The Aiken Technical College Foundation has recently been awarded a grant to support the college’s expanded duty dental assisting program.
Aiken Tech’s expanded duty dental assisting program, accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation, is known for preparing students to work alongside dentists and was awarded by the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation.
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The awarded grant for the dental assisting program will be utilized to purchase upgraded equipment for the dental assisting lab.
Purchased materials will include digital sensors, specialty instruments and cassettes, an autoclave and preventive dentistry carts, also known as standalone operatories, according to a press release from Aiken Tech.
As the program strives to educate students on how to help develop and manage infection control protocol while managing dental offices, Angela Odom, program director for the expanded duty dental assisting program, said the additions will ensure that the program’s equipment reflects the latest in the industry.
“I am excited that our program was chosen for this grant,” Odom said.
As a graduate of the expanded duty dental assisting program 28 years ago and now the program director, Odom said she was thrilled to know that Aiken Tech was going to provide state-of-the-art equipment and technology for students.
“It means so much to me to be able to keep this program up-to-date in all of the significant changes that are happening yearly in dentistry,” she said.
Odom also added that the purchase of new standalone operatories will also double the program’s current operatories, greatly expanding opportunities for enrollment growth.
For more information about the expanded duty dental assisting program at Aiken Technical College, visit: https://www.atc.edu/Study/Programs-of-Study/Health-Sciences/Dental-Assisting
