Many dentists will agree it's never a good idea to hold onto an employee—if you would dismiss the person otherwise—out of concern for an increase in your unemployment insurance. Each state has its own formula to calculate unemployment benefits but all the states use the employee's earnings when figuring it out. The length and maximum weekly benefit varies state to state. How much any given employer is responsible for will be based  on a percentage of what the employee earned from their previous jobs over a specific period of time and can't exceed the state's weekly maximum.   Kevin Tighe, Cambridge Dental...

Staff can look very busy, but this can sometimes be due to them handling additional work they generated themselves due to inefficiencies, lack of training, or no accountability. Examples: • Lab case not in the office. Patient arrives for appointment.• Incomplete information in patient charts.• Incomplete insurance submission.• Insurance not verified.• Patient leaves office without an appointment.• Phone numbers for patient are not correct. • Appointment not confirmed. • Delivering more dentistry in the back than was scheduled; front desk not notified.• Treatment plan sequence not written up.• Financial arrangements not made.• Incomplete treatment not followed up on.• Message taken but not given...

The duties of chairside assisting are not just assisting and cleaning instruments when there are no patients. Your time should be used to catch up on cleaning the treatment rooms, tubs, and trays, stocking treatment rooms and burs, organizing stock closets, and more. (Refer to the “Daily Checklist” below.) Treatment rooms should look immaculate at all times. This cannot be emphasized enough. When patients arrive early, you are to seat them immediately, inform the doctor of the patient’s name and room number, and inform the doctor that the patient is seated. You should inform patients of the estimated time for their appointments and their estimated...

Interview questions: 1.  What expanded duties did you do at Dr. ______'s office? 2.  What brands/kinds of cements/bonding materials are you familiar with? 3.  Per OSHA regulations how do you sterilize instruments? 4.  Explain how you handle a patient who shows signs of being afraid. 5.  What do you enjoy the most about being a DA? 6.  Are you wanting to stay a DA or eventually become an RDA? 7.  Why did you leave your old job?  8.  What are your strengths? Weaknesses?  9.  What makes you the top person for this job? 10. What made you decide to be a...