Dental Assistant Job Description Explained


The dental assistant job description covers a lot of jobs and activities that take place in a dentist or orthodontist office. The people who hold this position in an office do a variety of jobs, depending on the clinic or practice they are employed by.

Sometimes this job includes a lot of work that goes beyond basic dental assistant training The people working under this title will answer the phone, make appointments for the patients, schedule follow up visits, and visits with other dental care facilities. They will also file the patient records, and pull the charts that will be needed for the next days scheduled appointments.

They are often in charge of ordering the supplies the office needs in order to operate. They take inventory of all supplies they have and they make certain that the dentist, and the dental hygienist, have all the necessary supplies they need to do their jobs.

Helping the Patient

This position also allows for the individual to work directly with the patients. They take the patient to the room where their procedure will be done and they make them comfortable while they wait for the dentist. When the dentist is performing the necessary procedure on the patient, they stay in the room and use the suction hose to keep the patients mouth as dry as possible. They also hand the dentist anything they need, and are there in case the dentist requires something that is not in the room.

Afterwards they will make certain the patient understands the proper care the dentist has prescribed for their mouth after the procedure. They tell the patient how to take their medication, and they explain when they need to return for a follow up visit.

A dental assistant job description is varied and spans across a range of duties inside the office. This is often the face the patient sees the most often when they visit the clinic.

A Challenging and Rewarding Career Path That Could Be For You

If you are looking for a career that is not only rewarding but challenging then look no further can probation officer careers. Probation officers work with those on probation to help them get their lives back on track and become productive members of the community again. In addition to working with adults many in this profession would rather work with youths and become juvenile probation officers.

In addition to these two probation jobs mentioned above you can also work for the federal government as a federal probation officer. These officers work for the federal government rather that at the state or local level. These types of jobs can be great stepping stones to other federal careers such as FBI agents, and secret agents. Federal jobs also tend to pay a little higher salary than state and local jobs.

If you are interested in how to become a probation officer there are plenty of resources on and offline that are available, which have tons of information. For starters you are going to want to make sure you have no felonies, are 21 years of age, have a valid drivers license and a 4 year degree in a related field of study definitely helps. These are pretty much the bare minimum requirements; having some field related experience also helps, and this can be had through internships.

If you can meet these requirements then you are on your way. Once you land a job you can make a nice probation officer salary. In 2010 it was estimated that the median annual salary was around $51,000. After you’ve been at the job and rack up some experience you can expect to earn more. These types of jobs also have great benefits. Benefits include health, dental, vision, life insurance and sick and vacation pay. If this sounds interesting and you think you have what it takes, then perhaps this is the career path for you.