Dental Assistantship

[bpl77]

Hi all,
Iam a foreign trained dentist and I have been trying to get a dental assistant job in california.........my god its really frustrating.we are all overqualified to do a dental assistantship but these people think we know nothing they are just not interested .
Am pretty sure most of us have more clinical experience than the regular DDS students have and they treat us like this wat an irony.....
I would like to know if any of you got a dental assistant job...if so how ? any info will be appreciable.
thanks
sang

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[Meggs]

This comes from the FAQ thread:

Can a foreign trained dentist work as a dental assistant in the US?

Go to the sticky thread "Links of interest to foreign trained dentists", then scroll down until you find the link to "Getting a dental assistantship". This is a thread in which this topic has been discussed before. Bump it up if you need to.

 

[organic]

sang
remember, dentists are looking for assistants, not dentists. If you have an attitude of being fully competent as " a dentist", you might not be the best candidate as an assistant.

you should stress on these areas:

-- fully fluent in English or another language, or more
-- speaking " clearly at a normal speed"
-- very good at communication
-- people- friendly, people person, good at talking to patients
-- very well organized, helpful
--willing to learn paperwork, insurance procedures
-- good at teamwork, and co-operation with others
-- cool- headed
-- willing to do cleaning, pick up garbage and some other tedious work
-- experience in assisting dentists


remember, being a dentist doesn't equal to being an assistant. An assistant needs a lot of skills and good personalities as well. Most importantly, when you assist, never question the dentist in front of the patients, nor critize his work. Never mention to patients that you are a licensed dentist from somehwere, unless the dentist you work for agree to let you.


set your mind to being a dental assistant, only then, you will get lots of openings

good luck

 

[bpl77]

Hi organic,
Thanks a lot.I have already worked as an assistant in india....and i have been trying for this dental assistant job for the past 3 months....i used to call up clinics by looking at local newspapers,fax my resume ......nobody even bothered to call me for an interview .some people even told me that they are not comfortable in working with foreign dentists.
so i guess only groups like access and western dental would even think of offering a job for foreign dentists no matter you took RT /IDP all that they care about is do you have license? they dont care about from which school you graduated. Am not trying to discourage anybody who wants to go to school ... even i want to go to school b cos i dont want to wait for 2 yrs to get a chance to sit for theRT exam I DONT KNOW HOW FAR THIS IS TRUE but sombody told me it will take long time to get a chance itself. But i would like to let this forum know about some of my learnings by this whole procedure.

Dont tell anybody that you are trying to get in to a school b cos that gives an impression that u may leave the job within 6 months or so which they dont like....just tell them i would like to work as a dental assistant.Dont tell your future plans which they ask everybody before offering a job tell them I DONT KNOW. i have not yet planned.It is the easiest and best answer which we all should learn from americans .
If anybody has got a dental assistant job in a dental clinic (other than the major groups) they can post their experience in this thread so that we all can learn .

sang

 

[kosha]

hi bpl
well if u ask for a job they might be ressitant y do not u try by saying that i just want to come and observe and then lead y r way in that might help

 

[ratson]

hi everyone,
I was reading the posts on dental assistant and wanted to share my experience. From what it appears to me it is easier to get accepted as dental assistants in some states up north versus others down south. I have been trying (rather unsuccesfuly ) to get a job as a dental assistant for the past 6 months!!!!!
I believe like most people have posted that there is an inherent uncomfortable atmosphere with us being foreign trained dentists. I once applied for a post that didn't look for DA 1 or 2 or any specific qualifications ,yet they refused to accept me as I didn't fulfil their specifications .I really didn't get it.

So, the moral of the story : If you are keen to work, till the time you are enrolled in any program,maybe take a peek outside of the dental field

 

[Meggs]

Originally posted by ratson
...From what it appears to me it is easier to get accepted as dental assistants in some states up north versus others down south. I have been trying (rather unsuccesfuly ) to get a job as a dental assistant for the past 6 months!!!!!...

Where are you ratson?

I don't know, maybe is due to language or cultural issues ... but for some reason my Spanish speaking friends on the East Coast, seem to have an not so hard time finding work as dental assistants, even with non hispanics doctors nor populations.

 

[ivshah]

hi! bpl77, raston
try to conntect your nearby dental county office, they have all the list of dentist who are looking for dental assistant, & you can also drop your resume there, u will surely get call from someone.
i am working as a assistant, but i am getting call from drs. who got my resume from one of this county. check out this site
www.dentalworkers.com it really works.
( i dropped my resume at county office before 6 month & i am getting call now when i dont need it.........)

 

[ratson]

Dear ivshah,
thanks for your advice, I will certainly try that.


Meggs:
I realy feel that your friends have been lucky,"cos it certainly didn't work for me. By the way ,are they located in Georgia ?

 

[Meggs]

Originally posted by ratson

Meggs:
I realy feel that your friends have been lucky,"cos it certainly didn't work for me. By the way, are they located in Georgia ?

Not, not in Georgia. But now I understand why is it that it hasn't been easy to find job for you. The south isn't the exactly the most "foreign welcoming area". I'm sorry about that.

 

[anjoliey]

hi everyone,
i have been reading this thread and few thoughts crossed my mind... i too am a foriegn trained dentist and looking for a job of dental assistant for a while ....and without success, but i do not blame the dentists for not hiring me...i too have worked as a dentist in india and i know how important it is to have an efficient dental assistant....and it takes a good amount of time to become a very good team, it takes lot of time and effort to train a totally new person for the job of an assistant and all these efforts to train a dentist to b an assistant may go waste if the person leaves in a matter of month or two to join a dental school .i think it is just a matter of professional decision and not any kind of discrimination against forign trained dentists.

 

[kosha]

hi ivshah;

i posted my resume on www.dentalworkers.com but they wanted to kow wether my visa status allows me to work here in the US well if i tell them i am on h4 there is no way iam goingto get acall or they shall not even publish my resume ... tahstw hat i think ...what do u say ?

 

[Bond]

Hi kosha

Do u have a work permit?? if u have ur work permint only then u can work on H-4 other wise its illegal to work on h-4 and u r right no one is going to hire unless ur visa status allows you to work.

 

[kosha]

hi bond ;
i canot legally owrk but i do not wnt to work for money ...iam ready to give service free of charge the whole idea of gong is to keeep intouch wiht dentistry

 

[ivshah]

hi! i know its very difficult to get job without workpermit. i do have now, but when i dint have it, i used to call up all dental offices near my home from yellow pages & i got response too. i used to go as a observer in dental clinic. so try to call all dentist,ask them to i want to work volentarily. (i called up atleast 100 dentist & i got response from 2 its crazy but at that time i wanna go as a observer........)
best of luck.

 

[bpl77]

Hi all,
I came to know about these professional staffers just a few days ago.I really dont know anything about these people but they said they can find me a dental assistant job even without a x ray license when i cant accept it because they ask for a 6 month contract.so people who are planning to apply to idp next year can try this out.Here is their address and phone no:

professional staffers
2143,hurley way
suite 110
sacramento,CA-95825

PHONE :916-564-3368
FAX :916-564-3369
If any of you are trying for this let me know how it goes.
But do a good research about these people before you sign in to anything for them.

Thanks
SANG