Dental Assistants
Prepare patients for dental examinations, and assist dental practitioners, Hygienists and Therapists in providing care and treatment.
A Monday morning chairside
You are a dental assistant at a family clinic, setting up rooms, assisting the dentist and looking after patients between treatments. It is 8:15am. The first patient is due at eight thirty, the sterilising machine has just finished a cycle and the dentist wants room two ready in five minutes.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Room two, quickly please. I need the set for a filling and the x-ray ready. And Mrs Danh will be nervous, so can you chat to her while I finish notes?
Set the room up quickly using the checklist you know, then chat with Mrs Danh
The room is ready and Mrs Danh is relaxed, but in the rush you take one item from the wrong tray. Dr Whitlock spots it before it matters. Checklists exist because speed is when mistakes creep in.
Bring Mrs Danh in first so she is not left waiting, then finish setting up while she watches
Mrs Danh sees you hunting for items and grows more anxious. The dentist waits. A patient is calmer when the room looks ready, and setting up first is part of that.
Set up from your checklist first, check the sterile packs, then greet Mrs Danh
The room is ready, everything has been checked, and Mrs Danh walks into a calm space. You chat while the dentist finishes. Doing things in a steady order saves time in the end.
I have to admit, I have not been flossing and I am embarrassed. Is the dentist going to tell me off? Should I just say I do it every day?
Tell her it is fine and plenty of people skip it, so no need to worry
She feels better for a moment, but she goes home with no better habits, and the dentist's findings come as a surprise. Reassurance helps most when it comes with a next step.
Say the dentist has seen it all, and that being honest helps them work out what she needs
Mrs Danh tells the dentist the truth. Dr Whitlock shows her an easy way to start and she leaves with a plan she thinks she can keep. Honesty makes the appointment more useful.
Suggest she says she flosses sometimes, which is not really a lie
The dentist gets a muddy picture and gives general advice. Mrs Danh leaves unsure whether she is doing well or badly. A clear answer would have helped her more.
We have a walk-in with a broken tooth and a lot of pain. Dr Whitlock is mid-procedure and the next booked patient has arrived. What do you want me to tell them?
Ask Hamid to tell the walk-in to try another clinic, because the day is already full
The patient leaves in pain, upset, and posts a bad review. A dental emergency is something the dentist should be told about, even if you cannot see them today.
Take a few details, quietly tell Dr Whitlock between steps, and ask Hamid to offer the walk-in a seat
The dentist squeezes the walk-in in after the next patient, and the wait is longer than anyone wanted. The patient stays, which was the right call, though it took a while to organise.
Check how bad the pain is, pass details to the dentist, and ask Hamid to tell the booked patient
Dr Whitlock sees the walk-in on a gap in the list and the booked patient accepts a short delay with a cuppa. A clear message lets the dentist decide who needs to be seen first.
How it went
By the end of the day the instruments are sterilised, the rooms are reset and tomorrow's list is printed. Dental assistants work steadily with their hands and patiently with people who are nervous. How would you feel about being the calm person in the room?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The little boy who would not open his mouth
A fictional case set in a busy family dental clinic in a fictional suburban shopping strip.
The situation
At Corner Smiles Dental, five-year-old Eli arrived for his first check-up and went rigid in the waiting room. His mother was embarrassed and the dentist, Dr Banerjee, was already ten minutes behind. Mei, the dental assistant, had been told to bring the next patient through. Eli clung to his mum's leg and shook his head every time anyone asked him to come in. The next patient was waiting and so was the afternoon list.
What they did
Mei crouched down to his level and asked what he liked. He said trucks. She walked him into the surgery without asking him to sit down, showed him the little mirror and called the suction a tiny vacuum for trucks. She let him hold the toothbrush and tell her where it went. Then she told Dr Banerjee quietly that this one needed time, and Dr Banerjee reorganised the next hour.
How it turned out
Eli let the dentist count his teeth, only just, and left with a sticker. Dr Banerjee ran twenty minutes late, and Mei phoned the waiting patient to apologise. The clinic added a short first-visit tour for small children after seeing how well it worked.
What would you do?
- What did Mei do that made the surgery less frightening for Eli?
- How would you decide whether to rush or to give a child more time?
- Who else in the clinic was affected by the extra time, and what did Mei do about them?