Dental Assisting is a rewarding professional career! The Dental Assisting program provides training in orthodontics, pedodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral surgery, and general dentistry, incorporating hands-on lab and clinical experiences and preparation for state and national board exams. Upon graduation and successful completion of board exams, you will have all the necessary certifications to work in any of the dental specialties. Lane’s Dental Assisting Program prepares its graduates for employment in fast-paced dental care settings.
Do you have a passion for oral health care? Do you enjoy working with people in a variety of settings? Are you looking for a rewarding career that you can get into quickly? If you have strong communication skills, enjoy working with your hands, like thinking critically, and want a team-oriented career with responsibility, then consider Dental Assisting! Dental assistants perform many tasks ranging from providing patient care and taking x-rays to record-keeping and scheduling appointments.
You can complete the program and start your career in dentistry in as little as 9 months!
When you’re ready to get started with your program prerequisites, just apply to Lane! Our Admissions office staff will guide you through the steps to enroll to get you started right. You can also contact Admissions with any questions you have about the college, to schedule a tour of the campus, or just to say hello. If you’re not ready to apply today, you can request more information on the program and we’ll get in touch to make a plan that works for you.
Through our classes both in-person and online, you’ll learn to:
- Assist with the variety of clinical treatments used in all areas of dentistry
- Prepare needed instruments for treatment
- Provide effective patient instruction for good oral hygiene
- Maintain a professional working environment
- Accurately expose, develop and mount diagnostic radiographs using multiple systems
- Apply fluoride, sealants and polish teeth
- Compute mixing amounts and calculate formulas utilized in dental procedures
- Systematically collect diagnostic data
- Assist the dentist chair-side in providing patient treatment
- Utilize interpersonal communication and collaboration skills to effectively interact with diverse population groups, health care providers, dental professionals and community groups
- Apply principles of ethical reasoning, decision making, and professional responsibility.
- Access information via dental journals and websites
- Write/edit multiple types of professional communications
- Maintain patient records, discharge patients, bill patients and their insurers
Your coursework will be a combination of online, classroom, and clinical laboratory learning, and includes basic health sciences, oral anatomy and pathology, dental materials, radiographic and chairside assisting techniques; as well as principles of office records management and marketing, laboratory procedures, psychological considerations in patient treatment, and basic math computations.
Dental Assisting is a concentrated program that requires good reading and study skills. Students are on campus most of the day during fall and winter terms. Spring term includes a minimum of 24 hours per week in Cooperative Education community clinical sites, where you’ll put the knowledge you’ve learned into practice.
Opportunities for employment include jobs in all dental specialties, including orthodontics, pedodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral surgery, and general dentistry. As a dental assistant, you could serve as a clinical chairside assistant or work in dental office administration.
95-100 percent of the graduates find employment in the Eugene/Springfield area. Other graduates choose to find employment in other parts of the state. Starting salary in the Eugene/Springfield area averages $19- $20 per hour.
Dental Assisting courses are limited to a maximum of 30 students. Clinical lab courses have one instructor for every six students, for maximum clinical skill interactions. Dental Assisting instructors get to know you, and they provide you with the personal attention required for mastering the clinical skills needed and helping you finish the program successfully. Our faculty have extensive clinical and teaching experience, and they bring those experiences to the classroom.
The faculty and advisors for the program can help you meet your career goals. They can answer any program specific questions you might have, and help you find opportunities outside of the classroom. Advisors will help you schedule your classes and plan for the future. You’ll work with them to create a term by term planner that meets your needs and goals to ensure you complete your degree. And if you’re planning on transferring to a four-year school, they can help you find the classes you need to count towards your associate’s or bachelor's degree.
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Dental Assisting program students participate in two distinct internships in local dental offices through Cooperative Education during Spring term. This allows you to get real-world, relevant and practical experience doing all of the tasks dental assistants provide. Many students may be able to continue with paid employment at their former internship sites after graduation and their certification exams.
Graduates will receive a one-year Dental Assistant Certificate of Completion.
If desired, all credits from the nine month program can be applied to an Associate of General Studies degree here at Lane. This AGS can then be applied to a Bachelors of Associated Science degree at many four-year colleges and universities.
The program is fully accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), and is recognized by the Dental Assisting National Board. After successful completion of the three-quarter program, students are eligible to take the National Board exams and receive all certificates and licenses needed for employment in all areas of dentistry as an Expanded Function Dental Assistant in the state of Oregon.
As a Dental Assisting student, you’ll practice your skills on state-of-the-art dental equipment in our brand-new dental lab on main campus, and gain experience and confidence at the college Dental Clinic on Willamette Street, in Eugene. Some of the equipment you’ll use includes:
- Direct and Indirect digital radiology systems for taking x-rays
- Simulation units in the Dental Materials lab which simulate a clinical environment when learning various materials and skills
- Omnicam digital scanner for intra-oral scanning; utilized for crown and bridge design in general dentistry offices, as well as creating models for patient records and invisalign treatment in orthodontics
- 3D printer utilized along with the digital scanner for printing out dental models
- Intraoral camera for digitally scanning and recording areas inside the mouth for patient records
- Alginators for mixing impression material.
The Dental Assisting program annually awards several $500 Jan Malone Scholarships to students who show a strong aptitude for the dental field. Applications are distributed every December to current Dental Assisting students. Dental Assisting students may also be eligible for federal financial aid, scholarships through WorkSource Lane (up to $4500), and LCC Foundation scholarships that are not financially based.
Learn more about financial assistance for the Dental Assisting Program.
Lane’s main campus is tucked into the foothills of the Oregon Cascades, providing a stunning landscape for your education. With incredible resources on campus like advising, tutoring services, the library, First Year Experience and so many more, you have the opportunity to make the most out of your degree. Lane also offers student housing at Titan Court in downtown Eugene, next to our Mary Spilde Center. Ready to learn more? Schedule a campus tour to explore our beautiful campus and amazing facilities.