Anyone whos a Dental Hygienist or Dental Assistant?????

I'm planning on getting my degree in both and am curious . . how do you enjoy it and what classes did you have to take for your degree? is the pay decent?


thanks!

Anyone whos a Dental Hygienist or Dental Assistant?????
From what I have learned, some dentists would rather have a hygienist right out of school that they can train themselves as opposed to getting an assistant that has worked for several years and then try to transfer over.





I am actually looking into the dental hygienist certification and have interviewed with a couple of dental offices that told me they would rather have the hygienists because they are more likely to stay after being trained. An assistant in the hygienists program will not have as flexible of a schedule while they are in school and are more likely to leave once they have completed their education.





In my area:





Dental Assistants earn- $12-16 per hr


Dental Hygienists earn- $ 30-35 per hr
Reply:I know a friend who is a dental assistant. She only has GED (no college ed) and got lucky with the job. She has been working with the same dentist for more than 10 years and makes $13 an hour. You have to stand for long hours and deal with patients who are not polite.
Reply:You don't need both certificates. Dental assistant is less pay and quicker to get certificate without taking pre-requisite courses. Dental hygienist school takes 2 years after you take a year of the pre-requisites like anatomy, you need good grades to be accepted. With more coursework comes lot more pay, you can expect more than $45k/year. Go to www.salary.com to check out the salaries from different states.