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A dental assistant serves two purposes in the dentist office they work for. They assist in the care of patients under the supervision of a dentist, often working closely with dental hygienists, but they also provide administrative support to the office.
The interview process for dental assistants may differ from other positions you have interviewed for in the past. They will ask the traditional hard skill, soft skill, and behavioral questions used to assess your competency, of course.
In addition to the traditional line of questioning, you will also face very job-specific questions to determine if you possess the technical skills and knowledge this job requires. Dental assistants require a very specific, and varied, skill set to succeed in their position.
You should have learned most of what you need to properly answer these questions during your education and/or training. While there are national dental assistant certifications, each state has its own set of requirements for dental assistant education and certification. Be aware of the process for the state in which you wish to practice before the job application process.
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Each office and specialty will require its own specific set of skills, but there are universal traits that make for a successful dental assistant. Be sure to highlight these traits and skills during the interview process. Craft your responses to the below questions to include references to your capabilities.
There are two distinct sides to every dental assistant position. While you may spend more time in one over the other, possessing the skills necessary to succeed in both will make you a more ideal candidate.
Administrative work. Part of your job will be to participate in administrative tasks such as paperwork, patient scheduling, exam room prep, and more. Successful dental assistants will possess good:
Administrative skills. These skills are crucial when working in an office and include a combination of hard and soft skills. While easy to display on a resume, you want to ensure that you are highlighting these skills in your interview responses as well.
Organizational skills. Dental offices are often fast-paced and can serve hundreds of clients. Your ability to keep client paperwork organized, maintain an uncluttered schedule, and keep up with your varied tasks is important to success as a dental assistant.
Dental work. Unsurprisingly, you will be expected to participate in the dental procedures that take place in your office. There is a long list of technical skills and knowledge that each specialty will expect, but some hard and soft skills will be required across all.
Dexterity. You won’t see this listed as a coveted skill/trait for many positions. But, in a job that requires you to work with your hands and handle small tools in tight spaces, having great dexterity and hand-eye coordination is key to success.
Communication skills. You are just one of many moving parts in your dental office. Since you wear many hats, you will need to communicate with everyone that interacts with your office at some point or another.
You need to be able to communicate with the dentist and dental hygienists, the patients and their families, and the other dental assistants.
Interpersonal skills. A dental assistant is part of the dental team; you must work well on a team and be sensitive to the needs of your superiors and peers. You must also be sensitive to your patients’ needs.
Visiting the dentist can often cause anxiety for many. They may be in pain, whether from their ailment or the procedure they are undergoing. Some will be angry and difficult to handle. You must be sensitive to their emotions and help to calm them and defuse potentially volatile situations.
Listening skills. As an assistant, you will need to be able to follow directions from the dentist or hygienist you are working with. Your patients will also need you to actively listen to them during their patient interviews or appointments.
Most of these skills are certainly easy to include in your resume. They can be highlighted in the way you describe your previous work experiences with the right wording. You might find yourself a little hard-pressed to include dexterity within those descriptions, or even during the interview process, but know that it is necessary and do your best to make it known.
Remember, these are just the universal skills a dental assistant needs to find success in their position. There are many, many other skills — both hard and soft — that you will need for this role or each position you are applying for.
The majority of the technical knowledge you must possess should have been learned during your education, training, or previous experience. If you have previous experience, these skills can be easy to insert into interview responses and your resume.
If this is your first job as a dental assistant, though, it can be a bit more difficult to properly answer some of these question types. You want to use your experiences at school to answer questions as thoroughly as you can. Do your best to translate your classroom experience into examples that highlight the skills they are looking for.
The interview is much more complicated than the process of building out your resume or crafting your cover letter. You can read and reread and proof your resume and cover letter to ensure that they properly, and clearly, display your experience — free of typos and grammatical errors, of course.
Interviews, on the other hand, are on-the-spot. You must craft a response and deliver it in moments like an improv master. There is no backspace, and unfortunately, first impressions do matter. Be prepared before you enter that interview.
You should do the work to familiarize yourself with the questions commonly asked during dental assistant interviews. This will help you to have your answers ready when the question is asked. You will feel more comfortable during the questioning process and you will have had time to master the fine art of providing responses that manage to be both detailed and concise.
How much experience do you have as a dental assistant? If you have experience working as a dental assistant, you want to give them details here: what kind of offices, how long did you work there, etc.
If this is your first position as a dental assistant, be honest with them. You can instead highlight your education, training, and/or internship experiences.
Example Answer:
“I have worked as a dental assistant for the last six years at a large dental practice. It proved me with valuable hands-on experience as a dental assistant. I assisted three separate dentists and several hygienists, allowing me to adapt to the different needs and preferences of each.”
As a dental assistant, how will you ensure that you are following HIPAA guidelines? You should be intimately familiar with HIPAA protocol as a dental assistant. We recommend you brush up on it before your interview to be sure you can properly answer any HIPAA-related questions.
This question is intended to find out how much you know about HIPAA and that you can practice discretion. Use previous patient situations where you may have been asked to break a patient’s privacy if you have any. You can also describe the current HIPAA practices as they pertain to your position.
Example Answer:
“I keep up with the current HIPAA guidelines to make sure that I am always following the proper procedures. I only use first names when communicating with patients over the phone. I keep patient records out of sight of others and make sure that doors are closed and rooms are secure before discussing any information with the patient.”
What is your oral hygiene routine? Simply put, they want you to practice what they preach. They also want to make sure that you can educate patients on proper oral hygiene. Remember, it is about more than just brushing.
You should demonstrate that you understand the recommended practices for oral health.
Example Answer:
“I make sure to brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and floss daily. I try to have a cleaning with my dentist every six months as well.”
What steps do you take to prepare for a patient’s arrival? Part of a dental assistant’s job is to prep the patients as well as the room before arrival. This is the perfect place to demonstrate your knowledge as well as your organizational and multitasking skills.
Example Answer:
“First and foremost, I make sure that the room is clean before setting up. I will also review the patient information and history, then set out the necessary tools and prep any equipment needed for the procedure. If necessary, I will mount the most recent X-rays as well.”
What do you believe is the most valuable skill for a dental assistant to have? As mentioned above, there are a variety of skills needed to be a successful dental assistant. However, one stands out more than the others.
You can learn technical, administrative, and organizational skills. You can even practice to improve your dexterity. Without interpersonal skills, though, you will make for a very poor dental assistant.
Example Answer:
“Interpersonal skills are an invaluable skill for a dental assistant to have. The dentist can often be a stressful experience; interpersonal skills can help make patients more comfortable. The dental knowledge and handling of the equipment are important parts of this job, but without empathy and compassion we would not be able to do this job successfully.”
How would you sterilize equipment and how often? They want to know that you take patient health seriously and that you are familiar with the safety protocols. Details will matter here, so try to provide as much as you can.
Example Answer:
“All equipment should be sterilized after each use. I would follow the standard infection control procedure, properly disposing of disposable items and sterilizing all tools and equipment according to the operating manuals.”
Are you experienced with radiological tasks (exposing/processing x-rays)?
What do you enjoy the most about being a dental assistant?
Have you ever had to deal with an angry patient? How did you deal with it?
What is your level of experience with dental practice management software?
How do you explain the need for a dental procedure to a patient who doesn’t understand the importance of the treatment?
How much chair-side experience do you have? Describe two chair-side experiences where you felt entirely comfortable, and another one that you felt was a struggle.
Are you more comfortable working with children or adults? Why?
What made you interested in working in the dental field?
Do you have any laboratory experience, such as making casts of teeth and temporary crowns?
How do you work under continuous direct supervision? Explain how you react to constructive criticism?
Why do you want to work for our practice in particular?
Talk me through the steps you would take to get an accurate alginate impression on an anxious patient.
Tell me about your worst day at work as a dental assistant. What happened and how did you handle it?
Tell me about your best dentist you’ve ever worked with. Why do you consider them the best?
When faced with stressful situations or emergencies, how do you manage crises?
Are you willing to work evenings and weekends?