Dental Assistant (Emergency Hire)

Description

PUYALLUP TRIBAL HEALTH AUTHORITY, located in Tacoma Washington is seeking a temporary, full time Dental Assistant I/II.

“It is the mission of the Puyallup Tribal Health Authority to provide quality healthcare and promote wellness in a culturally appropriate manner.”

GENERAL FUNCTION: Provide chair side assistance to dental practitioners using four-handed practices. Provide direct patient care and administrative support to the dental department as necessary.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Provide accurate and efficient chair side assistance to dental providers and hygienists using established four-handed practices.
• Effectively demonstrates knowledge of dental restorative, endodontic and oral surgery practices and procedures and application techniques for crowns and bridges.
• Accurately performs child and adult prophys, direct patient preventative procedures, OHI, fluorides, sealant application, and rubber dam placement.
• Able to identify, use and arrange, all dental instruments and prepares procedure tray setups in a timely manner, as needed by dental provider.
• Assist in the completion of patient dental records by accurately processing digital radiographs/xrays and following established protocols for patient exposure.
• Wear personal protective equipment including sterile garments, glasses, mask, and gloves at all times while performing main job functions and follows all PTHA and accreditation guidelines for safety.
• Wipe clean all instruments of debris/material/cement prior to replacing in cassettes and sending to central sterilization for processing, practicing proper infection control and following established sterilization protocol.
• Performs preventative maintenance on and maintains all equipment per manufacturer guidelines and reports equipment failure to supervisor within 24 hours.
• Assists patients through the dental process with care and understanding at all times.
• Provide age appropriate behavior management as needed, for dental patients, ages 0-18 years of age.
• Effectively communicates home care instructions to patients and/or parents of minor children.
• Assist in training newly hired Dental Assistants, as needed.

Requirements

• Current BLS certification and experience with electronic health record systems.
• Graduate from a Dental Assistant Program. At least six months of general dentist assistant job experience.