Dental administrative assistants primarily handle customer service and office duties. Read on to learn more about job responsibilities and academic options in this field.
Job Description
As a dental administrative assistant, you'll work in a dental office handling clerical duties, like scheduling appointments, handling insurance claims, and monitoring inventory. You may spend most of your time at a desk, working with documents, forms, and computer systems. You work closely with patients, other office staff, and a dental care team. As an administrative assistant, you are the person who coordinates the office and ensures that dentists and other dental staff are aware of what is happening in the front office.
<h3 id="section---ImportantFactsAboutDentalAdministrativeAssistants"> Important Facts About Dental Administrative Assistants</h3><p></p><table border="1"><tr><td> Median Salary (2021) </td><td> $37,450 (<i>for medical secretaries</i>)</td></tr>
<tr><td> Job Outlook (2021-2031) </td><td>8% (<i>for medical secretaries</i>)</td></tr>
<tr><td> Professional Certification </td><td> Certified Administrative Professional (CAP)</td></tr>
<tr><td> Similar Occupations </td><td> General office clerks, medical transcriptionists, receptionists, medical records and health information technicians, information clerks, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks</td></tr>
</table><p><i>Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics</i>
</p><h3 id="section---DutiesAndResponsibilities"> Duties and Responsibilities</h3><p>A majority of your job is to provide customer service. You are generally the first person to greet patients when they come into the office and enter their information in the office record system. Additional job duties may include filling out insurance forms and filing them with insurance companies. Coordinating the front office with the professional staff is also part of your job, so that the dentist and other staff know when patients have arrived.
</p><p>Answering the phone, responding to e-mail messages, pulling patient charts, and managing the office accounting may also be required. In some offices, you may also assist the dentist with patient care.
</p><h3 id="section---EducationRequirements"> Education Requirements</h3><p>According to February 2014 job listings for dental administrative assistants on <i>Monster.com</i>, employers may not require formal training for this position but typically look for those with experience in a dental setting. You likely need to have at least a high school diploma, or the equivalent, and two or more years of relevant experience.
</p><p>If you would like to complete formal training, you may consider a dental administrative assistant certificate program. Programs generally take less than a year to complete and cover concepts in dental terminology, record management, and patient interaction. Programs may also teach you about dental insurance and patient scheduling. Generally, to enter a dental assisting program, you need a high school diploma or GED and basic computer skills.</p>
