Dental Assisting Role in Special Care Dentistry: Proposal of a Structured On-Job Training to Address Skills Lag

Dental assistants have a key role in Special Care Dentistry, despite this, there is a lack of necessary education and training in this area. Patients with special needs face significant barriers to access oral health services due to lack of knowledge of dental professionals in caring for vulnerable groups, inexperienced or unhelpful staff, or lack of help with communication. Some recommended curricular revisions to better prepare dental assistants to play a vital role in inter professional care models and hopefully to increase job satisfaction and practice longevity. However, until needed curricular changes are made to bridge the current skill lag; policy makers at work place can adopt the proposed on-job training in this article.