Dental Assistant Duties & Responsibilities

Dental assistants are hired to perform a variety of patient care, laboratory and office duties and responsibilities while working closely with and alongside the dentist to provide assistance when necessary. Although dental assistants typically learn on-the-job skills, many receive training from colleges, institutes and other schools offering dental-assisting programs, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Dental assistants are primarily responsible for providing services related to patient care and must first sterilize and disinfect instruments and equipment to be used by the dentist. They must then prepare and lay out all instruments and materials needed to treat each patient. After obtaining and updating the patient's dental records, it is the dental assistant's duty to make sure the patient is comfortable for the procedure. Once the dental procedure begins, the dental assistant is responsible for handing items to dentist and suctioning the patient's mouth. Many dental assistants are also responsible for preparing materials for dental impressions and restorations, applying topical anesthetics on the gums and placing dental dams in the mouth before procedures, removing excess cement and surgery sutures from the mouth after procedures, placing and removing periodontal dressings, polishing the teeth to remove stains, and any other duty directed by a dentist or legally authorized in their state.

Secondary Duties and Responsibilities

• Many dental assistants are also hired to perform secondary duties in the laboratory and office in addition to patient care duties. In the office, secondary responsibilities may include scheduling and confirming appointments, receiving and seating patients in the treatment area, keeping treatment records, managing that dental assistants working in the laboratory may be responsible for include making stone and plaster teeth and mouth casts, fabricating temporary crowns, bridges and mouth guards, fabricating orthodontic retainers and exposing and developing X-rays.

Special Duties and Responsibilities

• Some dental assistants may also be called on to provide patient and community education. These responsibilities may include providing personal oral care instructions and counseling, delivering dental- health presentations or setting-up and running health fair booths for the community, according to Boise, Idaho dentist, Dr. Guy M. Hanson.

Training Responsibilities

• Because different dentists have varying procedures, styles of doing things and requirements for employees, dental assistants are generally responsible for learning on-the-job skills once they are hired by a dentist whether or not they have recently completed a dental-assisting program or have experience as a dental assistant. Learning names of instruments and materials, how to perform daily duty requirements, how to interact with patients, how to manage files and patient records, and other office-specific information are some training responsibilities dental assistants may encounter.