 Hello everybody Andrea Torowski here with dental al-tutoring. So a lot of people have been asking me lately even patients What's the difference between a dental assistant and a dental hygienist? So let me tell you so even if you're just a high school student You're looking into a dental program and you want to know the difference between assisting and hygiene Let me tell you so I will talk about assisting a little bit more but for dental hygiene think that's the person that cleans your teeth The dental assistant does not That's how I explain it to my patients if they're like so are you an assistant? Are you hygienist? Are you the dentist? Like who are you? So the dental hygienist cleans the teeth, but the dental assistant now it depends on what office you work in where if you'll be on the phones if you're helping out with patients if your chair side or Some offices will will only have a chair side Meaning you are only seeing the patients in the back and helping out the dentist You are never on the phone. So it does depend when I was a dental assistant. I was a dental receptionist on Mondays, but then I was the assistant to a dentist Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday So what I did was I would clean up the rooms I would set up the room. So I would need to know What patient we are seeing next to know what to set up for so if we're seeing them for a tooth tooth extraction for Accomposite filling for an amalgam filling for Impressions for a new patient exam all of those things it means that I would set up for something differently So I would need to know what we're doing. I Would need to know am I taking x-rays are they due for x-rays? So then I would set up accordingly because any time you are supposed to take x-rays You need to do that before the dentist comes in so then that way when they come in they can see the x-rays So so I would be in charge of cleaning up the room is setting up the room so cleaning up the room means disinfecting and sterilizing Everything so everything that needs to be sterilized everything that needs to be disinfected has to be done accordingly And I do talk about the differences between Disinfecting and sterilizing in another video. So have a look at that if you're not too sure But it also means writing up in the charts So I would be in charge of all of the charts So making sure that I would bring the the charts to the dentist in the morning So then that way he or she could have a look if the dentist needs to sign something I would need to know if they had to sign something If we need to send off impressions to the lab I would be in charge of Pouring up the impressions and calling the lab to have them picked up. So the dental assistant literally does everything I'm telling you we have to know a little bit about everything and if you're thinking about being a hygienist I would highly suggest I would highly suggest being a dental assistant first So you kind of know the ins and outs because even as a hygienist there are a lot of things that they don't teach you Like how to actually they do teach you how to pour up impressions But they don't teach you sort of the little things behind it So it does help to be an assistant for sure What else does the assistant do pretty much everything having to do with the dentist if the dentist is behind you Have to keep the dentist on time as best as possible If the patient doesn't show up you have to call the patient to see where they are sometimes you are in charge of Calling the patient to make sure that they will show up for their appointments in some offices you may even be in charge of booking appointments and at the end of their appointment putting the codes in the computer for The receptionist so it depends on what office you work in in the office where I worked in as an assistant I was in charge of putting the codes in the computer for the receptionist and then I brought the patient up to the front for The receptionist to kind of take over so to take payment to have them sign insurance forms all of that fun stuff What else was I in charge of I was in charge of calling patients who were due for their cleanings to book them in to keep the schedule full Um, I was in charge. I think I mentioned sterilizing so in some offices you would take your tray into the Sterilization area and there's somebody else there to do it for you But I was in charge of doing my own instruments So I would put them through the ultrasonic through the statham I would make sure that they're set up for the next person all kinds of things So we are literally in charge of a lot and we do have to know a little bit about everything But it's it is amazing So if you're not sure if that's something you want to do look into it. It is amazing and you will love it I loved being a dental assistant It's just at the end I wanted to be a dental hygienist because you're more on your own And you don't have to be with the dentist 24 seven you are more your own provider So you are working on your own and you ask the dentist for checks and that's it So that's just something that I wanted to do But I hope this helps to give you guys some insight of the dental assistant career. It is awesome And thank you so much for watching