Grace Media Group visited with Dr. Mark Holifield – Complete Dental Care, 2064 South Highland Avenue – for a question and answer session about a project he is taking nationally – Dental Assistant School.
Question: First a little background information. Where are you originally from, family, education?
Answer: I’ve lived and practiced dentistry in West Tennessee for 31 years. I graduated from the University of Louisville in 1990 and I own Complete Dental Care Clinics in Jackson, Huntingdon and Parsons as well as Complete Dental Care Educational Center and now I am co-owner of the Washington AGD Dental Assistant School in Seattle, Washington.
I am also the Institutional Director for Complete Dental Care Educational Center and Cora Sanders is the Assistant Director. Ms. Sanders has 17 years experience with Complete Dental Care and has a huge passion for teaching that resonates among her students. She will play a vital role in training the instructors for other schools.
Question: Besides opening the Complete Dental Care Center, you also started – or founded – Tennessee’s only Dental Assistant School – where students can receive hands on training with specialty and general dentistry. What inspired you to start a dental assistant school?
Answer: Before we created our program, we had difficulty hiring trained dental assistants for Complete Dental Care. We researched dental assistant schools and found that there were two main types of dental assistant schools in the United State, a CODA program supported by the American Dental Association and a Saturday school program like found in Middle Tennessee.
Neither of those programs were helping solve our dental assistant shortage. The CODA program was too long with a years worth of training and too expensive for the student, running $30,000 plus.
The Saturday schools didn’t train well enough for our needs with only 80 hours of class room and no clinical experience.
So we took two years to create a program that solves all of these issues. We provide 160 hours training with clinical experience in a shorter time period – four weeks instead of 10 weeks or a year and we do it for the same price as the Saturday programs.
Our students are well trained going Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., for four weeks straight and they get into the work force in the quickest time frame.
Our program has been so well received by dentists in Tennessee that they are sending their own children to us for education and several college students are using our course as an introduction to dentistry before they go into dental school or dental hygiene school. Our motto for students is the best training in the shortest time period for the most affordable price.
Question: Your next step appears to very aggressive. We understand you will open a Dental Assistant School in Seattle, Washington. How did this evolve, and how was Seattle chosen?
Answer: The success of our program here in Tennessee has reverberated across the U.S.
Dentists and organizations are seeking us out to bring our program to their state.
The dental assistant shortage is nationwide and other states are facing the same issues that we are here, not enough assistants and no way to train them effectively and efficiently.
Our program solves their issues also. The Washington Academy of General Dentistry is fantastic. It serves its members by providing the best in education for dentists and staff in the state of Washington.
They had been trying for years to create their own dental assistant school but with no success.
When they were informed of our program, they immediately fell in love with it. However, no dental organization had ever gone in business with a private business before so it took a year and a half of committee meetings and attorneys to work through all the fine detail. Out of this Joint Venture though, we hope to change the way that dental assistants are trained in the entire country.
Question: How will you find staff for the school; how many students can enroll at the same time, and how long does it take for a student to complete the course?
Answer: The Washington AGD is a highly respected organization and we have already hired an equally respected individual with years of experience in dentistry and education to be our instructor for the Washington School.
The program there will be a mirror image of the program at Complete Dental Educational Center.
Question: When a student completes their course in Seattle, does that mean he or she can only work in the state of Washington?
Answer: No. Once a student graduates from either program, they will be eligible to become a Registered Dental Assistant in six states – Washington, Tennessee, Utah, Kentucky, Arkansas and Mississippi.
We are continuing to add states to that list to provide greater value for the students dollar.
Question: Do you envision opening other dental assistant schools in the country? If so, can you tell us about future plans?
Answer: Yes, we are looking at opening schools across the U.S. Currently, we have targeted Idaho, Oregon, Michigan, North Dakota, Texas, Florida and two more schools in Tennessee in the next year.
(PHOTO: Dr. Mark Holifield)
