University of Alabama At Birmingham

As a dental assistant, you'll perform a variety of tasks such as caring for patients and taking X-rays, as well as administrative duties. Our program provides the training and hands-on experience needed to pursue a career in this field.

To give you a broad education, we've divided our program into five subsections: general sciences, biomedical sciences, dental sciences, dental assisting, and clinical practice. Your general science courses will cover psychology and communication, while your biomedical sciences curriculum will include classes on physiology and anatomy, microbiology, pharmacology, and nutrition. Our dental school faculty will teach your dental sciences courses, covering more technical subjects such as dental anatomy, oral pathology, dental materials, preventative dentistry, and dental radiology. Then, when you take your dental assisting courses, we'll cover topics such as practice management, dental emergencies, and dental laboratory techniques. Finally, a critical part of your education will be real-world experience, including around 500 hours of patient treatment. Here, you'll get clinical practice opportunities in all general and speciality clinics at the UAB School of Dentistry and private dental clinics. In the end, you'll have earned a certificate that's fully approved by the Board of Dental Examiners of Alabama.

• Dental assistant job opportunities are expected to increase 19 percent between 2016 and 2026—faster than average (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
• Dental assistants earned an average annual salary of $40,080 in 2019 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).