Dental Assistant Perform limited clinical duties under the direction of a dentist. Clinical duties may include equipment preparation and sterilization, preparing patients for treatment, assisting the dentist during treatment, and providing patients with instructions for oral healthcare procedures. May perform administrative duties such as scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes.
Dental Assistant is Also Know as
In different settings, Dental Assistant is titled as
- Certified Dental Assistant (CDA)
- Certified Registered Dental Assistant
- Dental Assistant (DA)
- Expanded Dental Assistant
- Expanded Duty Dental Assistant (EDDA)
- Expanded Functions Dental Assistant (EFDA)
- Oral Surgery Assistant
- Orthodontic Assistant (Ortho Assistant)
- Registered Dental Assistant (RDA)
- Surgical Dental Assistant
Education and Training of Dental Assistant
Dental Assistant is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Dental Assistant
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Education Required for Dental Assistant
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Degrees Related to Dental Assistant
- Bachelor in Dental Assisting/Assistant
- Associate Degree Courses in Dental Assisting/Assistant
- Masters Degree Courses in Dental Assisting/Assistant
Training Required for Dental Assistant
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Dental Assistant in different industries are
- Dental Hygienists
- Medical Assistants
- Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
- Surgical Assistants
- Endoscopy Technicians
- Surgical Technologists
- Dental Laboratory Technicians
- Ophthalmic Medical Technologists
- Veterinary Technologists and Technicians
- Physical Therapist Aides
- Dentists, General
- Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
- Pediatric Surgeons
- Orthodontists
- Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric
- Emergency Medicine Physicians
- Prosthodontists
- Dermatologists
- Cardiologists
- Chiropractors
What Do Dental Assistant do?
- Prepare patient, sterilize or disinfect instruments, set up instrument trays, prepare materials, or assist dentist during dental procedures.
- Expose dental diagnostic x-rays.
- Record treatment information in patient records.
- Take and record medical and dental histories and vital signs of patients.
- Provide postoperative instructions prescribed by dentist.
- Assist dentist in management of medical or dental emergencies.
- Pour, trim, and polish study casts.
- Instruct patients in oral hygiene and plaque control programs.
- Make preliminary impressions for study casts and occlusal registrations for mounting study casts.
- Clean and polish removable appliances.
- Clean teeth, using dental instruments.
- Apply protective coating of fluoride to teeth.
- Fabricate temporary restorations or custom impressions from preliminary impressions.
- Schedule appointments, prepare bills and receive payment for dental services, complete insurance forms, and maintain records, manually or using computer.
- Order and monitor dental supplies and equipment inventory.
- Fabricate and fit orthodontic appliances and materials for patients, such as retainers, wires, or bands.
Qualities of Good Dental Assistant
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Tools Used by Dental Assistant
- Air abrasion units
- Air compressors
- Air/water syringes
- Amalgam carriers
- Amalgamators
- Apex locators
- Articulators
- Aspirating syringes
- Autoclaves
- Band seating pliers
- Bench lathes
- Bite blocks
- Bitewing film holders
- Burs
- Caries detection aids
- Cartridge syringes
- Chemiclaves
- Collar scissors
- Computerized pressure/vacuum casting systems
- Contouring orthodontic pliers
- Cotton forceps
- Crown scissors
- Dental chairs
- Dental crimping pliers
- Dental cutting instruments
- Dental explorers
- Dental furniture units
- Dental handpieces
- Dental laser systems
- Dental pliers
- Dental retainers
- Dental scalers
- Dental spatulas
- Dental tweezers
- Dental wedges
- Dental x ray film processors
- Dental x ray machines
- Denture model presses
- Denture, acrylic and porcelain polishing kits
- Double-ended probes
- Electric endodontic handpieces
- Electric general dentistry handpieces
- Electric surgical handpieces
- Electronic blood pressure devices
- Electronic calculus detectors
- Electrosurgery units
- Evacuator systems
- Extracting forceps
- Filling instruments
- Gingival retraction cords
- Gracey curettes
- Headgear
- Hemostatic forceps
- High-intensity lights
- High-speed handpieces
- High-velocity evacuators
- Impression trays
- Instrument sharpening devices
- Intraoral detailing pliers
- Intraoral x ray equipment
- Lead aprons
- Light curing units
- Manual blood pressure cuffs
- Matrix bands
- Model trimmers
- Molar clamps
- Needle holders
- Needles
- Offset utility pliers
- Orthodontic band pushers
- Orthodontic band slitters
- Orthodontic brackets
- Orthodontic pliers
- Orthodontic separators
- Oxygen tanks
- Panoramic x ray equipment
- Personal computers
- Posterior matrices
- Power vacuum mixers
- Prophylaxis angles
- Protective shielding equipment
- Pulp testers
- Pulse oximeters
- Radiation dosimeters
- Root elevators
- Rotary handpieces
- Rubber dam clamp forceps
- Rubber dam punches
- Rubber dams
- Saliva ejectors
- Single-ended periodontal probes
- Slow-speed dental handpieces
- Splinter forceps
- Steam cleaning equipment
- Steam sterilizers
- Sterilizers
- Straight utility pliers
- Thermal disinfectors
- Thyroid collars
- Tongue forceps
- Torqueing pliers
- Ultrasonic sterilization units
- Universal curettes
- Vacuum formers
- X ray machine cones
Technology Skills required for Dental Assistant
- Email software
- Henry Schein Dentrix
- Kodak Dental Systems Kodak SOFTDENT Practice management software PMS
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Open Dental
- Patterson Dental Supply Patterson EagleSoft
- Quicken
- The Systems Workplace TDOCS
- Web browser software
- Word processing software