Dental Assistant Programs

If you want a challenging but rewarding career, consider dental assisting. This lucrative career field in healthcare involves treating patients of all ages. This article will introduce you to the dental assistant’s duties, and will give you a a clear idea of what this job really entails. You can choose to enter pediatric dentistry or any of the other areas open to trained dental assistants. The skills you obtain from dental assisting school prepare you for performing a great number of duties.

Dental Assistant’s Front Office Duties

If you work in the front office, the first person patients see is you when they walk through the doors. Your smile and great attitude makes coming to the dentist easier on patients. This duty also involves making appointments, screening future patients and communicating with other healthcare professionals about patients. You answer phones and input important patient information into electronic dental records.

Dental Assistant’s Billing Duties

A dental assistant may work in billing and insurance. If you choose this position, you contact insurance companies to verify that a patient’s insurance is valid and up-to-date. This duty is essential in getting payment for services the office provides to each patient who sees the dentist. Your duties also include taking co-payments after patients see the dentist. Whether they come in for cleanings or tooth extractions, it must all be accounted for.

Dental Assistant’s Back Office Duties

One of the most important assistants in the dental office is the back office assistant. In this area, you bring back patients for treatment. You take new patients back to have x-rays completed. Radiology skills are important to finding and locating tooth decay, abscesses and other conditions of the mouth. Your dentist relies on your radiology skills in order to properly treat patients.

Radiology consists of full-mouth, bite-wing and apical x-rays. Your interpersonal skills and professional manner play a big part in how well the x-rays come out, and how well the patient feels about his or her visit.

Other back office duties involve preparing patients for treatment. Patients that come in for oral surgeries, fillings and cleanings may require you to set up topical anesthetics. In school, you learn how to correctly and accurately calculate medications. Another area of expertise is removing sutures, applying dental dams and making impressions for dentures. Your valuable skills come in handy when these jobs need completed.

With patients who need surgeries or dental fillings, it is your duty to assist the dentist. You perform chairside assistance in these cases. Chairside means sitting with the patient and dentist while a procedure takes place. You hand the dentist his or her tools through four-handed assistance. This technique is critical in patient care. It is your job to suction the patient’s mouth during a procedure as well.

Working Alone

At times, you will work alone. You may need to develop x-rays, sterilize equipment or clean the dental stations. Another time is during one-on-one patient care. You educate each patient on the proper way to brush and floss. You educate patients on good eating habits as well as returning for care.

The dental assistant’s duties takes an important part of the dental office. Your skills and education keeps each patient happy and the office running smoothly.