PRIMARY ROLE OBJECTIVE: The Dental Assistant’s primary job function is to support the dental provider in the delivery of dental care to the patients of Family Health Centers.
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Assist Dental Providers with direct patient care:
- Seat/triage patients quickly and on time
- Anticipate the provider’s and patient’s needs during procedures.
- Properly pass instruments using correct four handed technique
- Close teamwork with all dental team members
- Communicate and Record Patient Health Information:
- Ensure each patient’s health history is up to date at each visit.
- Provide thorough report to provider regarding clinically relevant items within the patient’s medical, dental, and social history.
- Assist dental provider with age appropriate patient education and oral hygiene instruction
- Complete all relevant dental charting
- Maintenance of a Clean and Fully Stocked Clinic
- Keep operatories fully stocked at all times
- Promptly sterilize dirty instruments throughout the day
- Immediately alert supply personnel when low stock situations develop.
- Adherence to stringent infection controls when turning over operatories
- Assist Orthodontist with direct patient care
- Taking clinical photographs for records
- Taking impressions, obtaining a record of occlusal relationships
- Tracing cephalometric radiographs
- Placing separators
- Sizing of metal bands and their cementation including loose bands during treatment
- Supragingival polishing of teeth (as part of oral hygiene, before bonding and after removal of fixed attachments)
- Preparation of teeth for the bonding of fixed attachments and fixed retainers
- Indirect bonding of brackets as set up by the orthodontist
- Providing oral hygiene instruction and advice on the care and maintenance of orthodontic appliances
- Placing arch wires as formed by the orthodontist when necessary and replacing ligatures /closing self-ligating brackets
- Removing archwires after removing elastomeric or wire ligatures, or opening self-ligating brackets
- Removing fixed orthodontic attachments and retainers
- Removing adhesives after the removal of fixed attachments using burs in slow speed handpieces where there is minimal potential for the removal of enamel