Review Our Top 10 Opportunities for You to Explore Your Options as You Enter Your New Career!
Becoming a Registered Dental Assistant (RDA) is just the beginning of an exciting and fulfilling career. Here are several career paths and advancement opportunities open to dental assistants in Texas.
1. Dental Office Manager With experience and additional training, dental assistants can advance to become dental office managers. In this role, you’ll oversee the administrative operations of a dental practice, including scheduling, billing, and patient management.
2. Dental Hygienist Many dental assistants choose to further their education and become dental hygienists. This requires additional schooling, but it offers higher earning potential and more responsibilities, such as conducting cleanings and providing preventive care.
3. Expanded-Duty RDA In Texas, Registered Dental Assistants can take on more chairside duties after completing extra training required by the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners (TSBDE). Applying pit and fissure sealants and coronal polishing each require an approved course (coronal polishing also requires work experience), and monitoring nitrous oxide requires a separate TSBDE designation. Each added skill makes you more valuable to the practice.
4. Dental Sales Representative If you have a knack for sales and enjoy interacting with people, a career as a dental sales representative might be a good fit. Dental sales reps work for companies that sell dental equipment and supplies, visiting dental offices and promoting products.
5. Dental Lab Technician Dental assistants with a passion for working with their hands may consider becoming dental lab technicians. In this role, you’ll create dental prosthetics, such as crowns, bridges, and dentures, working closely with dentists to ensure quality and fit.
6. Educator or Trainer Experienced dental assistants can transition into education, training future dental assistants. This can involve working at a dental assistant school, like Houston Dental Assistant School, or conducting continuing education workshops for practicing dental assistants.
7. Public Health Dental Assistant Working in public health can be a rewarding way to give back to the community. Public health dental assistants work in community clinics, schools, and public health organizations, providing dental care and education to underserved populations.
8. Specialty Dental Assistant Dental assistants can specialize in specific areas of dentistry, such as orthodontics, periodontics, or oral surgery. Specializing often requires additional training but can lead to more focused and higher-paying positions.
9. Research Assistant For those interested in the scientific aspect of dentistry, becoming a research assistant can be an exciting career path. Research assistants work in dental schools, research institutions, or for dental product manufacturers, contributing to advancements in dental science and technology.
10. Treatment Coordinator Assistants who are good at explaining procedures often move into treatment coordinator roles. You’ll walk patients through their treatment plans and costs, answer questions, and help them schedule care, combining your chairside knowledge with patient communication.
Start Your Path in 10 Weeks
Every path on this list starts the same way: chairside experience as a dental assistant. Texas doesn’t require a license to work as a dental assistant, but only Registered Dental Assistants (RDAs) can take dental X-rays, so most offices look for RDAs. Our 10-week dental assistant program combines online lectures with Saturday labs in a real dental office, and tuition is $3,550 all in, including the state RDA course and exam.
At Houston Dental Assistant School, we’re committed to helping our students explore and achieve their career goals. Book a Saturday tour to see our labs, or contact us with questions about the program and the career opportunities that await you.