Registered Dental Assistant (On-Call)

Job Description

Job Description

Asian Health Services, founded in 1974, provides medical, dental, and behavioral health services to more than 50,000 patients. Our approach to well-being focuses on “whole patient health” for all. We go beyond our clinic walls and invest in our community’s overall health. We know that income, housing, and environmental struggles lie at the heart of poor health. That’s why we also address food insecurity, youth leadership, and culturally competent care while working towards supporting safer streets and vibrant communities.

Location: Asian Health Services - Main Dental Clinic

Job Summary:

Under general supervision of the Dental Supervisor RDA-Clinic Coordinator, Dentist, or Chief Dental Officer performs all duties of a Dental Assistant including assistance to the dentist and dental hygienist during a variety of treatment procedures, and other functions as legally allowed in the state of California.

Note:  Applicants  must meet the minimum language requirements to be considered. Please review these requirements carefully before applying. Applications that do not meet these criteria will not be considered.

Essential Job Functions

• All duties of a Dental Assistant including the ones listed below:
• Setting up
• Helping patients feel comfortable before, during, and after dental treatment
• Asking about or verifying when necessary a patient’s medical history and taking blood pressure and pulse
• Taking and developing dental radiographs (x-rays)
• Chairside assisting
• Providing patients with instructions for oral care following dental treatment procedures
• Teaching patients appropriate oral hygiene strategies to maintain oral health (like tooth brushing, flossing, and nutritional counseling
• Serving as an infection control officer, developing infection control protocol and preparing and sterilizing instruments and equipment, and the patient’s area
• Keeping operatories stocked and sterile
• Maintaining dental equipment
• Taking impressions of patient's teeth for study casts (models of teeth).
• May apply non-aerosol and non-caustic topical agents
• May remove post-extraction and periodontal dressings
• May place and remove elastic orthodontic separators
• May hold anterior matrices
• May remove sutures
• May apply topical fluoride after scaling and polishing by the Dentist, Hygienist, or Dental Supervisor RDA-Clinic Coordinator
• May place and remove rubber dams
• Other dental or chairside duties assigned by the supervisor.

Under general supervision, a Registered Dental Assistant may perform:

• Mouth mirror inspecting oral cavity to include charting of obvious lesions, existing restorations, and missing teeth
• Placement and removal of temporary sedative dressings
• Under direct supervision, a Registered Dental Assistant may perform the following procedures:
• Obtain endodontic cultures
• Dry canals previously opened by the Supervising Dentist, with absorbent points
• Test pulp vitality
• Place bases and liners on sound dentin
• Remove excess cement from gingival surfaces of teeth with a hand instrument or fluoride
• Size stainless steel crowns, temporary crowns, and bands
• Temporary cementations and removal of orthodontics bands
• Placements of orthodontic separators
• Placements and litigations of archwires
• Placement of post-extraction and periodontal dressings
• Coronal polishings if certified 
• Removal of excess cement from coronal surfaces of teeth using an ultrasonic scaler

Other Duties

• Observe professional and ethical standards of the job.
• Follow clinic protocols.
• Comply with OSHA regulations. 
• Comply with AHS health and safety rules and procedures.
• Comply with Human Resources requirements such as attending periodic in-service training, meeting annual health exam requirements, submitting proof of CME and license renewals, etc.
• Assist in providing orientation to new employees including newly-employed front desk assistants, Dental Assistants, Registered Dental Assistant, Dental Hygienist, Dentists, etc.
• Be willing to assist in other tasks as requested when appropriate and time allows.
• Attend regular department meetings and organization-wide staff meetings.
• Promote teamwork and a positive work environment in the department.
• Participates in agency-wide quality improvement program processes and performance improvement teams to ensure excellence in the quality of services provided across the agency.

Minimum Qualifications

• Must show proof of high school diploma
• Ability to speak any Asian languages (Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Khmer, Mien, Tagalog, etc.)

Preferred Qualifications

• Minimum of one year paid professional dental assisting work experience

Certifications, Licenses, Registrations

• Valid Registered Dental Assistant California License
• CDA for Supervising Dental Assistant
• Passage of Radiation Health and Safety examination
• Passage of Infection Control examination
• Current coronal polishing certificate
• Current CPR card
• Valid X-ray certificate

On-call employees do not qualify for company benefits.

On-call and temporary employees does not qualify for company benefits.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.