---
title: Arizona Dental Assisting Program
url: "https://arizonacollege.edu/blog/arizona-dental-assisting-program/"
type: post
date_published: 2015-10-02
date_modified: 2025-12-26
schema:
  @type: Article
language: en-US
word_count: 500
reading_time: 3 min
canonical: "https://arizonacollege.edu/blog/arizona-dental-assisting-program/"
categories:
  - AZC Healthcare Programs
topic:
  - Dental Assisting
---

# Arizona Dental Assisting Program

Dental assistants give dentists the proper support they need to provide great
dental care to all their patients. Look no further than Arizona College’s dental
assisting program! Study the dental assistant profession intimately, with
hands-on instruction and modern dental equipment.

Keep reading to learn what Arizona College’s dental assisting program can do for
you.

**What does a dental assistant do? **

Dental assistants are the people you see before the dentist comes in. Their
primary role is to aid the dentist in providing quality oral healthcare to all
patients. Typical duties involve working alongside the dentist during
examinations and procedures, keeping the patient’s mouth clean and dry with the
use of suction devices, mixing material for restorative procedures, making
dental impressions for restoration, creating and polishing crowns, and taking
dental x-rays.

Dental assistants can also perform clinical duties like charting patient dental
histories, sterilizing equipment, providing patients with postoperative
instructions, and preparing tray set-ups for dental examinations. A number of
clinical and administrative duties may also be required depending on the
specific dental practice.

**What’s Arizona College’s program like? **

Our dental assisting program takes four quarters, or around 38 weeks to complete
(including the externship). Upon completion of in-class portion of the program
each student embarks on an eight-week clinical externship to hone his or her
skills in a real-world dental setting.

Here are some of the reasons students love taking our dental assisting program:

- Convenient morning and evening classes
- Peer Mentor Program
- Sessions starting every five weeks
- Financial aid available to qualifying students
- Open lab and tutoring sessions available by appointment
- Career Services placement assistance upon successful program completion

With lecture and lab classes offered by our qualified faculty, we teach students
the necessary skills to thrive both on the administrative and patient care sides
of dental assisting. Check out our list of
[dental assisting courses](https://arizonacollege.edu/healthcare-careers/dental-assistant/course-descriptions/)
.

**What do I do after the dental assisting program?**

After you complete your eight-week clinical externship, we suggest
[getting certified in the dental assisting field](https://www.arizonacollege.edu/all-programs/dental-assisting/certification-information/)
. However, our Career Services team will also work with you to find the job to
start your career.

**Where can I work as a dental assistant?**

Most dental assistants work in small or medium-sized dental practices with one,
or a small team, of dentists. However, there’s plenty of opportunity in more
specialized practices as well.

Check out some of the environments you could be working in below:

- General Dental Offices
  - Orthodontic Offices
  - Cosmetic Dentistry Offices
  - Pediatric Dental Offices
  - Oral and Maxillofacial Surgical Offices

We want to invite anyone interested in a dental assisting career to visit our
campus and learn more about our program. Complete the _Request Information_ form
to the right and an [Arizona College](https://www.arizonacollege.edu/)
representative will get back to you shortly!

---

_Information in this blog post is accurate as of October 2, 2015._

**Categories:** AZC Healthcare Programs