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Ongoing Training for Your Dental Team

If you are starting to offer orthodontics for your patients, then you need a motivated and well-trained dental team on-board to promote orthodontics in your dental practice. Once you commit to offering orthodontics, it takes a knowledgeable team to help you promote the new service and explain to patients the benefits of accepting orthodontic treatment. To get your team on board, sign them up for a dental assistants hands-on orthodontic workshop course with the American Orthodontic Society (AOS).

The AOS offers courses for dental auxiliary staff to educate them and empower them in all areas of orthodontics. One of the main benefits of having your staff take continuing education orthodontics courses is they become familiarized with orthodontic language, leaving them more comfortable speaking with patients. If a patient has a question about their diagnosis, record taking, or what to expect during their orthodontic treatment, your team will be competent and confident to answer all questions.

Having a team trained via taking a dental orthodontic assistant course motivates your staff because they will be cross-trained in a highly competitive dental field. When you have your team take this type of workshop it shows you care about their progression of their career and that you are investing in their training and skills.

What the Dental Assistants’ Hands-On Orthodontic Workshop Entails

During the two and a half day hands-on course, your staff will learn through a didactic and clinical workshop. They will get background in Phase I orthodontics in the adolescents and the mixed dentition, which is beneficial when parents are concerned about orthodontics for their child. Staff will also review Class I and II malocclusions and learn to take diagnostic records, including mirror photography and the radiographs needed like panoramic and cephalometric images.

Staff will have a hands-on portion in learning wire placement and bracketing using the Straight Wire system. Your team will also get training in retention, which is the final important step of orthodontic treatment. A clinical class motivates your staff to become cross-trained, expand their skills, and demonstrates they can have more responsibilities – which only benefits your practice and patients.

Empowered Alumni of the Workshop

The dental assistants hands-on orthodontic workshop course is such a benefit to dentists because it allows your dental team to advance in their career. It is a win-win for both the dentist and assistant, as the dentist now has a fully trained orthodontic assistant and the assistant can add more skills to their resume and potentially increase their income.

Previous attendees of the workshop rave about the Dental Assistants’ course and how Susan Coffey, RDA, runs the workshop. Ms. Coffey has years of experience in general dental orthodontics and thrives on motivating other assistants to get orthodontic experience.

Here are comments from a few of her prior alumni.

“It was a great experience being in this class. I learned a lot from Susan. She explains everything where it’s understandable, and any questions you had, Susan was very helpful.” —Yamel Rivera from Irving, TX

“As a dental assistant who is brand new to ortho, this intro class has given me confidence in starting ortho. Susan and the other lovely ladies in the back helped me so much. I don’t think I will forget any of it because I know the why behind what I’m doing, too.” —Kassidi Thomson from Ada, OK

Lastly, Elizabeth raves about taking the course twice.

“This is my second time taking this class. Susan is amazing at explaining things, and I have picked up a lot more the second time around. I would recommend this class to anyone interested in learning ortho. Thank you!” —Elizabeth Poell from Holton, KS

Improve the dynamics of your practice!

Offering your team a CE course is one of the top ways you can motivate them to learn a new skill, but also keep them updated with the constantly evolving field. When patients come to your office, they schedule their appointments to see you, the dentist. But in reality, they spend most of their time with your clinical and administrative staff. Having them well-versed in orthodontic language and understanding the nuances of treatment only reinforces your patients confidence to begin orthodontics with you.

When you give your team the opportunity to advance their skills, they have more to offer and are more valuable in any dental setting. It also is a chance for your team to get higher compensation as they develop more techniques that they can use in your office. Staff always appreciates the ability to move up the ladder and to maximize their abilities.

The Dental Assistants Hands-On Orthodontic Workshop is a well-designed course to help your team get on board with transforming your office to a general dental orthodontic practice. One of the best features of the course is that it is led by enthusiastic RDA, Susan Coffey. She understands from a dental assistant perspective on what they need to learn in both technique and didactics to become highly qualified to assist in orthodontics.

When you make the choice to offer your patients orthodontics, it is not just the dentist that requires training. It is truly a team effort that is only successful when everyone in the practice is on the same page. Fortunately, the dental orthodontic assistant course offered by Williams GP Orthodontic Seminars is empowering and educational for everyone in your practice.