TEACHING WHAT THEY WANT DENTISTS TO OPEN SCHOOL TO TRAIN SAVVY ASSISTANTS.

Byline: Sue Doyle Staff Writer

VALENCIA - For years, Allen and Kelly Smudde have seen people apply for jobs at their dental office and have wondered what in the world some applicants were thinking.

Some forget phone numbers on their resumes. Some blow off interviews or show up late. Others arrive in jeans.

But those aren't the only reasons why the Smuddes, both dentists, are opening a school for dental assistants this month.

The husband-and-wife dental team has found that many graduates of dental-training programs have little hands-on experience and a lot of education debt - typically, about $10,000 in student loans. They might have ``book smarts,'' but many lack skills for day-to-day employment in dental offices.

The Smuddes aim to change all that.

``We mainly want young people to not have such debt and to be really qualified,'' said Kelly Smudde. ``We just really want to make a difference, and we love teaching.''

Class will begin Jan. 29 at the couple's Santa Clarita School of Dental Assisting and will continue every Sunday for 10 weeks. The eight-hour days are divided equally between classroom and hands-on training inside the Valencia office where the Smuddes practice dentistry. Tuition costs $3,000.

Kelly Smudde said students will acquire skills from suctioning to sterilizing, and they will learn how to help dentists and to be members of a dental team.

Interviewing skills also will be reviewed in class, so students can make good impressions when applying for jobs.

Being a dental assistant is usually the first step into the world of dentistry and can lead to other positions, such as office manager, or even inspire the worker to get a degree in dentistry, Kelly Smudde said.

In fact, she was a dental assistant before she became a doctor of dental surgery.

As the daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of dentists, she said, she grew up visiting her father's office and helping him with patients. He trained her to become an assistant, a job she kept through high school and college.

Judy Martin also got her start 16 years ago as a dental assistant. Through the years she learned accounting, computer programming and other aspects of the business side of dentistry, and she eventually became an office manager. Now she'll also be assistant director of the Santa Clarita School of Dental Assisting.

Martin said it's common for the newly hired to be timid in the workplace. Unfortunately, shyness might lead to aloofness with patients who need communication to feel comfortable in a dentist's office.

``You want to give them that comfort and let them know that everything will be OK and that they will be fine,'' Martin said. ``You can be new, but they don't need to know it.''

An open house will be held from 7 to 9 Thursday evening at the Santa Clarita School of Dental Assisting, 25880 Tournament Road, Suite 103, Valencia.

For information, call Martin at [phone].

Sue Doyle, [phone]

sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Judy Martin, right, assists dentist Kelly Smudde in working on patient Victoria Boog. Martin will help run the Santa Clarita School of Dental Assisting.

(2) Judy Martin works on a dental bridge. She is helping dentists Allen and Kelly Smudde start a school in dental assisting.

David Crane/Staff Photographer