Current DA anxious about skills in dental school

[Eva_Unit01]

Hi all. I am a current DA, but I'm not very good at it.

To be fair to myself, I have only had a months of actual hands on assisting experience. I was hired as a back-up assistant and mostly just clean rooms. My last DA job I worked only one day a week and we only did composite fillings with one or two other procedures thrown in the entire time I worked there. I can't read x-rays and when I do get put in a room (another assistant is on vacation/out sick/grabbed for a quick recement) I find myself fumbling a bit. I don't feel confident at all.

I've been filling in for another assistant for a few weeks now, and I'm getting better and quicker during this time, but I still find myself making stupid mistakes. Like with the garrison/matrix system, I find myself handing my doctor the wrong instrument. She's usually pretty nice about it, but I just feel so dumb when I do it. I know she gets frustrated with me.

My concern is this - if I am not a good assistant, how can I expect to be a good dentist? Am I being too hard on myself or is this a real problem?

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[Advance]

Hi all. I am a current DA, but I'm not very good at it.

To be fair to myself, I have only had a months of actual hands on assisting experience. I was hired as a back-up assistant and mostly just clean rooms. My last DA job I worked only one day a week and we only did composite fillings with one or two other procedures thrown in the entire time I worked there. I can't read x-rays and when I do get put in a room (another assistant is on vacation/out sick/grabbed for a quick recement) I find myself fumbling a bit. I don't feel confident at all.

I've been filling in for another assistant for a few weeks now, and I'm getting better and quicker during this time, but I still find myself making stupid mistakes. Like with the garrison/matrix system, I find myself handing my doctor the wrong instrument. She's usually pretty nice about it, but I just feel so dumb when I do it. I know she gets frustrated with me.

My concern is this - if I am not a good assistant, how can I expect to be a good dentist? Am I being too hard on myself or is this a real problem?

Many dental students go into dental school with little to no DA experience and do just fine. I myself had no idea what I was doing when I was assisting D4s with their procedures. In dental school they will teach you everything you need to know to become a licensed dentist. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Greyangel6]

I had no dental background whatsoever before I entered dental school, and I think I have a pretty good grasp of those things once I learn about them. So yea, you will learn all this knowledge along the way in dental school. Especially the instruments because in certain courses like Oral surgery, they require you to know the difference between 150 and 150A. You will also be taking biomaterial components as part of many of your classes so you will learn a lot about the dental materials, why you use them, compare and contrast (Fit Checker vs Occlude spray, PVS versus polysulfide, etc.)

So don't worry about stuff like that. Just worry about getting into dental school, and getting out of dental school.