Chapters 3 and 4

Modern Dental Assisting Edition 13

The dental healthcare team (dht)

Roles and responsibilities

The goal of the dht is to provide quality oral healthcare to patients under the supervision of the
dentist.

DENTIST

 Legally responsible for patients

 Assesses patients' oral health
 Uses-up-to-date diagnostic skills
 Uses current techniques and skills
 Provides legally required supervision for all other staff

DENTAL ASSISTANT

 Prepares, supports, and assures patients

 Maintains treatment rooms and instruments
 Assists dentist during treatment
 Prepares and delivers dental materials
 Provide postoperative patient instructions
 Perform radiographic and basic laboratory procedures

DENTAL HYGIENIST

 Assesses the periodontal status of patients

 Removes plaque from teeth (dental prophylaxis)
 Performs scaling and root planing procedures
 Exposes, processes, and evaluates radiographs
 Administrates local anesthetic and nitrous oxide

BUSINESS ASSISTANT (DENTAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT)

 Greets patients and answers the phone

 Makes and confirms appointments
 Manages patient records, payroll, insurance, payments
 Ensures privacy policy is in place and followed
 Oversees patient relations

DENTAL LABORATORY TECHNICIAN

 Performs laboratory work under dentist’s prescription

 Constructs and repairs prosthetic devices (dentures)
 Constructs restorations (crowns, bridges, inlays, veneers)

DENTAL SPECIALITIES

What are they?

Dentistry as a general field allows for a wide array of specializations for dental healthcare workers.

Classifying specialties

 Dental public health: involved with policy making and treating the community as the patient
rather than the individual.
 Endodontics: involves investigating, diagnosing, preventing, and treating injuries to the pulp
and associated structures.
 Oral and maxillofacial radiology: uses sophisticated imaging techniques to locate tumors and
diseases of the jaws, head, and neck.
 Oral and maxillofacial surgery: involves the diagnosing and surgical treatment of diseases
and injuries of the oral and maxillofacial regions.
 Oral pathology: involves examining the nature of diseases that affect the oral cavity and
adjacent structures.
 Orthodontics: involved with diagnosing, treating, and preventing malocclusions of the teeth
and associated structures.
 Periodontics: involved in diagnosing and treating diseases of the oral tissues that support
and surround the teeth.
 Prosthodontics: involved in restoring and replacing real teeth with constructs like crowns,
bridges, and dentures.
 Pediatric dentistry: involved in the oral healthcare of children. Often treats children with
behavioral problems.

THE CANADIAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION

BACKGROUND

The CDA is the national voice for dentistry, dedicated to the advancement and leadership of a
unified profession and the promotion of optimal oral health, an essential component of general
health.

Founded in 1902, CDA is a non-profit professional association representing Canada’s approximately

20,000 dentists.

FOCUS

Knowledge

Advocacy

WEBSITE INFORMATION

You may visit the CDA’s website at www.cda-adc.ca for information on: your oral health issues,
membership information, the dental aptitude test, patient communication, clinical information, the
latest news in dentistry

DENTAL ETHICS

What are ethics?

Ethics refers to your moral conduct.

Right vs wrong

Good vs evil
Ethics includes values.

Ethics includes having high standards of how you behave.

Ethics include keeping personal obligations or responsibilities.

Ethics includes how you interact with other people and patients.

How important are ethics?

Ethical decisions are present in every part of our lives.

You have been learning personal ethics throughout your life from many sources.

Where do your ethics come from?

 Parents
 Teachers
 Religion
 Basic instinct
 Watching other people

Ethics refers to what you should do, not what you must do.

The law deals with what you must do.

PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS

Basic principles of ethics

The actions and decisions of healthcare providers are guided by ethical principles.

The 6 principles of ethics

The following 6 principles of ethics have been developed over time

These principles guide healthcare providers by helping to identify, clarify, and justify moral choices.

1. Autonomy
Self-determination
Right to freedom of choice
Self-responsibility
2. Nonmaleficence
To “do no harm”
3. Beneficence
To “do good” or provide a benefit
4. Justice
Fairness
Treating people fairly and giving them what they deserve and are entitled to receive.
5. Confidentiality
Never revealing any personal information about the patient.
6. Veracity
Tell the truth