Essential Skills
The following descriptions of hard and soft skills, along with some environmental demands, are intended to help students understand the expectations of future classroom and workplace environments. Please note that these descriptions are NOT admission requirements for program acceptance. Instead, they are designed to assist students in making informed decisions about their future.
Hard Skills
- Constantly hearing/talking and standing/walking
- Frequently engaging in repetitive motions (reaching/twisting at the waist, bending)
- Basic keyboard and mouse skills
- Physical contact with patients during labs and clinicals
- Constantly engaging in hand-eye coordination
- Frequent dexterity (gripping/holding/carrying/using tools/using small parts of machinery)
- Demonstrate sufficient visual ability to work with small items with/without corrective lenses and while wearing safety glasses
- Hear and understand muffled communication without visualization of the communicator's mouth/lips
- Hear activation/warning signals on equipment
- Assist with and/or lift, move, position patient
- Communicate and understand fluent English verbally and in writing
- Possess short- and long-term memory to track dental supplies and anticipate needs
Soft Skills
- Consistent Communication/Engaging with instructors, employers, dentists, hygienists, and patients
- Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
- Dedication/Diligence/Reliability
- Malleable and Teachable
- Professionalism
- Punctuality/Time Management
- Self-Regulation
- Team Player
- Give proper attention to personal hygiene and dress code
- Make appropriate judgment decisions
- Demonstrate the use of positive coping skills under stress
- Demonstrate calm and effective responses, especially in emergency situations
- Exhibit positive interpersonal skills with patients, staff, and faculty
- Appropriate use of phone during class, clinical, and workplace
- Attention to Detail/Meticulousness
- Regular and reliable attendance
- Punctuality/Time Management
Environmental Demands
- Ability to tolerate odors
- Constantly hearing/talking and standing/walking
- Tolerate bright lights/intense noise/vibrations
- Physical contact with patients
- Tolerate hazardous working conditions
- Tolerate hazardous conditions involving bloodborne pathogens
Refrain from nourishment or restroom breaks during dental procedures - Lift a minimum of 50 pounds
- Stand, bend, stoop, and/or sit for long periods with minimal or no breaks
- Ambulate and/or move around without assistive devices
Be free of substances and reportable communicable diseases