Dental Assistant

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

The Staff Dental Assistant assists the dentist in many aspects of direct patient care and performs other clinical and clerical functions under direct supervision. Your duties will be necessary to assist the dentists in many aspects of direct patient care and perform other clinical and clerical functions with direct supervision. You will perform a wide range of intra-oral dental procedures and provide chairside assistance in the clinic setting with an emphasis on four-handed dentistry.

Major duties may include but are not limited to:
Customer Service.

• Shows courtesy respect and a positive attitude of patients coworkers and the public.
• Assists customers with questions or concerns.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7 2025 drivers licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the Required Documents section of this announcement.

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• English Language Proficiency. Dental assistants must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with chapter 2 section D paragraph 5a of VA Handbook 5005 Qualification Standards.

Basic Experience and/or Education.

• Experience: Six months experience that demonstrates the applicants ability to perform the work or provides familiarity with the work

• Education: Successful completion of a 1-year dental assistant program accredited by the American Dental Associations Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA)

• Successful completion of the Dental Radiation Health and Safety Examination administered by the Dental Assisting National Board Inc.;

• Successful completion of the Principles and Practice of Dental Radiology and Radiographic Safety courses and examinations developed by the Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Dentistry

• Successful completion of a radiation health and safety program or examination approved by a state board of dentistry or the Department of Defense (DoD).

• Knowledge of anatomy and ability to evaluate diagnostic quality.
• Broad knowledge of common medical emergencies and vital signs measurement.
• Basic knowledge of instruments materials and standardized dental procedures .
• Ability to learn and utilize software programs used within VHA.
• Basic communication skills to provide patient instructions according to established protocol.

• Ability to identify normal oral anatomy.
• Advanced knowledge of instruments materials and standardized dental procedures used in all phases of restorative surgical endodontic and periodontal care and procedures.
• Ability to monitor and perform basic interpretation of vital signs.
• Ability to independently provide procedure-specific patient education and appropriate referral of patient concerns to treating dentist.
• Ability to capture standard and special dental images of good diagnostic quality in traditional or digital formats.
• Ability to perform maintenance on dental equipment used for routine and specialty dentistry.
• Ability to enter and retrieve data utilizing electronic dental records
• Ability to perform dental assistant-appropriate laboratory procedures