Dental Administrative Assistant Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Dental Administrative Assistant resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
As a dental assistant, you’ll help dentists and dental hygienists run their practices. You’ll schedule appointments, manage insurance claims, and keep records of patient histories and treatment plans. You might also help prepare patients for procedures, sterilize equipment, and take X-rays.
And unlike many administrative roles, a dental assistant position can be quite varied. Some dental assistants work exclusively with patients, while others spend most of their time working behind the scenes with dentists and hygienists to coordinate appointments and keep the office running smoothly.
Because of the wide range of responsibilities associated with this job, dental assistant is a great entry-level position for someone looking to break into the field or shift into a new role within the industry. Here are some tips and an example resume to help you write a dental assistant resume that hiring managers will love.
How to Write a Dental Administrative Assistant Resume
Here’s how to write a dental administrative assistant resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
When you’re writing bullet points, it can be tempting to simply list your responsibilities. But that’s not enough to make a strong impression. Instead, you should use your bullet points to demonstrate your value by highlighting your accomplishments, skills, and results.
For example, rather than saying you “managed patient appointments,” you could say that you “reduced wait time for new patients from 30 minutes to 10 minutes, resulting in a 20% increase in new patient referrals over six-month period.”
The second bullet point paints a much clearer picture of what you did and the results of your work. And it provides specific numbers to demonstrate how successful you were.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you submit your resume for a dental administrative assistant role, it’s likely that it will be scanned by an applicant tracking system (ATS) for certain keywords. ATS programs look for specific terms related to the job, like “patient relations” or “medical records,” in order to determine whether your skills and experience are a match for the job opening. If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right terms, the ATS might filter out your application.
To increase your chances of getting an interview, use this list of common dental administrative assistant keywords as a starting point to help you identify the skills and experience that are most relevant to the role:
- Dental Assisting
- Dental Care
- Dental Office
- Dental Insurance
- Dental Hygiene
- Dental Administration
- Dental Surgery
- Dentistry
- Medical Records
- Patient Education
- Healthcare
- Medical Terminology
- Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
- Data Entry
- Appointment Scheduling
- Phone Etiquette
- U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- Scheduling
- Healthcare Management
- Office Administration
- Public Speaking
- Research
- Microsoft Access
- Time Management
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Organization Skills
- Filing
- Clerical Skills
- Patient Care
Showcase Your Technical Skills
Dental administrative assistants need to be proficient in a variety of software programs in order to do their jobs effectively. This might include dental practice management software, dental billing software, and dental charting software. Additionally, dental administrative assistants need to be able to use technology to communicate with other members of the dental team, including dentists, dental hygienists, and dental assistants.
Some of the programs and systems that dental administrative assistants are typically expected to be proficient in include: Eaglesoft, Dentrix, and Easy Dental.