At some point in your career, you will probably feel that it is time to make a change. Dental assisting has so many different options and opportunities in the field, so there are lots of choices for you to explore. Here are two of the main options waiting for you in dental assisting.
Office Management
The tasks covered by a dental office manager are different between practices, however, you will probably be in charge of administrative responsibilities. Some items you may need to cover are:
Human resources, including hiring and dealing with terminations
Fees and insurance companies
Scheduling patient appointments
Managing the dental team’s payroll and benefits
Budgeting and other financial responsibilities
Managing marketing, social media accounts, or advertising
Dental Administration
This is a career that has a broad horizon, so you might end up doing more or less than what is mentioned here. You will typically check in patients, schedule them, and make calls.
In a larger practice, you might be referred to as a scheduling manager and will be expected to handle any freelance or full-time workers at the practice. You might also be a part of a larger admin team and be expected to learn about the patients. In short, you handle the majority of appointments set up.
This also involves knowing how to react to emergency appointments and cancellations. You will want to be sure that you have the problem-solving skills to work out these issues in the schedule- without overbooking your team or the dentist.
These are some of the duties that you can expect to have as a dental admin:
Greeting patients and checking them in
Making sure they fill out the needed forms
Registering new patients and keeping their info up to date
Scheduling them in
Answering incoming phone calls
Informing patients and answering their questions
Checking the schedule and preparing the dentists for appointments
Filling in cancellations and handling no shows
Preparing mail and sorting it
Monitoring the inventory
Keeping patient privacy safe
This list can be overwhelming at first glance. However, it should all come naturally to you as long as you can stay organized and on top of things. Remember that some days are busier than others, but your patients will always appreciate the work that you do for them.
Conclusion
As a dental assistant, you will have many opportunities for growth as a professional. Plus, you will love interacting with the patients, the dentists, and the rest of the team. To try out a few different office settings, sign up with us to Your next step can be to fill out our form or download our app to join Stynt to get access to freelance dental jobs in your area.