Orthodontic Assistant
Department: Orthodontics
Reports To: EFDA Team Lead, Office Manager, Doctors
Status: (Full or part-time, hourly or salary)
Location: LaGrange Family Dentistry
Job Summary:
Responsible for assisting the orthodontist in the delivery of patient care and support duties.
Responsibilities:
- Clinical Assisting
- Delivery of Patient Care
- Taking and Developing X-rays
- Treatment Documentation
- Sterilization Procedures
- Patient Education and Motivation
- Practice Promotion
- Laboratory Duties
- Miscellaneous Duties
Clinical Duties
- Prepare and maintain dental instruments, supplies and equipment
- Preparation of dental materials and appointment procedural setups
- Greet and seat patients
- Evaluate patient oral hygiene and cooperation
- Collect and record patient health histories
- Take dental records, including x-rays, impressions, digital scans, and print images/photographs
- Take bite registrations
- Prepare teeth for bonding
- Assist the doctor with bonding
- Place and remove separators
- Fit bands
- Initial seating and removal of appliances
- Assist cementing bands and banded appliances
- Adjusting appliances
- Check for loose bands and brackets at every appointment
- Remove, size, and place archwires and adjuncts
- Remove bands and brackets
- Remove banding cement
- Remove bonding adhesive
- Aligner and retainer delivery and adjustment
- Accurately record procedures and treatment notes in patient treatment card
- Provide patient instructions and communication
Dental Infection Control
- Follow the dental office infection control plan to comply with OSHA, CDC, and local standards
- Clean, sterilization/disinfection, and re-circulate instruments
- Disinfect treatment area and units
Patient Management
- Deliver patient personal oral care, appliance and elastic instructions
- Encourage, educate and motivate patients to follow doctor’s recommendations
- Educate parents and patients on treatment progress
Practice Promotion
- Implement approaches to attract a constant flow of new patients and to maximize referrals
- Maintain good relationships with referring dentists and other professionals in the community
- Support friends and family of current patients who could benefit from orthodontics to make an exam appointment
Laboratory Procedures
- Pour impressions to make stone and plaster models
- Trim Models
- Fabricate appliances, retainers, and bleaching trays
- Adjust aligners and appliances
- Perform digital workflow duties with 3D printing as applicable in the future
Miscellaneous Procedures
- Inventory management
- Equipment/instrumentation management
- Preparation of oral hygiene/deband kits, brackets, etc.
- Organization, cleaning, and stocking drawers/cabinets and work areas
- Maintenance of sterilization area, solutions and equipment
- OSHA management
- Practice promotion such as: design and implementation of patient contents, deliver community dental health presentations
- Study model management
- Indirect bonding preparation and other laboratory duties
- Organize progress reviews for all patient’s mid-treatment. Take pan.
- Coordinate, publicize, and follow through on patient contests.
- Organize the gift given to patients on their deband date.
- At the doctor’s request, send patient records for consultation with oral surgeon or other specialists. Arrange appointments with any specialists needed. Send extraction/disking requests as well as requests for panos, etc.
- Monitor and track emergency appointments.
- Care calls daily (commenting on something discussed during treatment or on the treatment performed.)
- Be certain cooperation letters, deband letters, etc. are posted and sent when appropriate
- Be responsible for cleanliness of the clinical area
- Be an active participant in staff meetings and committee meetings
- Perform other tasks as assigned by the doctor
- Work cohesively with fellow team members to provide an atmosphere of trust, mutual respect, and cooperation
Education / Experience:
- X-ray certification
- State licensure (if applicable)
- COA from the Dental Assisting National Board
- CPR certificate
Skills / Abilities:
- Clinical: Proficiency in all clinical skills
- Interpersonal: Good interpersonal skills to maintain smooth running team environment throughout the office
- Verbal Skills: Effective verbal skills to communicate to Doctor, referring dentists, parents, and patients
- Computer Skills: Proficiency in electronic treatment card and Microsoft Word. Computer entry, patient tracking, imaging.
- Problem Solving: Effective conflict resolution, problem identification, problem resolution, and decision-making skills
Physical Attributes of Job:
- Must be able to hear staff on the phone and those who are served in-person, and speak clearly in order to communicate information to clients and staff
- Must have normal vision or use of glasses/corrective lenses to bring vision to normal
- Must have high manual dexterity
- Must be able to reach above the shoulder level to reach, must be able to bend, squat and sit, stand, stoop, reach, kneeling, twist/turn
