3 Best Dental Assistant Programs In Knoxville, TN (2022 Updated)

The teachers are honest, they keep you in check on working for the goal which is to graduate. I’m so thankful for this experience and the opportunity to go threw the program. I can honestly say I’ve made life long friends. Chenny you’ll be missed so much. You had me in tears today. Danielle you’re an incredible soul and so motivating, Wendy so soft spoken but with a heart of gold. All 3 of you ladies have made this such a rewarding journey and I can’t thank you enough.Tennessee Team

I have recently went through the RDA program at this school, and i have to say it was probably one of the best decisions i have ever made for myself! The instructors are amazing. They are accommodative and want to see everyone succeed, and will do everything in their power to help anyone! The group of instructors, the friends will you make and all the resources you will gain is astonishing. This school was truly life changing in the best possible way!hailey walden

Loved the instructors! Loved the classes and the days of class worked very well with my schedule and my family! Thanks for everything!!! This Prepared me to get in the field and start my career! Mrs. Chenny among other instructors was so wonderful and the best!! Helped with everything I needed and went above and beyond!JeanAnn Smith

For the price of this school.. it was not worth it. Save your money and go to a community college ESPECIALLY if you’re coming here for dental assisting as you'll get the same if not better equipment. The 6 week unpaid externship is a huge issue in my opinion. It could be shortened to two weeks. During covid it was hard enough financially and they want you to leave your main job to go work for an office unpaid for 6 weeks full time. The career services person I had did not have any actual interest in helping, just ignoring any serious issues you have (making you stay at an extern site which is over an hour driving distance because she couldn't "find" any other place for you to go). They just want you to graduate to make themselves look like a good school, they do not care if you are having trouble with your extern site either even after being horribly disrespected by the employees on that extern site.(Dentist yelling at you, throwing stuff, extremely hostile environment). In all honesty if the career services actually showed that they cared, it would've made a big difference in how I viewed this school in the end. But they seem to have a high turnover rate with their staffing in general.M

Let me start off by saying that this rating is not a reflection of your instructors and the career services people. This is a refection of the school. The curriculum along with the homework load are not well planned out. You don't have the best of materials to work with. The tuition is absurd! Having that much money coming in, why is there not adequate materials and more up to date things to work with, such as more Dexter heads? I feel like certain things are just designed for you to not do as well as you could. Again, very expensive school for you to not have everything available to you. My education in this profession is super important, you're not gonna get far with out it. Thank goodness for those instructors though, their experience and their scenarios will help you to understand what that crazy dental book tries to explain to you. I feel like the knowledge I learned will help me get by, but you don't spend enough time on each unit to know and understand it fully. I don't want the instructors or some of the others that work there to get a low star rating, because they don't deserve it in anyway.Christen Padgett

The school is AMAZING! HIGHLY recommend going to this center to receive education in the medical field. As a former student, i have first hand experience with every person in the facility. Ms. Thomas, the assistant director and instructor is very kind and gives a ton of insight on what exactly you are to expect in the career. Mr. Moe, he is the career adviser and he helps really really well with getting you prepared for your career goals and will get you into your extern-ship. he also is very caring about your needs and goals. Every teacher, office personnel and Directors are very caring, respectful and a great role-model while looking into joining the medical field. Ross Medical Education Center is the school to go to when you want to learn the trade and want to get in and have some fun along the way.Brittany Haese

Decent school. Will waist your time on training that should be done by a high school freshman, entering their first job. Things like two star rated “SkillsUSA Career Essentials”. Despite the overwhelming majority of students finding it unhelpful and an academic distraction from the rest of their learning. It is a check in a box for the school though, thinking this will fix the number one issue with employees that employers face, punctuality and attendance. It won’t. But the school pushes hours of it anyway, despite overwhelmingly negative student feedback. Honestly the school cares very little on student feedback. Hence no student government body. Faculty has overall say. I’ve done three programs here. I mainly return due to how my GI Bill is charged. Basically I do it for the money. The welding program was great under Greg Brooks. Other instructors? May get a lesser or greater experience. Depends on the instructor. Had Will Drainy for the electrician program, and he was great. Moved on, and Nick Paterson took over, and program became a joke in comparison. I ended up co-oping early to get away from the mess of a program. Then automotive with Andy Smith was good. Good instructor but a big disconnect with what he teaches and the third party programs he uses, and the actual ASE certifying tests. He knows he trade, but doesn’t know his third party content he assigns us. Trusts the name of the provider(cdx), and blindly assigns it based on that. When problems are routinely brought up on the content/sources, we waves it off and says he doesn’t know. Much of the instructing will come from third party online sources, with his lectures being good but minimally helpful in regards to the assignments, all of which come from CDX, DealerCONNECT, SP2, SkillsUSA…again none of which has Andy Smith actually done. So he has little to nothing to do with the vast majority of tests, quizzes, and assignments, you will do. Almost nothing is “his material”, maybe that’s good, maybe not. I find it not good, when the content lacks and he can only acknowledge it, but can’t/won’t fix anything. Point being it’s an ok school, but depends on your individual instructor. The front office is often less than helpful and cares more of the image and politics involved in academia, than student feedback…but the “trades” are so in demand and the basic training you get can land enough people into that $14-18/hr range..so many students are content. Having done multiple courses for pleasure, I’ve had more opportunities to see the schools faults. Be prepared to be viewed as high school students, who are on the payroll of the school..as opposed to adult learners who are paying to attend the school. Weird priorities on their end. #1 is “worker characteristics” (stuff public school teaches you like follow directions and behaving around others) #2 the actual skills of your selected trade. 3 out of 5….but they push several 1 or 2 star products which you’ll be required to spend many hours on, with no return aside from “putting in the work”.Jim Johnson

If you want to get into the Automotive Tech program here’s what to expect: the class is headed by a Ford Master tech who is in possession of 98% of the tools and machines you’d ever need to complete a job. There are “customer” jobs to complete, actual cars with actual problems. There is a mountain of computer work as well as task-sheets that are completed by real-world action being taken in the Automotive Practice Lab. Attendance is strict. Tardies and Absences can ruin your shot at success in the program very VERY quickly. There’s a lot of self-study required. However, I’ve found that every question or concern I have about the material, about procedures, about the work – will all be addressed in a professional way by the Instructor, who has been doing this job for a very long time and has a very potent, information-filled teaching style. I suggest taking copious notes during lectures. A uniform is required and professionalism is required. In return for your good attendance, lack of tardies and commitment to the work you will receive some solid, SOLID benefits that’ll help you for real; first the certifications you’ll receive are numerous and valuable. Certifications are offered on everything from Safety to Precision Measuring Instruments and everything in-between. Next is Manufacturer Training; Chrysler *AND* GM training is now included in the curriculum. This is OEM Dealership level proprietary Manufacturer training on their specific products, methods and procedures. These alone can be instrumental in landing the job you want. Next there’s the ASE inclusion in the curriculum. If you can study hard, retain the knowledge and exhibit the ability to use it during real-world-scenario diagnosis you can secure ASE certifications. The importance of these in securing good pay cannot be overstated. Instructor Smith holds and maintains Master level ASEs. Finally is the applied skills you learn from doing the actual job. Automotive Practice Lab has a drive-on alignment lift / alignment machine, bench and mobile lathes, all manner of automotive machine-tools. But you really kinda have to earn your time on these machines by working hard at the first chunk of Automotive Tech as a program which is Safety & Foundations. If you have the motivation to study, retain and apply it all, then you get to work in the Practice Lab. Some folks seem frustrated you can’t just jump into the Lab on Day 1 and start working metal and cars. Full disclosure: it’s hard but it’s fun. It takes dedication and tons of self-study. In my view so far (10.5 months into the program) it’s worth the patience and determination and sweat. Why? Because in the end Instructor Smith is an expert at more than the machines or repairing the cars; he’s an expert regarding the Automotive Industry and knows seemingly everyone in the industry in town. His advice is worth trusting career-wise and if that’s what you’re after, a career at a dealership doing OEM warranty repair and diagnosis, maybe consider this program? Hope this helps.hollow men

If I could rate lower than 1 star I would! I began in the Surgical Technology program in September 2018. The syllabus guarantees 6 month lecture time and 6 month clinical time. The program director we had at the time dragged her feet and was consistently late for class time so instead of my group receiving the 6 month allotted time we got 52 days. In this 52 days we were required to complete a rotation and participate in 120 cases, this is nearly impossible. 20 days before graduation, I was dismissed from the program for having anxiety disorder for which I am medicated. Apparently there is no such thing as an extenuating circumstance. This dismissal was a ploy by the current program director (the program director changed earlier this summer) to assert her dominance since no one took her seriously. I filed a grievance, but by the time I was able to meet with someone there wasn’t a way for me to catch up and finish the program anyway, so I declined to fight for my position. Needless to say this was the most undesirable experience I have ever been through in my 30 years of life. I was constantly humiliated in front of class mates, called out, and at one point was told to use tea tree oil on my scalp because that’s what they used for their dog. I was exposed to a persons bodily fluids when an instructor placed a soiled safety shield on my face in the middle of a surgical procedure (the shield being soiled is why I didn’t have them on to begin with).After being dismissed from the program, I was told by the program director that I might try cosmetology as that might be a better fit because not everyone is meant for the medical field. I gave up almost a year of my life for this nightmare of an experience that included being mistreated and discriminated against for being overweight during my clinical time! If I could go back in time, I would save myself the hurt and tears that have been shed and just pursued my BA like I plan to do now. Prospective students beware!Charlye Snider