You're a jack-of-all-trades for a small town, one-dentist practice. After you organize the dentist's instruments each morning, you get to take out the trash and clean the toilets.

You've landed a dental assistant job in a medium-sized Midwestern city. With two dentists, along with several experienced dental assistants, the practice is growing and you're polishing your patient care skills. The practice makes enough money to pay someone else to clean the toilets.

You're a senior dental assistant who's also been certified as a dental hygienist. With your extra skill set, practices are constantly calling you for fill-in work. You have to consult your smartphone to keep your schedule straight.

You moonlight as a well-paid consultant to regional dental practices. You show dental assistants and hygienists how to perform their work more efficiently, which results in demonstrated cost savings for the practice. You've maxed out your dental assistant career potential, and now you're looking for a new challenge.

You chucked the dental assisting gig for the rigors of a university dental school. With your insider's knowledge and superior work ethic, you graduated with honors and were immediately hired as a dentist/partner at a Tampa/St. Petersburg practice. Talk about job security—now you provide top-notch dental care to retirees who want to keep their original teeth as part of their healthy lifestyle.