Allied Dental Educator

Allied dental educators train people for careers as dental assistants, dental hygienists, and/or dental laboratory technicians. Since there is always a strong demand for dental specialists, dental education schools are constantly recruiting qualified allied dental educators.

Most allied dental educators are employed as faculty at four-year colleges, community college, vocational schools and dental schools. Allied dental educators spend most of their time in the classroom, but they’re also responsible for supervising clinical training. In addition to training students, allied dental educators mentor students to ensure they’re adequately prepared to find a job after graduating. Many allied dental educators teach while they continue to practice as dental hygienist, dental assistant or dental laboratyr technician.

Allied dental educators often co-author textbooks, conduct research and publish conclusions in academic journals, and participate on school committees responsible for developing dental education curriculum. They coordinate continuing education classes designed to teach practicing dental health specialists additional skills and keep abreast of new techology, equipment, techniques and knowledge. Some educators are employed by dental equipment manufacturing companies and vendors.

Many allied dental educators enter the profession in order to give back to their professional community. Teaching students is not only a job for most allied dental educators, it's satisfying and rewarding.

To begin a career in this field, aspiring educators must first acquire several years experience as a dental health specialist. Each school has different qualifications, but most allied dental educators must hold a bachelor’s degree before being hired. Schools that sponsor full-time training programs often online hire dental educators with a graduate degree.

Alliend dental educators must be licensed, complete required continuing education requirements, and satisfy other requirements mandated by state licensing boards.

Dental schools, universities, colleges, vocational and community colleges, and schools specializing in dental health training hire allied dental educators. Some educators teach part-time and some full-time. Demand for allied dental educators is linked to demand for dental health specialists - which continues to grow year after year. Thousands of dental educators will be need to training the tens of thousands of dental hygienists, assistants and laboratory technicians that will be entering the field of over the next decade.

How much allied dental educators earn depends on their level of experience and the institution they work for. Many of the same factors, including location, skill level and education, which influence salary for most professionals also influences how much an allied dental educator will make. On average, a dental educator will make between $40,000 and $65,000 a year.

As most allied dental educators work for community colleges, they can also expect to receive benefits include health insurance, retirement plans, vacation time, sick leave, and discounted tuition rates for their immediate family members.