This workshop is designed to introduce students to the dental healthcare professions, specifically focusing on the credit-bearing, accredited dental assisting program to be offered at Rowan College of South Jersey starting July 2025.
The course will cover the job duties of each team member in dentistry with special attention to the administrative dental assistant, clinical dental assistant, and the expanded functions dental assistant. The students will be introduced to dental terminology, radiology, anatomy, materials, procedures, specialties, and infection control. Students will also be introduced to non-credit-bearing certificated courses such as Dental Administrative Assistant and Dental Radiology Technologist that are being offered starting in the Spring and Fall of 2024.
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Program Topics
1. The Dental Healthcare Team
The Dental Healthcare Team will cover topics such as pronunciation of key terms, the goal of the dental health team, accreditation for dental education, patient care, dental practice settings, the role and responsibility of dental assistants, hygienists, and lab technicians, and the reasons for the growth in dental assisting as a profession. Students will also learn the twelve dental specialties recognized by the American Dental Association and five classifications of dental practice settings.
2. Administrative Assistant
Students will learn role of an administrative assistant in a dental practice including standard operating procedures, business equipment, record-keeping, appointment scheduling, inventory management, financial management, and accounts receivable. Students will learn the importance of dental records, financial accountability, patient care, and collections.
3. Chairside Assisting
This topic will cover comprehensive information on chairside assisting, including mastering key terms, teamwork, four-handed dentistry, motion economy, instrument transfer techniques, expanded function dental assisting, evaluating clinical skills, and understanding general dentistry and specialties.
4. Infection Control
The Infection Control section consists of topics such as the importance of disinfection, CDC guidelines for managing environmental surfaces, differentiation between precleaning and disinfection, the use of high-volume evacuation systems, CDC guidelines for disinfecting housekeeping surfaces, and green infection control measures.
5. Dental Materials
The Dental Materials module includes an overview of dental materials, their properties, and their applications in dentistry. The types of restorative and esthetic materials used in dentistry are discussed, including direct and indirect restorative materials, temporary restorative materials, and tooth-whitening materials. The role of dental impressions, different types of impression trays, and hydrocolloid impression materials are also explained. Additionally, the use of elastomeric impression materials and occlusal registration, as well as the role of digital impressions in modern dentistry, are discussed.
6. Dental Anatomy
The final module, Dental Anatomy, presents an overview of dental anatomy, covering topics such as dentition periods, dental arches, types and functions of teeth, tooth surfaces, angles and division of teeth, occlusion and malocclusion, and tooth numbering systems. It includes pronunciation, definitions, and spelling of key terms and their importance in understanding dentition. The three dentition periods are discussed, and the differences between them are explained, including the primary, mixed, and permanent dentition. The types and functions of teeth, five surfaces of a tooth, and anatomical features of teeth are described. The difference between occlusion and malocclusion is discussed along with Angle's classification and its three classifications. Finally, it explains the numbering system of teeth.
