Dental assistants are in demand in San Diego. This program could defray their training costs

Looking for dental work? As in a job in the dental profession? Chances are a dentist near you is looking to hire a well-trained dental assistant.

A new pilot in San Diego is working to smooth out supply and demand by educating more of these technicians and making it easier for students to seek training by erasing barriers to access.

The pilot, run by the San Diego County Dental Society’s Academy of Learning and funded by the society and grants from the California Dental Association and San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson’s office, offers a low-cost dental assistant certificate program with a curriculum that is state credentialed and designed to meet the needs of San Diego’s dentists. It is a part-time, 15-week-long program, with in-person instruction on weekends and some online hom