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Dental assistants are a vital part of a successful dentist office, and being a dental assistant has many advantages. 

From work flexibility to helping patients receive a beautiful and healthy smile, a lot of people want to become a dental assistant. With this being said, dental assistant jobs are highly competitive, and a lot of candidates apply for each open position. 

This is why it is important to have a highly detailed and easily readable resume, so that the hiring managers reviewing applications will call you in for an interview. 

A crucial part of any resume are your responsibilities within your past jobs, so it is in your best interest to properly list these responsibilities.

What Does a Dental Assistant Do?

Before you can write a descriptive dental assistant resume, it is first necessary to know what a dental assistant does. A dental assistant has many different roles and responsibilities on a daily basis, and some are administrative while others are patient-focused. 

Some examples of administrative dental assistant tasks include:

• Processing payments and insurance
• Scheduling appointments for patients
• Handling inventory 
• Ordering new supplies and equipment
• Cleaning instruments, equipment, and tools

Some examples of patient-focused dental assistant tasks include:

• Teaching patients about the best oral care practices like how to properly brush and floss
• Asking patients about their medical history 
• Assisting the dentist during patient treatments and procedures 
• Cleaning patients teeth with dental instruments

What Responsibilities to Include on Dental Assistant Resume

Now that you know what a dental assistant does on the job on a daily basis, it is time to learn about what responsibilities you should include on your dental assistant resume. 

What you list on your resume depends on what you have done in the past with prior work experience, certifications, volunteer work, licenses, and education. What you write for responsibilities will change if you have prior work experience or if you don’t.

Responsibilities for Prior Dental Assistant Experience

If you do have prior work experience in the dental field, your responsibilities will include detailed descriptions of those jobs. 

Write out a list of every job that you have had in reverse chronological order, and write about 4-6 bullet points under each job with specific duties, accomplishments, and awards involved in each job. 

Some examples of responsibilities for prior dental assistant work experience include: 

• Dental assistant job responsibilities: providing patient care, scheduling appointments, processing payments, dentist chairside assistance 
• Number-specific responsibilities: the number of patients you worked with on a daily or weekly basis, the number of dental records you maintained, the amount of x-rays you processed, the number of dentists you supported in the dental office 
• Customer feedback: your earned percentage of positive customer reviews, if you’ve ever received a bonus or raise for positive feedback
• Leadership responsibilities: if you’ve trained other employees in certain skills or areas of the dental office

Responsibilities for No Prior Dental Assistant Experience

If you are just starting out on your dental assistant career journey, then you do not have any previous dental assistant work experience to list on your resume yet. 

While you are completing your education and certifications to become a dental assistant, it is beneficial to volunteer or complete an externship as a dental assistant for some sort of experience in the dental field. 

Some examples of responsibilities for volunteering or completing an externship include:

• Volunteering: who you volunteered for, what position you volunteered as, how long you volunteered for, what you did while you were volunteering, who you shadowed if you shadowed anyone 
• Externship: where you completed your externship, what your position was during your externship, how long your externship lasted, what you did during your externship

If you have not done any volunteer work or have not completed an externship, no need to worry! Just list any previous work experience you have, and follow the same steps above for writing out those responsibilities. 

Also include an objective summary at the top of your resume, and briefly explain your accomplishments in the past, and what you are looking to do in the future of your career.

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