Duties

The Dental Assistant provides dental assistance with general dentistry specialty procedures including oral surgery, periodontal therapy, endodontic, prosthodontic and implant placement and restoration services to the Veteran population enrolled in the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System.

Duties and responsibilities of the Dental Assistant include, but are not limited to:

• Proficiently provides procedures commonly recognized by the dental profession for safe performance by a dental assistant: fourhanded chair-side dental assisting, dental lab procedures, and performing other such procedures as may be delegated by the dentist consistent with the Florida State Dental Practice Act.
• Complies with all Patient Safety processes: Infection control, patient identification, time-out, iMed (informed) consent, medication reconciliation, and hand-off communication.
• Follows standard operating procedures for all reusable medical equipment (RME), instruments, materials, and personal protective equipment (PPE) in use in the dental clinical areas.
• Keeps patients informed of clinic delays by directly communicating with patients when treatment will not commence within 10-minutes of the patient's scheduled appointment time.
• Prepares the operatory with all needed equipment, materials and supplies for planned dental procedure(s) prior to seating the patient and cleans operatory after the patient is dismissed for timely turnover.
• Performs and records patient's blood pressure, pulse, and medical history; recognizes patient signs of physical distress and monitors patients' condition during treatment.
Captures and saves diagnostic quality digital radiographs of the mouth, gums, jaws, and/or teeth - both intraoral and extraoral
• - within the desired time frame.
• Anticipates the dentist's need at each stage of the treatment procedure, including specialty procedures (in oral surgery, periodontal therapy, endodontics, prosthodontics, and implant placement and retention), and makes instrumentation and/or materials readily available, whether in the dental clinic, operating room, or the patient's bedside.
• Employs proper techniques and dexterity in the practice of four-handed dentistry.
• Keeps the operative field clear of debris and improves access by effectively and comfortably retracting the tongue and/or oral tissues.
• Prepares and mixes dental materials per manufacturer's instructions.
• Applies cavity bases and liners, desensitizing agents, fluoride (foam, gel or varnish), tooth conditioners/bonding agents and topical anesthesia prescribed by dentist to specified areas of the oral cavity.
• Places and removes: matrix bands, mylar strips, retraction cord, rubber dams, and temporary restorations.
• Fabricates temporary acrylic, stainless steel and polycarbonate crowns.
• Removes crown/bridge temporaries and cleans the prepared tooth of debris.
• Removes sutures, periodontal dressings and socket (post-extraction) dressings.
• Irrigates extraction sites.
• Provides coronal polishing of natural teeth (including removing cement and debris from teeth and restorations).
• Provides accurate and understandable procedure-specific patient education including preventive dental care practices, care of prosthetic appliances, demonstration of oral health care regimens and post-operative/restorative instructions.
• Relays patient concerns to the treating dentist.
• Makes impressions for diagnostic casts and preliminary impressions used to fabricate custom trays.
• Maintains instrument, operatory, radiography and dental laboratory infection control and accomplishes all procedures in compliance with Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) standards for clinical and laboratory dental operations.
• Performs routine maintenance of equipment components such as suction traps and water lines.
• Performs unit water quality testing as scheduled.
• Has a working knowledge of laboratory procedures, materials and methods, including sfety and proper handling of laboratory equipment.
• Performs dental laboratory duties: cleans and polishes dentures and other prosthetic appliances; pours and! trims dental stone models; constructs custom impression trays; fabricates bite rims and vacuum-formed stints, soft mouth guards and fluoride trays.

Work Schedule: Full-time, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
Compressed/Flexible:Not available
Telework: Not available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 20330F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Offered to qualified candidates
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required