Dental Assistant I

Job Type
Full-time
Description
I. Position Function Summary
Under the direction of the Dental Assistant Supervisor, the Dental Assistant I provides clinical support to the dentist and dental hygienist with usual and customary dental procedures and patient education, assuring patient safety and comfort.
II. Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Receives patients and prepares them for dental procedures, both physically and emotionally; interviews and conducts preliminary assessment and triage of patients to determine reasons for visit, obtains dental health history and checks appropriate vitals, records data on clients EMR chart;
• Assists dentists in usual and customary procedures, including four (4) handed dentistry; providing dentists with all instruments and general materials used for procedures;
• Exposes, processes, and mounts X-rays both digitally and manually;
• Under the direction of a dentist, takes and makes dental impressions;
• Prepares cases for lab including filling out lab slip and coordination with lab for pick up/delivery;
• Prepares instruments for sterilization and storage in trays; cleans and prepares equipment and examination rooms for patients and cleans rooms after each encounter and as needed; sterilizes, cleans, wraps, labels and autoclaves instruments, consistent with protocols;
• Maintains re-stocking supplies for each exam room and treatment rooms;
• Assists La Familia Medical Center (LFMC) patient education efforts, making available and distributing patient information and literature related to dental health promotion/disease prevention for all patient age categories;
• Maintains patient files in a timely and accurate manner by updating information pertaining to medication refills, laboratory reports/results, patient dental visits, and other patient data/information required by LFMC providers and protocols;
• Assists with conducting patient case management tasks and patient discharge plans to include patient referrals, prescription refills, and schedules specialty appointments; submits paperwork to the Patient Services Representative or other appropriate staff person;
• Trains and/or oversees student dental assistants.

Requirements
IV. Education, Experience, and Skills

• High School graduate or GED certificate and graduation from an ADA recognized certificate program is required with appropriate degree and/or certification such as Dental Assistant program. Three months related experience is required; or any equivalent combination of experience, training and/or education approved by Human Resources.
• State of New Mexico certification in Dental Assistant radiology (6 months to obtain once employed); Including, but not limited to, coronal polishing, fluoride treatment and sealant certifications, or other Dental Assistant certifications are preferred. (may possess up to four (4)).
• CPR is required
• Working knowledge of four (4) handed dentistry and instrument preparation, sterilization and storage techniques;
• Ability to read and interpret medical documents and records, write at a moderate level of competence, communicate effectively.

La Familia Medical Center offers a comparable benefits package.
Bargaining Unit Position
Union:
Non-Union: X