Who is a digital dental assistant?
Being part of a dental office is a great career path. A dental team work together to render dental care. There are many career path beside being a dentist when it comes to dentistry. American Dental Association (ADA) suggests four paths for dental assistant jobs in oral health field: dental hygienist, dental assistant, dental laboratory technician, and Community Dental Health Coordinator (CDHC).
Dentistry – an healthcare in general – has majorly changed in the last few years. Digital dentistry is expanding in dental practices. These changes open doors for a new position in a dental team called digital dental assistant.
What is digital dental technology?
Digital dental technology includes equipment and dental procedures that use 3D scanning, digital treatment planning and 3D printing of appliances and restorative units. Digital dentistry is a term refer to overall practicing of dentistry utilizing digital technology. Using digital xray (radiograph), digital photography, 3D printing, and digital modalities to render dental care, the functions of dental assistant has changed drastically in dental practices.
What is a digital dental assistant’s job description?
A digital dental assistant job description includes both chairside assistant and lab technician. Basically a digital dental assistant is the manager of the dental lab and work with the team members of a dental practice to offer digital dental treatment.
A digital dental assistant could start from an entry level position such as sterilization technician and move up to a digital dental assistant position.
The minimum requirement of a digital dental assistant job is often high school diploma. You don’t need to be a certified dental assistant (RDA or CDA) to apply. A digital dental assistant position could be part time or fulltime.
What is a digital dental assistant salary?
Salary of a digital dental assistant varies from $15 per hours to $30 per hour depending of the geographic location of the practice and levels of expertise of the candidate.
Transitioning to a digital dental assistant as a registered dental assistant often put you in a higher tier salary. Experience and technical skills of a certified dental assistant (one who is graduated from a dental assisting program) brings lots of advantages to a digital dental assistant position.
Do dental specialty practices have a digital dental assistant position?
The field of orthodontics has been the leader of integrating digital technology in daily practice of orthodontics. Clear aligners were one of the first CAD/CAM produced appliances in dentistry. The use of digital technology in Prosthodontics (dental restorations) and radiology are trending these days. Some of the pediatric dental clinics also integrating digital technology in their patient care.