Dental Assistant

JOB PURPOSE: The Dental Assistant will greet patients, activate patient files, and move patients through a pre-determined schedule of appointments at a dentist's office. Serve as a staff dental assistant at the full performance level for routine patient care and performs a full range of duties with indirect supervision from the treating dentist and dental supervisors. Performs assigned selected procedures with some independence. Assists the dentist in many aspects of direct patient care and performs other clinical, clerical, and administrative functions independently of direct supervision. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Greets patients when they arrive at the dentist's office.  
• Schedules appointments for patients.  
• Maintains patient accounts and records.  
• Assists patients in filling out required intake and medical forms.  
• Confirm appointments with patients via phone or email.  

• Manages and organizes specialist referrals.  
• Informs patients of payment options if applicable.  
• Performs basic accounting tasks such as taking patient payments.  
• Updates patient insurance information.  
• Sorts and organizes incoming and outgoing mail.  

• Maintains the petty cash available in the dental office.  
• Ensures the reception area is maintained and professional in appearance.  
• Properly lays out all instruments and materials needed for each procedure and prepares the patient and operatory for said procedures, strictly adhering to all pertinent infection control policies and procedures.  
• Assists providers in routine general dental procedures using concepts of four-handed dentistry.  
• Assists providers in specialized dental procedures, such as oral surgery, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, implant placement and restoration.  

• Passes instruments safely, accurately, and efficiently.   
• Keeps operative field clear of debris and retracts oral tissues effectively and comfortably.   
• Assists provider by preparing dental medicaments and impression materials per manufacturer's instructions.   
• Accomplishes all intra-operative procedures within standard infection control protocols.  
• Properly stores and maintains adequate levels of supplies in assigned rooms and operatories. If, at any time, the incumbent notices any supplies running low in the supply room, he/she immediately notifies the responsible person so that supplies can be reordered.   

• Ensures instruments and unapproved items are not left in operatory during non-patient care hours.  
• Other duties may be assigned.  

QUALIFICATIONS/EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE: 

• High school graduate or equivalent required.  

• Successful completion of a 1-year dental assistant program accredited by the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) preferred but not required.  

REQUIRED SKILLS/ABILITIES: 

• Ability to identify normal oral anatomy.  
• Advanced knowledge of instruments, materials, and standardized dental procedures used in all phases of restorative, surgical, endodontic and periodontal care and procedures.  

• Ability to monitor and perform basic interpretation of vital signs.  
• Ability to independently provide procedure-specific patient education and appropriate referral of patient concerns to treating dentist.  
• Ability to capture standard and special dental images of good diagnostic quality in traditional or digital formats.  
• Ability to perform maintenance on dental equipment used for routine and specialty dentistry.  
• Ability to enter and retrieve data utilizing electronic dental records.  

• Ability to perform dental assistant-appropriate laboratory procedures.  
• English Language Proficiency.   

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: 

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand and walk.  

• This work requires long periods of standing and walking as well as considerable bending and stooping.   
• Patient mental and physical status will require the incumbent to be able to assist patients during transfer that is required of examinations and treatment.   
• The incumbent of this position is expected to understand, remember, and apply oral and/or written instructions or other information; understand, remember, and communicate routine, factual information; understand problems and to collaborate and explore alternative solutions; understand opposing points of view and to integrate different viewpoints; organize thoughts and ideas into understandable terminology; organize and prioritize own work schedule; count accurately; and understand and follow basic instructions and guidelines. 

WORK ENVIRONMENT: 

This job operates in an outpatient facility environment.  This role may work in an OVP Health and/or OVP Health Care location. 

EEO STATEMENT: 

OVP Health Care provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics.  In addition to federal law requirements, OVP Health Care complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities.  This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfers, leaves of absence, compensation and training. 

OVP Health Care expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.  Improper inference with the ability of OVP Health Care employees to perform their job duties may result in discipline up to and including discharge. 

Our Mission

Centered in compassion and excellence, we serve to save lives while nurturing stronger and healthier communities for our persons served , employees, and families.

CORE VALUES: 

Moral, Ethical and Behavioral Guidelines

Family: OVP Health Care is proud to be a family-owned company. We hold ourselves to the highest standards: the family values that are passed from generation to generation. However, at OVP Health Care we also believe that our coworkers, our persons served  and our community are family. That means we will always treat you like family, no matter what health struggle you're facing. 

Quality: In an ever-changing health care industry, our commitment to consistent, high-quality care has been the same since day one. Our highly trained physicians and nurses are constantly striving to provide the latest, most advanced care and treatment to persons served . Our medication-assisted treatment program is fully accredited by CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities). In everything we do, our goal is to provide persons served  and their loved ones with the highest level of care possible.

Community: At OVP Health Care, we believe in giving back. And our commitment to improving the communities we serve doesn't stop at providing high-quality medical care. After work and on weekends, OVP Health Care employees can be found volunteering in the community, and we are proud to support a number of nonprofit groups in the areas we serve. 

Integrity: Ethical, responsible health care is a nonnegotiable at OVP Health Care. We treat our coworkers, our persons served  and our communities with honesty, truest and respect and hold ourselves to the highest standards of ethics and professionalism. Earning a patient's trust and loyalty is our greatest reward.