I am looking into becoming a medical assistant.

Anyone a dental assistant or dental hygienist? Looking into becoming one... want some advice?

• For anyone who is a dental assistant or dental hygienist could you please tell me how difficult the schooling was? How easy was it to find a job? What pay range are you in? Which is more worth it? The assistant or the hygienist? What's the major differences? Anything from personal experience that you could help me with would be awesome! Thanks!

• Answer:

  I was a dental assistant for 10 years before I went back to Hygiene school. I was trained on the job by a really cool dentist then I took my assisting courses. In maryland dental assistants can make anywhere from 10-20 an hour, ortho assistants make that higher end of the scale. It's very easy to find a job here in Maryland. The schooling isn't so bad, it definitely helps if you can work in an office at the same time so you can apply what you learn. I went to hygiene school because I loved being a dental assistant, and working with patients, and wanted more money. I make $42 an hour and I graduated last year from school....however working in the field for 14 years did qualify me for greater pay (alot of it has to do with my confidence level too) But most here in MD are making around 40ish. Hygiene school is anywhere from an associates to a bachelors degree. They say associates is 4 years but it's really more like 3. So if I were you I'd go for the 4 year bachelors degree. Why? Because if you don't like dental hygiene clinically, you can do pharmaceutical sales, research or teach at the community college level.