Two STCC Faculty Publish Guide To Dental Assisting Examination

SPRINGFIELD – Students throughout the country who are studying for the national certification examination in dental assisting will likely be using a review text written by two professors at Springfield Technical Community College.

Carol Giaquinto and Roberta Albano, both residents of Wilbraham, have taught dental assisting at STCC for many years – 30 years and 21 years respectively – and are well versed in preparing students to succeed on the national boards.

Giaquinto said Success in Dental Assisting, now in its second edition from Prentice Hall, prepares students for the three parts of the national certifying exam: chair-side assisting, dental radiology, and infection control. The book features 1,500 exam-style review questions with rationales to explain each question and its appropriate answer, as well as an interactive CD-ROM and a Web site. The national board exam is given by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Assoc.

The first edition of the text, published by Prentice-Hall in 1996, took the two faculty members two years to create, said Giaquinto.

“We were here until midnight for many nights.” The two dedicated the book to their husbands and children “for their support and unending encouragement throughout this endeavor” and to two STCC staff members. The second edition of the review text took another year to complete.