DENTAL ASSISTANT 2

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UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty. 

School of Dentistry has an outstanding opportunity for a Dental Assistant 2

The UW School of Dentistry has an outstanding opportunity for a Dental Assistant 2 at our UW Dentistry Campus Dental Center.  At the UW Dentistry Campus Dental Center, patients receive care by highly-skilled, experienced UW School of Dentistry faculty and GPR Residents.  Our experienced providers offer comprehensive oral care services to UW students, UW employees, their families, and guests.  Patients can find all dental specialties in one convenient locations, on campus at the Health Sciences Building. UW Dentistry Campus Dental Center is committed to the principle of diversity, equity, and inclusion and to providing an environment where every employee feels welcomed, valued, and appreciated.

Desirable candidates for this position must have the ability to work independently and be a reliable team player with a strong work ethic. The DA2 must demonstrate strong interpersonal skills, resolve conflict in a positive manner, and interact with patients, staff, faculty, and students on a professional level at all times. They must also be able to handle difficult situations professionally and use good judgement while upholding the policies of the University of Washington and UW School of Dentistry (UWSOD). The DA2 reports to the Dental Clinic Manager and the Director of UW Dentistry Camus Dental Center. The DA2 is expected to communicate with their manager when they see areas for operational improvement or ways to improve the safety of the clinical environment.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Dental Assistant 2 in this position may assist chair-side with one provider for long periods of time, as in typical dental assisting, or move from provider to provider to assist them during critical times of their patient care procedures and as needed. The DA2 must have the ability to prioritize work and understand when and how the students or faculty providers need them. When assisting students, the DA2 should communicate constructively to the student to help them gain as much as possible from their learning experience at the UW Dentistry Campus Dental Center. The DA2 must be caring and helpful, yet be able to be firm if people within the clinic are not following the policies and guidelines of the clinic or Standard of Care.

The Dental Assistant 2 will be expected to communicate daily with the clinic faculty and resident providers to develop an excellent working relationship with them. The Dental Assistant 2 assigned in the clinic must be aware of the needs of the providers and assist them as needed. 

Assisting responsibilities include:

• Provide excellent customer service to the School’s patients, students, faculty and staff.
• Aid dental residents and/or faculty in four-handed dentistry and in routine chair-side duties and patient care.
• Provide residents with knowledge and ideas to help aid in the dental care educational process.
• Orient new staff and dental residents to clinic procedures and policies.
• Clean and prepare treatment area.
• Keep all areas clean, orderly, and neat.
• Obtain and mix dental materials.
• Ability to expose digital intra and extra-oral radiographs
• May conduct inventories and stock supplies.
• Monitor school-owned instruments for breakage and wear
• Assess replacement needs.
• Monitor and maintain clinic hand pieces.
• Take impressions for study models and opposing models
• Mechanical polishing to amalgam restorations, clinical crowns and supragingival areas
• Place matrix and wedge
• Remove excess cement
• Fabricate, place and remove temporary fillings
• Expose digital dental x-ray images
• Deliver fluoride treatments
• Teach oral hygiene
• Remove dry socket dressing and periodontal pak
• Remove sutures; pack and medicate extraction areas
• Assist in the administration of nitrous-oxide analgesia
• Placement of retraction cord
• Select denture shade and mold
• Acid etch and apply sealants
• Place cotton rolls and holders
• Other duties as provided in the dental laws of the State of Washington
• Assist in the treatment of handicapped patients and/or patients admitted through the emergency room; visit patients in the hospital to record and make entries in the chart regarding these contracts
• Take and record vital signs when patients are sedated
• Instruct students in the appropriate role of dental assistants in the delivery of patient care; assist in various four-handed techniques, such as anesthetic administration, instrument grasps and transfer and gold foil malleting
• May support activities in a dental clinic, such as arranging and scheduling patient appointments, maintaining patient records
• Take and record vital signs and review health history with patients
• May provide information to departments regarding clinic services
• May perform all duties of a Dental Assistant to the full extent of licensure

Sterilization Responsibilities:

• Check instruments and cassettes keeping detailed records of all assets.
• Maintain and operate autoclaves and sterilization equipment; disinfect items, and follow pre-sterilization and sterilization-established protocol.  Duties include scrubbing, ultrasonic operation, drying, sorting, resetting, packaging and labeling instrument setups.
• Assemble dental instrument packs.
• Store sterile and disinfected set-ups in preparation for delivery of patient care.
• Monitor school-owned instruments for breakage and wear; assess replacement needs.
• Monitor and maintain hand pieces sterilization.
• Perform weekly spore testing on autoclaves and other sterilizers.
• Keep all areas clean, orderly, and neat.
• Provide excellent customer service to faculty, staff, and students.
• Inspect, assemble, package, label and date instruments and cassettes.
• Perform additional sterilization duties as assigned.

The Dental Assistant 2 in this position may be assigned to provide support in the Pre Doctoral Student Teaching Clinics located on D2/D3, clinic dispensaries, and School of Dentistry Central Sterilization.  In addition, this individual may float as needed in other dental clinics within the UW School of Dentistry such as, Dental Urgent Care, DECOD (Dental Education in the Care of Person with Disabilities), Endodontics, Oral Medicine, Orthodontics, Graduate Periodontics, Graduate Prosthodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

Completion of an accredited training program for dental assistants; AND current certification as a dental assistant (CDA) OR the ability to obtain same within six months; PLUS two years of experience as a dental assistant. One year of additional dental assistant experience may substitute for required education.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process.  These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others.  Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.