
Registered Dental Assistant (On-Call)
Job Description
Essential Job Functions
- All duties of a Dental Assistant including the ones listed below:
- Setting up
- Helping patients feel comfortable before, during, and after dental treatment
- Asking about or verifying when necessary a patient’s medical history and taking blood pressure and pulse
- Taking and developing dental radiographs (x-rays)
- Chairside assisting
- Providing patients with instructions for oral care following dental treatment procedures
- Teaching patients appropriate oral hygiene strategies to maintain oral health (like tooth brushing, flossing, and nutritional counseling
- Serving as an infection control officer, developing infection control protocol and preparing and sterilizing instruments and equipment, and the patient’s area
- Keeping operatories stocked and sterile
- Maintaining dental equipment
- Taking impressions of patient's teeth for study casts (models of teeth).
- May apply non-aerosol and non-caustic topical agents
- May remove post-extraction and periodontal dressings
- May place and remove elastic orthodontic separators
- May hold anterior matrices
- May remove sutures
- May apply topical fluoride after scaling and polishing by the Dentist, Hygienist, or Dental Supervisor RDA-Clinic Coordinator
- May place and remove rubber dams
- Other dental or chairside duties assigned by the supervisor.
- Mouth mirror inspecting oral cavity to include charting of obvious lesions, existing restorations, and missing teeth
- Placement and removal of temporary sedative dressings
- Under direct supervision, a Registered Dental Assistant may perform the following procedures:
- Obtain endodontic cultures
- Dry canals previously opened by the Supervising Dentist, with absorbent points
- Test pulp vitality
- Place bases and liners on sound dentin
- Remove excess cement from gingival surfaces of teeth with a hand instrument or fluoride
- Size stainless steel crowns, temporary crowns, and bands
- Temporary cementations and removal of orthodontics bands
- Placements of orthodontic separators
- Placements and litigations of archwires
- Placement of post-extraction and periodontal dressings
- Coronal polishings if certified
- Removal of excess cement from coronal surfaces of teeth using an ultrasonic scaler
Other Duties
- Observe professional and ethical standards of the job.
- Follow clinic protocols.
- Comply with OSHA regulations.
- Comply with AHS health and safety rules and procedures.
- Comply with Human Resources requirements such as attending periodic in-service training, meeting annual health exam requirements, submitting proof of CME and license renewals, etc.
- Assist in providing orientation to new employees including newly-employed front desk assistants, Dental Assistants, Registered Dental Assistant, Dental Hygienist, Dentists, etc.
- Be willing to assist in other tasks as requested when appropriate and time allows.
- Attend regular department meetings and organization-wide staff meetings.
- Promote teamwork and a positive work environment in the department.
- Participates in agency-wide quality improvement program processes and performance improvement teams to ensure excellence in the quality of services provided across the agency.
Minimum Qualifications
- Must show proof of high school diploma
- Ability to speak any Asian languages (Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Khmer, Mien, Tagalog, etc.)
Preferred Qualifications
- Minimum of one year paid professional dental assisting work experience
Certifications, Licenses, Registrations
- Valid Registered Dental Assistant California License
- CDA for Supervising Dental Assistant
- Passage of Radiation Health and Safety examination
- Passage of Infection Control examination
- Current coronal polishing certificate
- Current CPR card
- Valid X-ray certificate