The Importance of Maintaining Your Dental Assistant Skills

You might be able to take a break from things like riding a bike and come right back to it without any issues, but technical skills like being a dental assistant need to be maintained and up to date, or you will start to forget them. Maintaining your dental assistant skills ensures that you are able to perform the duties required for your job and also keeps your skills fresh and in line with best practices.

This dental assistant skills checklist is something you should maintain once you finish your dental assistant program with CareerStep and become certified:

• Administering fluoride, bleaching agents, and sealants
• Knowing the sequence of dental procedures
• Developing and mounting dental x-rays and radiographs
• Caring for and maintaining equipment
• Placing temporary crowns
• Taking dental impressions
• Using tools like suction hoses and other equipment

This checklist will help you develop the skills needed for a dental assistant. It’s also important to keep up on other areas of expertise like attention to detail, interpersonal communication and listening to make sure you are always ready and able to perform your job.

If you plan to take a break from being a dental assistant, some of the unique skills associated with your role will start to fade. While your soft skills, like the ability to be organized and basic computer knowledge, should be secure, if you aren’t actively dealing with dental procedures daily, you will start to forget the more technical aspects of your job.

Even after you have been a dental assistant for years, and all of the techniques of dental assistant work start to become second nature, it is still important to maintain and update your skills. While dentistry will always focus on oral health, the best practices of the field continually grow and improve. Maintaining your knowledge and abilities isn’t just about remembering what you once learned, it’s also about making sure you are up to date in your industry.

Learn More & Refresh Your Knowledge With CareerStep

Whether you plan on taking a break or have taken a break from practicing as a dental assistant, CareerStep can help you get back into the swing of things with a refresher course and help you get recertified when you need it. This will help you remember some of the basics as well as any updates in industry best practices for dental assistants. That way you can hit the ground running when you do get back into the field. Whether you need to get certified or recertified, CareerStep has the tools to help you prepare for the Registered Dental Assistant and National Entry Level Dental Assistant certification exams. To learn more, check out CareerStep’s dental assistant certification program.