Dental Assistant
Job Description
Job Title:
Dental Assistant
Reports To:
Dental Assistant Supervisor
Job Summary:
To assist Dentist and Dental Hygienist at chair side.
Qualifications and Requirements:
To perform this job successfully, and individual must be able to perform each essential job duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. This job description in no way implies that these are the only duties to be performed and may be modified, interpreted and/or applied in any way as necessary. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties.
Essential Job Duties:
- Assists Dentist or Dental Hygienist in the performance of dental procedures.
- Performs suctioning, instrument sterilization, etc.
- Prepares, processes, and mounts intra-oral and panoramic radiographs.
- Returns all patient charts to Medical Records in a timely manner.
- Regularly ensures adherence to all state and federal regulations.
- Assists with inventory control and laboratory service tracking.
- Keeps informed of advancements in dentistry and attends continuing education courses.
- Regularly maintains all dental equipment within the facility.
- Performs all other related duties and reporting as assigned.
- Performs Sedation and Operating room job functions.
- Calls patient’s guardian the day before the sedation procedure to provide reminder of appointment time and instruction for food intake prior to the procedure.
- Ensures all relevant consents are signed the day of the sedation procedure.
- Ensures that all equipment, including emergency equipment, is set up and in working condition for the procedure as per sedation policy.
- Ensures a responsible adult is present to escort the patient home.
- Ensures that all pre sedation instructions have been followed the day of the procedure.
- Ensures that vital signs and weight have been recorded prior to procedure.
- Assists sedation dental provider during the procedure.
- Assists with post sedation care.
- Ensures that patient’s guardian receives discharge instructions.
- Post discharge follow up call to parent guardian.
Required Education, Experience, Certificates & Licenses:
- High School Diploma or GED.
- Two years of experience as a Dental Assistant preferred.
- Certification as a Dental Assistant.
- X-Ray Certification
- Fingerprint Clearance Card (as needed)
- Hospital Registration completion (as needed)
Required Language Skills:
- Ability to comprehend and compose instructions, correspondence and communications in English in both oral and written format.
- Bilingual in English and Spanish preferred, but not required.
- Ability to comprehend and understand dental terminology.
Physical Requirements:
- Ability to frequently exert enough force to move objects weighing up to 25 pounds.
- Ability to frequently remain in a stationary position for up to two hours.
- Ability to constantly move about inside the work place to assist patients, operate office or dental equipment, etc.
- Possesses hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity necessary to constantly operate computer, telephone, and other office machinery.
- Possesses close visual acuity necessary to accurately record and view information on a computer monitor, handwritten and typed documents.
- Ability to discern the nature of sounds at a normal spoken volume.
- Possesses range of body motion and ability to exert enough force to lift and move adult and pediatric patients.
Other Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Ability to perform medical math that may include the use of ratio/proportion, dosage calculation, metric and household equivalents, roman numerals, abbreviations, and general math including percentages, etc.
- Ability to gather data in an organized fashion from varied sources.
- Ability to perform variety of assignments requiring independent judgment.
- Ability to identify and resolve problems in a timely manner.
- Knowledge of HIPAA and ability to maintain patient confidentiality and privacy at all times.
- Computer literacy required.
- Knowledge of Electronic Health Records preferred.
- Familiarity with QSI Dental Records, Aptrex (dental x-ray software) preferred.
Work Environment & Conditions:
- Work environment is typical of a health clinic setting with occasional exposure to communicable diseases, bodily fluids and hazardous chemicals.
- Work frequently involves dental equipment and machinery with proximity to electrical current, and exposure to moving mechanical parts and some hazardous chemicals.
- Work requires occasional travel and flexible hours so that early morning, evenings and weekends are accommodated.