Back to school : Technical training can be the edge to landing that job

Melinda Smee fiddled with a plastic and metal contraption that holds dental X-ray film, trying to carefully place it around a lower premolar on the disembodied mouth rising up from her desk at Anne Arundel Community College.

She and other students were learning to prepare a patient for a dental X-ray.

Instructor Tracy Petraitis-Agro, a full-time dental hygienist, walked around the classroom Monday evening offering tips or slightly adjusting students' placement.

"It's something I didn't think I'd ever be doing," Ms. Smee said during her first hands-on experience with dental X-rays.

A receptionist at a Bowie dental...