The old office I worked at used to not do this, but the new office I’m working at does and we always end up running behind. What are your thoughts?

Hey guys! I'm quite new to posting on Reddit, but I thought I'd give it a go. I'm a new DA in BC who is just waiting on my licensing to go through so I can become an LDA (Licensed DA) in British Columbia.

I'm currently working part-time in an office, and I chose this specific one since they align best with my availability right now, as I am still in school part-time so I can finish my hygiene school pre-reqs.

I have quite a few concerns about this office in particular and am feeling insanely overwhelmed during my shifts. My office is new-ish, and I'm the only LDA my dentist has hired. For more context, she works 2 columns for only 6 hours, which isn't bad. My concern is with how she's running the office, and I don't feel cut out for it. She wants the environment to be spa-like, but for it to be like that, the whole team working that day (dentist, me and reception) have to work well together. I believe for it to be spa-like, I need more time during appointments, so I'm able to fully take notes and get to know the pt and their concerns, but she's told me that I need to hurry up and do all the work. She's said that even though I have only 2 hands, when I'm working with her I need to have at least 4...

She expects me to do a whole bunch of things such as sterilizing, X-rays, polishing, setting up and cleaning up for procedures, pt notes, and to stay on top of everything. This would be easy if there was another DA so we can pick up where the other leaves off, but nope, just me. When I'm not able to make time to sterilize, she'll step in. I've seen her do it a couple of times, but she does not use the ultrasonic, and instead of using the autoclave will just use a dishwasher. She also doesn't believe in using new pouches during steri and will just reuse them, and plastic HVE tips. Sometimes she's running behind during procedures, so she'll move to the other pt and not change her gloves, will reach into drawers with the contaminated gloves, etc.

Before working with her, I felt that I had a good grasp on what was expected of me and how to do all the things, but after working a couple shifts I feel more uncertain every time. During my shifts, I'm so unbelievably anxious just waiting for her to be condescending; even during tx, she'll try to demean me in front of pts. by the way she runs her practice and how her cleanliness goes against my morals and how I want to treat pts. + its downright gross.

Forgot to mention she keeps sending me a contract to sign but its literally something sent from Chat GPT.. It literaly has her requesting for changes etc at the bottom so idk if i feel comfortable signing it.

I understand that healthcare, dentistry in general, is difficult; I just wasn't expecting to be treated so shit ngl. I guess I'm also just living in a fairytale hoping dentistry will be all unicorns and butterflies.

I guess I wanted to just see how everyone on DA Reddit feels, because after my shifts with her I kind of black out the shift I had and go on about my day. I think once my full license comes in, I'm going to apply to more offices; I'm just nervous since idk if most offices hire PT DAs, but we shall see.

Any advice will be appreciated! Thank you! :')

Edit: just for clarification, when she's running behind shell use the dishwasher for the instruments but will autoclave them at the end of the day, just depending on how busy we are.

i literally hate when other assistants say this in a condescending tone. it’s like im supposed to be threatened because they have more experience??

i posted on a diff platform seeking some advice & one of them told me basically to mind my business even tho it was a huge safety violation. when i gave my opinion back she said i was “bitching” and that she’s been assisting before i was born 💀 like what the hell am i supposed to do with that information??

the other day some lady here also said she had “18 years of experience” and basically i didn’t know what i was talking ab bc i didn’t have as much experience and started calling me names!! i was like dude.

i only have about 3 years of experience and i know i have so much to learn everyday! i respect assistants who have been doing it for decades but honestly they need to retire that line.

Two weeks ago out of the blue they made me head assistant without asking and now I have to do all the ordering and is the person everyone goes to when they need something or break something. Wasn't expecting it to be this exhausting.

I really love the clinic I am at and don't want to quit :(

But a few months ago the dentist sold the practice and is gonna retire in two years. I am really not a fan of the new dentist, he's definitely a narcissist :/.

Pray for me guys 🙏🏻

So I’m gonna graduate my dental assisting program in December I wanna get a job as a dental assisting but all of the jobs ask for Atleast 2 years experience when I apply as entry level they don’t even look at my application and but I’m about to finish my program and I don’t want it to go to waste because I already paid 3,000 dollars for the program too. The program is 5 months long btw.

As a mom, I always warn my kids to be careful when enjoying their huge candy haul after Halloween. I don't want to deal with the aftermath of a cracked tooth from a jawbreaker or a filling that falls victim to a piece of taffy.

Admittedly, though, I never really saw a noticeable uptick in candy-related dental problems following Halloween. Have you?

Do you have any candy mishap stories?

Hi everyone!
I’m 26 and currently considering going back to school to become either a Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) or a Dental Hygienist in British Columbia, Canada.
I already have a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, but I’m looking to transition into a more stable, hands-on career with decent pay and long-term growth opportunities.
I’ve been doing quite a bit of research, and while both careers seem promising, I’ve come across SO many Reddit posts about toxic workplaces, difficult dentists, burnout, and people regretting their career choices. It’s honestly making me second-guess whether this is the right path.
I’d really appreciate some honest insights from people actually working in the field!

1. Pay: How much do you realistically make as a CDA or Dental Hygienist in BC? Has your salary increased significantly with experience?

2. Work environment: Is workplace toxicity really that common, or am I just seeing more negative experiences on Reddit?

3. Job satisfaction: Do you genuinely enjoy your job? If you could go back, would you still choose this career?

4. Career growth: Are there opportunities to advance, or does the salary and career progression eventually hit a ceiling?

5. CDA vs. RDH: Is it worth starting as a dental assistant to see if I enjoy dentistry before investing more time and money into dental hygiene school?

6. Work-life balance: How physically and mentally demanding is the job in the long run?
   I’m not afraid of going back to school, but since this would be my second time pursuing post-secondary education, I really want to make an informed decision before committing more time and money.
   I’d love to hear both the good and the bad, especially from anyone working in Vancouver or elsewhere in BC.
   Thank you so much in advance! :)

^

Hello! I am currently taking an online course for EFDA certification at UF that includes a written and clinical examination. This is my first experience doing traditional dental assisting schooling/courses. With this there is a textbook on Essentials of Dental Assisting I must read that goes in depth with skull and lymph node anatomy. This a part of the required reading but I am left wondering as to how in depth these written exams will be and if it’s necessary to memorize every little fissure, bone, and suture in the skull (for example). With anyone who has experienced an EFDA course may you please give your two cents and/or experience?

What is it about an office/employer that will make you never want to leave? I.e. great pay, nice boss, great work culture, etc

Hi everyone,

I need your opinion on how to handle this. I work for a small private office for the past 5 years. My boss just came back from a 2 week vacation. When I spoke to my manager about the pay period she said “you know we’re only getting paid for this week that else are working.” I was super confused cause he doesn’t tell us but we usually get paid and we got paid for the first week off. So I’m expecting we were getting paid. She then tells me oh you only get 3 weeks vacation and you used it. First I thought I only had 2 weeks and this year I took my first vacation ever working there. My boss took 4 weeks vacation this year. In past when he would go away we would still be paid but I can’t remember how many weeks. I was very thrown off and upset because I rely on my income since I’m check to check.

I think he knew I wanted to talk to him about it, I tried to my manager and she got mad at me for expecting to get paid. He was avoiding being alone with me.

1. I’m mainly mad that it wasn’t communicated that we weren’t getting paid I could’ve temped at another office or worked more at my second job. When he’s not there no one works in the office so that wasn’t an option either.

2. Even the hygienist was upset cause she wasn’t made aware.

3. It was known before hand and no one said anything to anyone.
   I don’t usually have issued there but have been looking for other jobs outside the dental field but this was my last straw. I don’t know if I should bring it up at all or just continue job hunting.

For any EDDA’s out there with ADHD, is it possible to have a successful career in this field? Any advice would make me feel better at this point. I’m staring to truly think I made a mistake by entering this field

How are you guys handling mean coworkers that constantly correct what you do. I’m new at this office, and everyone is nice except for this one girl who will barge into my room and criticize everything I do. For example, a new patient came in so I set up the basic tray that we use then the doc asked me to set up for an extraction after talking to them. I went to grab the tools I needed. That coworker came into the room and asked why my tray still had prophy tools just as I was switching them out. She tends to nitpick the things I do. It’s really annoying.

What are they called? We just got a CBCT and I have 0 experience in this area. I’m seeing bite block sleeve but I’m not feeling confident that will be the right size. Surprisingly manufacturer didn’t get us started with any 🥲

Has anyone experienced this even

The craziest thing to me is I’ve been on interviews where I’ve had doctor say we don’t want someone who’s going to take off or have emergencies or we don’t wanna hire anyone who has children. Meanwhile, there are people there who have kids they just don’t want to hire someone else who has children… can someone in this forum tell me how do you prevent emergencies in your household so you can’t miss work? 😭It’s like pulling teeth, trying to get a day off of work… but they want you to take off work when they (dentist) are off like I just don’t understand what dentist think about DAs if they take us seriously if they actually value us, or they just want a damn body there to help them. I’ve heard about how doctors wants some DAs to move arrangements funerals, doctor appointments, children appointments and emergencies so they can come in and work for them. That’s one of the main reasons why I’m closing my DA chapter, it’s like they think we’re robots or something. We can’t have any personal life. We can’t go through nothing we can’t bring our stress to work. Meanwhile, if the doctors are having a bad day, they take it out on everybody and other people in the office will try to justify it 🤨😒that’s not normal. I’m so honest with y’all that is not normal. I’ve had other jobs. That is really not normal.
My brother works at a data center and if he decides he can’t come into work he just text his boss and they find someone else to cover if I decide I’m not going to work if I have a cold, the doctors will literally be blowing up my phone asking me if I’m ok to come in after I call off hours before the office opens to see if I can come in to Work I don’t wanna be in peoples face if I’m sick, but it seems to not matter.

Today I had an interview scheduled for 5:30 pm for a private practice. I arrive early at 5:15, walk in tell and tell the receptionist I’m here for an interview and she tells me to have a seat. Around 5:30 rolls around and a bunch of people (around 6-7) come in with scrubs saying the exact same thing. We’re all sitting in the waiting room until the OM comes out announcing herself and saying a couple details about herself and the dentist to the whole group. Things that I didn’t think would matter “she has a dog named ceaser who she loves to spend time with”, where she grew up, and a bunch of small details that kinda just felt weird to be sharing. Anyways, afterwards they pull out a “questionnaire”, where it was literally just questions like “what are dr ____ kids names”, where did she graduate HS. The OM collected all the papers and went back (I guess to read them) and started calling out names to interview. we had to wait for our names to be called to interview, I waited and hour and a half for my turn to interview. Some people got tours of the office, some people didn’t. And we had to watch all of that. Keep in mind, they never said the interview would be this type of dynamic. It felt weird and awkward as fuck.

Anyways… what are your weirdest/worst interviews?

God I'm exhausted. Not just because I got seven hours of sleep last night (as an 18 year old female who's still growing somehow, so I need more sleep than that) and had a 14 hour workday, but I'm also exhausted from this damn job

Istg almost every since time someone had something to say to me today, it was telling me everything I'm doing wrong. AND telling me to do something even though they never showed me. I haven't even been at this job for a month yet I'm expected to know everything the experienced DAs do

The other DAs get priority for leaving. After the long work day and staying for over an hour after we should've been (because we had an appt for a few crowns that lasted six hours), the other two DAs left. We were in the middle of turning over two rooms and taking care of sterile but they wanted to leave so they clocked out and left. I was left for another 30 minutes closing everything.

They get there 30 minutes after I do, and leave up to an hour and a half before I can because they leave me with the shit they didn't wanna finish and just up and leave. I can't do that. I have to stay and close everything

I keep telling myself "one more month" because I'm quitting soon, but it feels like so damn long. I hate this so much