When you are training to become a dental assistant, there is a big difference between learning a skill in the classroom and performing that skill in a real dental office. That is where an externship comes in.
At Academy for Dental Assistants, our 12-Week Dental Assistant Program combines classroom instruction, hands-on training, online coursework, and a dental office externship. The externship gives students the opportunity to take what they have learned during the program and apply it in a real-world dental setting.
What Is a Dental Assistant Externship?
A dental assistant externship is a period of supervised, hands-on experience completed in a dental office as part of a student’s training.
During the 12-Week Dental Assistant Program at Academy for Dental Assistants, students practice a variety of dental assisting skills in the classroom. However, a classroom can only simulate so much. Every dental office has its own routines, team dynamics, patients, equipment, software, and way of doing things.
The externship allows students to experience what working in a dental office is actually like.
Our students are required to complete 200 externship hours over a minimum period of three months in a general dental office under the supervision of a Florida-licensed dentist.
What Do Students Do During an Externship?
The exact experience can vary depending on the dental office, but students may have opportunities to observe and assist with many of the same responsibilities they have been learning about throughout their program.
This can include:
- Preparing and breaking down treatment rooms
- Following proper infection control procedures
- Assisting the dentist during procedures
- Working with dental instruments and materials
- Practicing four-handed dentistry
- Taking and processing dental radiographs under proper supervision
- Taking impressions
- Pouring and trimming dental models
- Performing expanded functions they have been trained to complete
- Learning proper charting and documentation
- Communicating professionally with patients and the dental team
- Learning how a dental office operates from day to day
Students are not expected to walk into their externship knowing everything. The purpose of an externship is to learn, practice, gain experience, and become more comfortable in a professional dental environment.
Why Is an Externship So Valuable?
One of the biggest benefits of an externship is that it helps bridge the gap between the classroom and the dental office.
Students can practice skills repeatedly in the classroom, but working with real patients and alongside an actual dental team is a different experience. An externship helps students make the transition from learning how to be a dental assistant to understanding what it feels like to actually work as one.
It also helps students build confidence. It is completely normal for a new dental assistant to feel nervous when entering a dental office for the first time. As students gain more experience, many of the things that initially feel unfamiliar begin to become part of their routine.
Students learn how to anticipate what the dentist may need next, communicate with patients, work efficiently with other members of the dental team, and become more comfortable in the clinical environment. That confidence develops through experience, and experience takes time.
Students also experience things during an externship that cannot always be recreated in a classroom. Real patients have different needs. Dentists have different preferences. Schedules change. Procedures do not always go exactly as planned. Every office has its own systems, routines, and personalities.
Learning how to adapt to these situations is an important part of becoming a well-rounded dental assistant.
Developing Professional Skills
Being a successful dental assistant involves more than clinical skills. Students also need to learn how to communicate professionally, manage their time, accept feedback, work with different personalities, maintain patient confidentiality, and become a dependable member of the dental team.
An externship gives students the opportunity to develop these professional habits while they are still completing their training.
An Externship Can Also Open the Door to Employment
One of the greatest benefits of an externship is the opportunity to build relationships within the dental community.
An externship is not a guarantee of employment, but it gives both the student and the dental office an opportunity to get to know one another.
The office gets to see the student’s work ethic, personality, reliability, willingness to learn, and progress over time. At the same time, the student gets to experience the office environment and determine whether it may be a good fit for them.
In some cases, an externship can turn into a future employment opportunity. Even when it does not, students leave with valuable real-world experience that they can discuss when interviewing with other dental offices.
Why Does A4DA Require a Minimum of Three Months?
Our externship requirement is not simply about reaching 200 hours as quickly as possible.
We require students to complete their externship over a minimum of three months because becoming comfortable and competent in a dental office takes time.
A student may observe or perform a skill once, but repetition is what helps build confidence and understanding. Spending several months in an office also allows students to experience different procedures, patients, schedules, and situations.
The goal is not just to complete hours. The goal is to gain meaningful dental assisting experience.
Students have up to six months after their final day of class to complete their externship requirements, allowing some flexibility in how their hours are scheduled.
The Externship Is Part of the Learning Experience
At Academy for Dental Assistants, we view the externship as an important extension of the classroom.
Our 12-Week Dental Assistant Program provides students with the foundation, instruction, and hands-on practice they need to get started. The externship gives them the opportunity to continue building on that foundation in a professional dental environment.
By the time students complete their required coursework, hands-on training, and externship, our goal is for them to enter the dental field with more than just knowledge. We want them to have real experience, greater confidence, and a better understanding of what it means to be part of a dental team.