may sit for the certification examinations to become Certified Dental Assistants (CDA). These examinations are administered through the Dental Assisting National Board.

Provo Campus-
1675 N. Freedom Blvd. Building 3 Suite 5A
Provo, UT 84604-6927
(801) 377-2900 -Direct
(801) 375-3077 -Fax
(800) 377-2907 -Toll Free
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Draper Campus-
12257 Business Park Drive Building 6 Suite 108
Draper, UT 84020-8126
(801) 816-1444 -Direct
(801) 816-1456 -Fax
(800) 652-0907 -Toll Free
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