Appreciation week gives dental assistants reason to smile

***image1***Dentists would be lost without them. Patients may not smile as often.

That’s why the American Dental Association and the American Dental Assistants Association designates the second week in March as Dental Assistants Recognition Week since 1976.

This year’s observance started on Sunday and will end on Saturday. It’s a time to acknowledge the versatility and talents of dental assistants and to recognize them as an essential part of the dental team, according to Army Maj. Thorpe Whitehead, Orthodontic Services chief, Pulaski Barracks Dental Clinic.

“As a dentist and especially, an orthodontist, it is important to have great dental assistants,” he said. “The quality and quantity of patient care I can deliver is directly proportional to the ability and number of dental assistants we have in the office.”

Capt. Sarah Eager, general dentist, 435th Dental Squadron, agreed, “They are the backbone of our squadron and ensure that the patient is the number one priority when they are seen at the dental clinic.

“We are very fortunate at Ramstein to have dental assistants who are active duty, German nationals and Red Cross volunteers,” she said. “Each and every one of them plays a support role that is integral to the patient care that is delivered, and the dentists could not do their jobs without them.”

Dental assistants perform a variety of patient care, office and laboratory duties. They work at chair side as dentists examine and treat patients. They make patients as comfortable as possible in the dental chair, prepare them for treatment and obtain dental records.

Assistants hand instruments and materials to dentists. They also sterilize and disinfect instruments and equipment, prepare tray setups for dental procedures, provide postoperative instruction and instruct patients in oral health care.

They may also remove sutures, apply anesthetics and cavity preventive agents to teeth and gums, and place rubber dams on the teeth to isolate them for individual treatment.

Those with laboratory duties make casts of teeth and mouth from impressions taken by dentists, and make temporary crowns. Dental assistants with office duties schedule and confirm appointments, receive patients, keep treatment records, and order dental supplies and materials.

This recognition week honors “all they do” as an essential member of the dental team.