Do you know what the scope of work of a dental assistant is? The dental team of Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) of Singapore has specially designed a series of four dental assistant training sessions to equip volunteers who are interested in this area with the fundamental concepts.

This is for the upper teeth, and the upper part is upwards, so it is flat, it is for extracting the front teeth.

If this is a mirror, you don't place it in front of me, it has to be behind me, like this.

When the dentist asks you to get him something, just wet the paper and wrap it up. Because this alginate will shrink if it dries up too much.

Did you know these minor details are part of the job scope of a dental service assistant? The dental team of TIMA Singapore has arranged a four-session dental assistant training course to equip interested volunteers with the fundamental concepts in this field.

Coordinator of the dental service assistant courses , Jennifer Ee Shiau Hiong: (A dental service assistant) basically needs to take care of what the dentist needs and make the patient feel comfortable during the process. After taking this course, you will know clearly how to carry out the process, which means you will be able to help the dentist confidently.

Through a blend of lectures and hands-on demonstrations, covering topics from hygiene management and tools identification to the steps of different dental procedures, dentists and dental assistants from TIMA taught the participants every detail. 

Participant, Chan Chiew Li: What I find very useful is the hands-on session. I feel that making dentures is not easy. I didn’t know that there needs to be such a hand gesture to do this because there is a time limit. If you do it too slowly, it will harden and fall off, and the whole thing will become unusable.

Participant, Tew Hao Zhen: When I had my teeth filled in the past, I didn’t even think about what happened behind the scenes. There are so much preparations to be done, and there are a lot of technical knowledge to master. I learned a lot from this course.

Participant, Min Khant Thu: We can do so many things to make (the dental procedure) more convenient. So after attending the training, I will try to join on the weekend. I will try every month, I will be go there to volunteer as a dental assistant.

Everyone learned attentively and laid the foundation to provide dental patients with a better dental experience in the future.