Dental Assistant – La Familia Medical Center – Santa Fe, NM

2 Full-time (40 hrs/week) Benefit Eligible

Under the direction of the Dental Director, the Dental Assistant provides clinical support to the dentist and dental hygienist with usual and customary dental procedures and patient education, assuring patient safety and comfort.

Receives patients and prepares them for dental procedures, both physically and emotionally; interviews and conducts preliminary assessment and triage of patients to determine reasons for visit, obtains dental health history and checks appropriate vitals, records data on clients chart;
Assists dentists in usual and customary procedures, including four (4) handed dentistry; providing dentists with all instruments and general materials used for procedures;
Assists dental hygienist in usual and customary procedures to include tooth cleaning and polishing;
Exposes, processes, and mounts X-rays both digitally and manually;
Under the direction of a dentist, takes and makes dental impressions;
Prepares cases for lab including filling out lab slip and coordination with lab for pick up/delivery;
Prepares instruments for sterilization and storage in trays; cleans and prepares equipment and examination rooms for patients and cleans rooms after each encounter and as needed; sterilizes, cleans, wraps, labels and autoclaves instruments, consistent with protocols;
Maintains appropriate levels of office and dental supplies and other materials through timely and accurate inventory and requisition procedures; including re-stocking and ordering supplies for each exam room and treatment rooms;
Assists LFMC patient education efforts, making available and distributing patient information and literature related to dental health promotion/disease prevention for all patient age categories;
Maintains patient files in a timely and accurate manner by updating information pertaining to medication refills, laboratory reports/results, patient dental visits, and other patient data/information required by LFMC providers and protocols;
Assists with conducting patient case management tasks and patient discharge plans to include patient referrals, prescription refills, and schedules specialty appointments; submits paperwork to the Patient Services Representative or other appropriate staff person;
Trains and/or oversees student dental assistants.
High School graduate or GED certificate and graduation from an ADA recognized certificate program is required with appropriate degree and/or certification such as Dental Assistant program. Three months related experience is required; or any equivalent combination of experience, training and/or education approved by Human Resources.
State of New Mexico certification in Dental Assistant radiology, CPR is required; coronal polishing, fluoride treatment and sealant certifications are preferred.
Working knowledge of four (4) handed dentistry and instrument preparation, sterilization and storage techniques;
Including, but not limited to: basic Annual Safety, Bloodborne Pathogen, Infectious Control, HIPAA Training.
This position requires a basic knowledge of clinical procedures in order to prepare patients for their examination.
Ability to use a multi-line telephone, a computer, to multiple tasks within established deadlines, to work under the direction of a provider and follow instructions for work completion, and to take the initiative to resolve patient concerns and problems.
Ability to read and interpret medical documents and records, write at a moderate level of competence, communicate effectively.
Preferred fluent in both English and Spanish.