DA12

Program Description

The Dental Assisting diploma prepares students for employment in a variety of positions in today’s dental offices. The program provides learning opportunities, which introduce, develop, and reinforce academic and occupational knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for job acquisition, retention, and advancement. Additionally, the program provides opportunities to upgrade present knowledge and skills or to retrain in the area of dental assisting. The Dental Assisting program is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association. Graduates of the program receive a Dental Assisting diploma.

The Dental Assisting program includes instruction in dental assisting with chair side and laboratory procedures, adjunctive patient care, dental office management, infection control, and patient education. The graduate may become a Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) by taking and passing the Dental Assisting National Board. This program is only offered full-time, during the day. (Program Length: 3 Semesters plus prerequisite core completion)

View the Dental Assisting Diploma Program Fact Sheet for additional information.

Prerequisites

Length of time to complete prerequisites varies depending on applicants’ transfer credit and/or testing results. The time to complete prerequisites is not included in the total program lengths listed. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the admissions office once pre-requisites have been completed. File completion does not guarantee acceptance. Prerequisites must be completed by deadline. (ENGL 1010  or ENGL 1101 , MATH 1012  or MATH 1111 , PSYC 1010  or PSYC 1101 , FYES 1000 , ALHS 1011 ) Applicants are required to complete a minimum of 16 hours of observation in a dental office. Please see the competitive health application at http://www.gwinnetttech.edu/enrollment/forms-documents/ for additional information.

Employment Opportunities

Private dental offices, dental schools, hospital dental departments, state and local public health departments, private dental clinics, dental clinics of the U.S. Public Health Service, the Veterans Administration, and the Armed Forces

Regulations published by the U.S. Department of Education require institutions that participate in the Title IV student financial assistance programs to report certain information about students who enrolled in Title IV-eligible educational programs, two years earlier, that lead to gainful employment in a recognized occupation (GE Programs). Click here to review current Gwinnett Technical College data for the Dental Assisting diploma.