Dental Assistant II/III

Description

Position Close Date: Friday, 5/30/25

PUYALLUP TRIBAL HEALTH AUTHORITY, located in Tacoma, Washington is seeking a full-time Dental Assistant to join its dental team.

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

We offer an outstanding workplace, competitive market based salary, and benefits packages including:

• Monday – Friday schedule
• Medical/Dental/Vision benefits – monthly premiums paid 100% for employees
• 18+ annual paid holidays
• Generous paid sick and vacation accruals
• 401(k) with annual profit sharing
• Life & AD&D insurance coverage
• PTHA is an approved loan repayment site for various programs
• Employee Assistance Program
• Excellent work/home life balance

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/x-rays 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.
• Perform triage duties for emergency care situations.
• Perform orthodontic and/or pediatric assistant work as needed.

Requirements

DENTAL ASSISTANT II

• Current BLS certification and experience with electronic health record systems
• Three (3) years of general dental assistant job experience
• One (1) year experience in pediatric assisting or orthodontic assisting
• Must obtain Dental Assisting National Board (DANB) certification within one (1) year of hire

DENTAL ASSISTANT III

• Current BLS certification and experience with electronic health record systems
• Five (5) years of dental assistant job experience
• Two (2) years of orthodontia, pediatric assisting or expanded functions
• Current Dental Assisting National Board (DANB) certification or ability to obtain within one (1) year of hire