A comprehensive course designed to acquaint the student with assisting at chairside in the treatment of dental patients. Among the areas included are patient management techniques, taking and recording medical and dental histories, vital signs, performing and assisting with clinical examinations and charting, assisting with local anesthesia, and operative procedures.
Emphasis is placed on infection control and maintaining dental equipment and sterilizers.
This course is designed to integrate nutrition into the diagnosis, care, and treatment of dental patients and to show the relationship between dental disease and lifestyles, eating habits, and oral health. It instills in the student an overall awareness of nutrition in dental health and provides practical means of assessing dental patient s diet and lifestyle as well as their impact on dental health through the nutritional process. An introduction to basic clinical assisting skills. Students will assist with introducing the patient to the clinic and operating policies, establishing records, taking vital signs, charting, planning appointments, assisting with or performing certain dental services, performing bookkeeping entries, and dismissing patients. A two-component course consisting of a clinical experience designed to provide each student with additional dental assisting skills.