Quick Take
A new Santa Cruz County dental assistant apprenticeship program at clinics operated by Dientes Community Dental Care is paying participants for on-the-job training that will lead to jobs at clinics serving underserved residents.
Dental assistants are in high demand in Santa Cruz County, with dozens of annual job openings a year — hundreds when considering adjacent counties.
A new program aims to fill that gap by combining classroom time with paid on-the-job training to create a pipeline of qualified dental assistants who are ready to enter the workforce. Seven apprentices started working this week at the four clinics operated by Dientes Community Dental Care, the largest provider of dental care for underserved people in Santa Cruz County, with 16,000 patients.
The Dental Assistance Apprenticeship Program launched in August with a month of classroom instruction at the Santa Cruz County Office of Education. Now they’re in the classroom one day a week while getting on-the-job training at Dientes clinics the other four. Apprentices are earning $18.45 per hour for their on-the-job training, with periodic increases tied to their training progress. After completing the program and mastering required skills, they’ll have the opportunity to be hired at a journey-level wage of at least $25 per hour.
“The plan is each year we scale it up and add more apprentices,” said Denise Sony Sanson, executive director of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education’s Career and Adult Learning Services program, jumping to 20 next year and 32 the following year. “It’s an earn-and-learn model. So the students are being paid while they’re participating.”
In a statement, Dientes CEO Laura Marcus said the program is important for two reasons: “It increases the number of dental assistants graduating each year, providing an important pipeline for more front-line workers for us and other dental providers. And, it creates an opportunity for underserved young people to learn professional skills and pursue an exciting health care career — one that has many available living wage job openings in our community.”
The program, open to Santa Cruz County residents over 18, has attracted interest from some who have no experience with the dental industry but would otherwise not necessarily have the money to pay for training or the time to complete unpaid training.
“So when you think about it, like, if you’re coming out of high school or Cabrillo [College], or you’re entering the workforce, and you think, you know, dental, I really that’s an opportunity for me, but I don’t have that $6,000 to pay for for the class, and I don’t have the ability to take the time off, or to have to work and go to school at night,” Sanson said. “This gives you the ability to learn, to to earn while you’re learning on the job, training, making money Day 1. Amazing.”
The program spans 12 months, beginning with a five-week intensive classroom instruction period, and will help participants earn industry-recognized certifications, including dental radiation safety, infection control, the Dental Practice Act and CPR.
Applications for the program’s 2025-26 cohort are expected to open in February, with more information and a student interest form available at dental.santacruzcoe.org.
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