I began dental assisting in 1977. Back then I remember that I learned something new just about every day. Thirty-three years later, I'm still learning. My job is vastly different than it was back then, but I've always been thinking and trying to keep a step ahead of what was going to happen next. I was lucky, I've had some great dentists as mentors clinically, and a great philosopher in Tom Morris to keep me thinking about how to act with integrity. Did these people just happen to come along for me, or did I seek what they had to offer? I promise you, it's the latter. I recognized the gifts they were willing to share and opened myself up to learning. I read and still read, anything that will help me grow in my profession.
So, how do I see the dumbing down of dental assisting? When I hear dentists saying they prefer their Isolite to an assistant because it doesn't talk. When I hear dentists saying they'd just as soon hire someone from McDonald's than deal with a dental assistant with experience because he won't have to get her to do it his way. These are signs of lax leadership, giving up, and settling. It is keeping dental assisting at a basic level, just a superficial position in which one sucks up spit and cleans up rooms. Thinking and anticipating become a long lost item on a wish list that the dentist comes to think of as too much to ask for. That dentist has decided to accept mediocrity, but in doing so, he's made mediocrity a commodity. Acceptance of mediocrity begets and attracts more mediocrity. Mediocrity plays no part is success, so that dentist has limited himself, as well as condoning mediocrity in his employees.
What role do assistants play in the dumbing down of dental assisting? A major role. Dental assisting should be as much a profession as dental hygiene. We should want to understand dentistry and work in partnership with the dentist and the team to give our patients outstanding care. Dental assistants can develop themselves constantly and see themselves as healthcare providers. Instead, many see dental assisting as a job. They don't bring curiosity, don't learn why everything happens, don't engage and don't became an active and essential contributor to the success of the practice. As long as they are doing good enough to keep from being fired, that's good enough for them. Then they complain about salary and respect as if it is something owed, rather than something earned.
Do I feel like it's this way most of the time? I don't know, but I think it's this way enough of the time to cause dental assistants to be looked at as less serious and less intelligent than they can be, and like many are. I am willing to bet that other career assistants cringe when they hear assistants complain about how they are treated, but who don't do anything to make themselves deserving of better pay and greater respect. Just saying you deserve something doesn't make it so. If more assistants joined their local associations, joined the ADAA, became DANB certified and asked their dentists, "What do you need from me?" "How can I improve?" "What can I do to help the practice?", you would see the growing up of dental assisting. Dental assisting seems to be stuck in the teenage years. Time to grow up and develop the skill and wisdom that earn respect.
There are many dental assistants that have seen the potential that exists for them in this profession. People like Shannon Pace, Tina Calloway, Theresa Duncan, Gina Hegarty and many more. People like Kevin Henry, Jen Blake and others promote assisting as a profession and work hard to give assistants pathways for growth and learning. Dentists themselves are often very willing to teach and enjoy the mutually rewarding working relationship that can develop between a dentist and a skilled, knowledgeable assistant.
You, the assistant have to make it happen. The scene is set, you have to take your place and apply yourself to learning and growing. You can develop yourself personally and professionally and hold the door open for others to follow. If reading this has made you mad, I'm sorry, it was not my intention. On the other hand, if reading this has made you think about doing things a little differently, you've got it. That's what I meant to do. Go into work with renewed interest and greater vision of how you can contribute. Talk to your boss about what you want to do and how you want to grow. And then just do it. Begin to grow and see what happens. Take your profession seriously. There is a satisfying, rewarding career waiting for you in the profession of dental assisting.
I began dental assisting in 1977. Back then I remember that I learned something new just about every day. Thirty-three years later, I'm still learning. My job is vastly different than it was back then, but I've always been thinking and trying to keep a step ahead of what was going to happen next. I was lucky, I've had some great dentists as mentors clinically, and a great philosopher in Tom Morris to keep me thinking about how to act with integrity. Did these people just happen to come along for me, or did I seek what they had to offer? I promise you, it's the latter. I recognized the gifts they were willing to share and opened myself up to learning. I read and still read, anything that will help me grow in my profession.
So, how do I see the dumbing down of dental assisting? When I hear dentists saying they prefer their Isolite to an assistant because it doesn't talk. When I hear dentists saying they'd just as soon hire someone from McDonald's than deal with a dental assistant with experience because he won't have to get her to do it his way. These are signs of lax leadership, giving up, and settling. It is keeping dental assisting at a basic level, just a superficial position in which one sucks up spit and cleans up rooms. Thinking and anticipating become a long lost item on a wish list that the dentist comes to think of as too much to ask for. That dentist has decided to accept mediocrity, but in doing so, he's made mediocrity a commodity. Acceptance of mediocrity begets and attracts more mediocrity. Mediocrity plays no part is success, so that dentist has limited himself, as well as condoning mediocrity in his employees.
What role do assistants play in the dumbing down of dental assisting? A major role. Dental assisting should be as much a profession as dental hygiene. We should want to understand dentistry and work in partnership with the dentist and the team to give our patients outstanding care. Dental assistants can develop themselves constantly and see themselves as healthcare providers. Instead, many see dental assisting as a job. They don't bring curiosity, don't learn why everything happens, don't engage and don't became an active and essential contributor to the success of the practice. As long as they are doing good enough to keep from being fired, that's good enough for them. Then they complain about salary and respect as if it is something owed, rather than something earned.
Do I feel like it's this way most of the time? I don't know, but I think it's this way enough of the time to cause dental assistants to be looked at as less serious and less intelligent than they can be, and like many are. I am willing to bet that other career assistants cringe when they hear assistants complain about how they are treated, but who don't do anything to make themselves deserving of better pay and greater respect. Just saying you deserve something doesn't make it so. If more assistants joined their local associations, joined the ADAA, became DANB certified and asked their dentists, "What do you need from me?" "How can I improve?" "What can I do to help the practice?", you would see the growing up of dental assisting. Dental assisting seems to be stuck in the teenage years. Time to grow up and develop the skill and wisdom that earn respect.
There are many dental assistants that have seen the potential that exists for them in this profession. People like Shannon Pace, Tina Calloway, Theresa Duncan, Gina Hegarty and many more. People like Kevin Henry, Jen Blake and others promote assisting as a profession and work hard to give assistants pathways for growth and learning. Dentists themselves are often very willing to teach and enjoy the mutually rewarding working relationship that can develop between a dentist and a skilled, knowledgeable assistant.
You, the assistant have to make it happen. The scene is set, you have to take your place and apply yourself to learning and growing. You can develop yourself personally and professionally and hold the door open for others to follow. If reading this has made you mad, I'm sorry, it was not my intention. On the other hand, if reading this has made you think about doing things a little differently, you've got it. That's what I meant to do. Go into work with renewed interest and greater vision of how you can contribute. Talk to your boss about what you want to do and how you want to grow. And then just do it. Begin to grow and see what happens. Take your profession seriously. There is a satisfying, rewarding career waiting for you in the profession of dental assisting.