Responsibilities
- Assist dental officer with patient treatment.
- Performs dental health duties. Performs oral prophylaxis and scaling procedures using dental hand instruments and oral hygiene aids.
- Exposes and processes dental radiographs.
- Engages in general dental duties. Follows infection control procedures and guidelines. Cleans, sterilizes, and sharpens dental instruments.
- Performs dental administrative and materiel duties. Maintains dental health records, filing systems, and publications.
- Reports deficiencies and outstanding accomplishments to base dental surgeon.
Knowledge.Knowledge is mandatory of: oral and dental anatomy; fundamentals of physiology; dental therapeutics; sterile techniques; emergency dental care; oral hygiene; dental materials; instruments; dental treatment room procedures; medicines; systemic diseases; oral prophylaxis techniques; dental health programs; infection control procedures; equipment maintenance requirements; and physical properties of dental materials.
Education.
- Completion of high school or GED is required.
- Possesses a Dental Assistant certification recognized by the U.S. Department of Education accreditation programs in dental assisting.
- Preference is for graduates of formal programs in dental assisting, however, will consider military dental assistant training or vocational-technical training in high school or post-secondary vocational schools or American Red Cross Dental Assistant training, or at least 6 months experience as a civilian dental assistant.
The following experience is mandatory
- Dental Assistant shall have 12 months of Dental Assistant experience within the past 36 months.
- Experience in functions such as taking dental radiographs, maintaining dental equipment, and assisting dentist in patient treatment is mandatory.
