5 Important Soft Skills For Dental Office Assistants

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5 Important Soft Skills For Dental Office
Assistants

• Blackstone Career Institute

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What Are Soft Skills ?

• Your education at Blackstone will prepare you for
  a career in the dental profession. Your formal
  training as a Dental Office Assistant is
  considered a hard skill something that can be
  measured by test results. Even though this is
  very important, you will also need to rely on
  soft skills.
• Lets look at five soft skills that will make you
  a more valuable team member communication,
  compassion, attention to detail, time management,
  and problem solving.

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Communication

• This is the most important part of your job. You
  will communicate with your dentist/employer,
  fellow team members, patients, as well as
  insurance companies, dental labs, suppliersthe
  list goes on and on. A lot of time will be spent
  on the telephone. The person you are
  communicating with needs to hear your smile.
• How do you do that? I was trained to have a hand
  mirror on your desk look into the mirror,
  breathe, smile then answer the phone. The person
  on the other end of your call will be able to
  hear how personable you are. Speak slowly and
  calmly.

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Compassion

• You are a health care professional who is part of
  a dental team. Patients will confide in you just
  as much as they do the clinical staff. You will
  need to actively listen to what they say and
  respond accordingly. Always be compassionate
  you have no idea what another person is going
  through. You may be the only person who took the
  time to be understanding and listen to their
  problem.
• Since COVID, I am finding a lot of my elderly
  patients want to talk more than at prior visits.
  They have been isolated from friends and family,
  and this trip to the dentist is one of the few
  personal interactions they may have had in
  months. Take the time to really listen to what
  they are saying. You are the friendly face that
  brightened their day. It costs nothing to be
  kind.

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Attention to Detail

• Charting, coding, documentation always
  remember if it is not documented, it did not
  happen. It all needs to be documented. Lets take
  a quick look at coding for composite
  restorations.
• There are separate codes for anterior teeth
  (teeth numbers 6-11 and 22-27) and a different
  code for posterior teeth (teeth 1-5, 12-16,
  17-21, 28-32). Should you use an anterior code on
  a posterior tooth it will be denied by insurance
  carriers.
• There are also different codes for the number of
  surfaces involved. Example A one surface
  anterior composite restoration is D2330 while a
  one surface posterior restoration is D2391. If
  the dentist did a 7-F composite restoration, what
  code do you use? The number of surfaces is one
  and it is tooth7, an anterior, therefore the
  correct code is D2330. This will get easier the
  more you work with it.

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Attention to Detail

• The insurance clearing house my office uses will
  flag incorrect coding before it sends them to
  the insurance company. The entire claim will show
  in red, making it easy to see and giving me time
  to correct the error. This clearing house also
  flags claims that need attachments such as root
  canals and crowns that need x-rays for
  processing.
• Maximize your computer software. If you have not
  been formally trained on your software program,
  then check out the software program website for
  demo videos or You Tube videos. There is always
  training available, you just need to ask.

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Time Management

• Having a set schedule or routine will help your
  day run smoother. Prioritize tasks. I begin my
  day by checking with the answering service and
  emails for any changes in the schedule. Remove
  any cancellations and fill any open time slots
  all before our morning huddle.
• At huddle each team member is given a copy of the
  schedule, review all changes, discuss possible
  problem areas, look for slots for emergency
  patients, make sure financials are all in place,
  go over yesterdays numbers our senior doctor
  then gives us our inspirational quote of the day
  and we begin. There are four of us in the
  business office, so we share the following
  duties.

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Time Management

• One oversees posting payments. Most of our
  payments come through EFTs (electronic fund
  transfers) which means we do not receive a paper
  check the money is automatically transferred
  directly into the office checking account.
• The insurance company will send us notification
  some by email others by fax we need to then
  rectify the direct deposit with the EOB
  (explanation of benefits) and post to the patient
  account. This is a full-time job in an office as
  large as the one I work in. My task is to begin
  reviewing the schedule two days in advance.

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Problem Solving

• Now that we just discussed how to manage your
  time by having a schedule now you need to adapt
  to work on the fly. I saved this skill for last
  because being able to adapt to a constantly
  changing environment is required in dentistry.
  Everything could be in place when disaster hits.
• We have to understand that anything could happen
  power goes out, compressors go down, someone
  calls off sick, or as we are experiencing now, a
  COVID pandemic could unfold. We need to find ways
  to deal with anything that gets thrown our way.
  By staying calm, taking a breath, and being
  prepared, you will get through anything.

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Problem Solving

• There is so much more to dentistry then drill
  em, fill em, bill em as we did when I started
  in this profession over 40 years ago. You too can
  make Dental Office Assistant a lifelong career if
  you remain calm and follow your passion. Be a
  lifelong learner and you will never be sorry.
  Keep smiling.

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