MCC Dental Assistant Certificate Program is Enrolling Students Now

Manchester, Conn. (March 4, 2016) – Manchester Community College’s Dental Assistant certificate program is now enrolling students for the Fall 2016 semester.

A free information session will be held Friday, March 11, from 10 to 11 a.m., at the college in the Learning Resource Center, room A244. The program coordinator will provide details on the admission process and curriculum. Job prospects for this in-demand healthcare skill are good. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics and the Connecticut Department of Labor are predicting a high growth rate well into the next decade for the field. Employment for dental assistants is expected to grow by 31 percent by 2020, much faster than the average for all occupations.

Victoria Halbach, an MCC alumna who graduated from the program in 2015 and is now employed full-time at Children & Family Dental Group of Hartford, said, “I am the lead oral surgery assistant in the office, and I am in charge of scheduling and doing all of the IV sedation cases.”

She added, “I am also the main dental assistant for Dr. Lim, one of the general dentists in my office. I am in charge of her schedule and of caring for her patients.”

MCC’s program, accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association, qualifies students to sit for the Dental Assistant National Board examinations and earn the credential of “Certified Dental Assistant” (CDA), further improving job marketability. In addition, Dental Assistant students earn college credit for their course work, some of which may transfer to an associate or bachelor’s degree program.

Students practice clinical procedures in an on-site, state-of-the-art, dental office setting that includes three treatment rooms complete with digital x-ray, electronic patient records, and an instrument processing area. A practicum that includes site work at both UConn School of Dental Medicine and a dental clinic provides students with real-world experience before graduating.

Professional dental assistants also have opportunities in settings that include specialty practices (e.g., orthodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and oral and maxillofacial radiology), public health dentistry, and dental school and hospital clinics, as well as in dental product sales, insurance companies and teaching.

For more info, contact Kathy Jeffries at kjeffries@manchestercc.edu, call 860-512-2705 or visit www.manchestercc.edu/dental