Dental Assistant Job Duties

Dental Assistant Job Duties

Every major profession like doctors and dentists require assistants who are trained to understand the profession and carry out both supervised and unsupervised routine tasks to smooth out the operations in a clinic or hospital. In dental clinics, the dental assistant has become indispensable in ensuring that the dentist carry out his responsibilities with the least disruption and inconvenience.  There are various paraprofessional tasks that can assist the dentist do seamless job and can vary on what the dentist can confidently delegate or the nature of the dental work.

Job Duties

• Perform clerical and receptionist work in a small dental clinic receiving patients and ensuring they remain relaxed and comfortable waiting their turn for the dentist.
• Schedule and or reschedule patient visits to the dental clinic and ensure no conflicts or overlaps complying with any scheduling directives from the dentists.
• Assist the dentist during dental work such as sterilizing dental instruments and operating equipment for a dental operation.
• Assist or prepare the chemicals needed for denture filling and prosthetics development.
• Prepare patients and perform dental hygiene prior to the dentist undertaking dental surgery, extraction, root canal procedures, prophylaxis and denture fitting.
• Operate dental X-ray machines if trained or certified to do so.
• Maintain an organized patient treatment history in the clinic as well as ensuring the each record is updated completely.
• Keep abreast with emerging dental treatment trends and technologies.
• Ensure that dental clinic supplies are well stocked and instruments are properly maintained at all times.