Germanna Community College’s new Dental Assisting Program is
helping to fill in some of the holes that make up our area’s skills gap.
The state of
Virginia began requiring training for the job in 2010 on two levels. Since
then, qualified dental assistants have been hard to come by.
“We’re
putting trained people out there in the workforce,” said Misty Mesimer, GCC’s Dental
Assisting Program Director and Dental Hygiene Program Local Coordinator.
Dental Assistant I requires a certificate. GCC’s certificate program prepares students to
take the national dental assisting exam in one year. After passing that
exam, students are eligible to pursue a
Dental Assistant II degree.
Dental Assistant II requires an associate’s
degree. Germanna and Northern Virginia Community College jointly offer an
Associate of Applied Science Degree in Dental Hygiene through a distance
learning partnership. Students may complete general education courses at
Germanna.
Dental
assistants with a degree may earn $17 to $21 an hour, Mesimer said.
In one 14-day period, students and faculty at
GCC’s Dental Assisting clinic provided $14,206.00 worth of dental services
(exams, cleanings, x-rays, fillings, and extractions) to the community.
Germanna’s Dental Hygiene Program provided in
kind dental hygiene services to adults with development disabilities amounting
to $29,346 for all of the 2012 calendar year.
