Are you aware of the benefits that Expanded Function Dental Assistants (EFDAs) can provide your dental practice? If you’re a dentist and you are unfamiliar with the role of an EFDA, don’t worry. You aren’t alone.

A 2018 survey conducted by the American Dental Association’s Council on Dental Practice discovered that many dental professionals were unaware of what EFDAs can do within a dental practice. In addition, of the 60% of survey respondents who reported employing an EFDA, less than 45% reported their EFDA was being used to the fullest extent permitted.

Expanded function dental assistants are a newer addition to the dental field. Although they aren’t permitted in every state, an EFDA can bring a lot of value to their office – and to a practice’s bottom line – thanks to the specialized training they receive. By helping a dentist use their time more efficiently, EFDAs can allow their practice to schedule and serve more patients per day. Sounds like a great deal, right? So why are dental offices hesitant to add an EFDA to their team?

Let’s explore the difference between dental assistants and EFDAs, what special skills an EFDA can bring to your dental practice, and why you should be hiring an expanded function dental assistant for your team.

The American Dental Association (ADA) describes the duties of a dental assistant as some of the most comprehensive and varied within a dental practice. Dental assistants help the dentist with patient care, including scheduling appointments, preparing patients for treatment, taking x-rays and processing lab samples, sterilizing equipment, and coordinating billing and payments. All these tasks are crucial to helping a dental office run smoothly.

Becoming a dental assistant generally involves completing an accredited program and passing an exam. However, some states don’t have formal education requirements for dental assistants and the role can be learned through on-the-job training.

Expanded function dental assistants, on the other hand, serve additional functions in a dental office as the name implies. Also known as Licensed or Registered Dental Assistants (LDA or RDA), EFDAs may perform advanced duties such as administering anesthesia, removing prosthetics, coronal polishing, and applying sealants and fluorides on patients.

It’s important to note that, like dental assistants, the training, education, and credentialing requirements for EFDAs varies state by state. In addition, expanded functions must be performed under the direct or indirect supervision of a dentist, who is ultimately responsible for all care a patient receives.

Beyond the specific functions they perform, one of the biggest benefits an EFDA brings to a dental office is efficiency. The 2018 ADA survey mentioned above found that dentists with EFDAs were able to utilize their time and skills more effectively. By allowing EFDAs to perform certain dental services, dentists had more time to see patients, allowing practices to fit in more patients per day and, ultimately, increase their bottom line.

Other benefits of having an EFDA on staff, as cited in the survey, included an increased capacity to treat patients in managed care programs, lower overall operating expenses, and an increased ability to treat patients covered by Medicaid, Medicare or public assistance.

While some staff might feel that integrating EFDAs into an established office workflow could be challenging, the key to success lies in training. When EFDAs are effectively trained on both the office systems and the practice’s philosophy for providing care, the result can be a win-win for everyone. It’s also important to make sure your new EFDA feels welcomed, so be sure to introduce them to all your patients, and remember, your confidence and positive vibes will make your patients more comfortable as well.

By giving increased responsibilities to an EFDA, a dental practice can ensure more of the dentist and staff’s time is spent focusing on patients. This in turn helps patients feel more connected to the dental team and happy with the care and services they receive.

The benefits of having an EFDA in your dental practice are clear, but what about the costs? Some offices may worry about the expense of hiring an EFDA. In reality, however, if dental practices are utilizing their EFDA effectively, they can increase office production substantially, making hiring an EFDA a more cost-effective solution for a practice than bringing on a new dental assistant.

One way to get the benefits of an EFDA without dramatically changing office dynamics is to encourage your current dental assistants to go school to become an EFDA. These kinds of growth opportunities are great for the individual dental professionals and can boost the morale and operations of the whole practice. In fact, some dental offices send their top DA to EFDA school because they understand the value of having an expanded function dental assistant who’s already familiar with the practice and their patients.

Interested in hiring an experienced EFDA for your practice? Unsure of what an EFDA could do for you and your practice’s bottom line? This is where full-service staffing firms like Dental Dynamic Staffing can help. We have experienced EFDAs on staff and we match qualified candidates with your dental practice. We also take care of all the details, allowing you to focus on what you do best – growing your business and patient care.

As a dental professional, you spend a lot of time worrying about the health of your patients. But how often do you pause to consider the health of your dental career? When you graduated and began working as a dental professional, you probably had a few long-term career goals. The day to day rush of dealing with patients, paperwork and of course, work/life balance may have pushed those goals to the background. Before long, a few years have gone by and you wonder what happened to those goals you once dreamed about. If you are a new dental graduate there are a lot of options to consider!

Perhaps you like your current position, but you’ve settled for things that you wish weren’t part of your daily routine. Or maybe your dental career has stalled, and you aren’t sure what to do next. The good news is that these sorts of career questions are totally normal. They also have a simple solution. Create a career plan.

A dental career plan is the perfect way to reflect on where you’ve been, where you want to go, and how you’ll get there, while also considering your skills, talents, and interests. Plus, there is no better time than the end of the year to review your career goals. In fact, taking a step back to examine your dental career can provide the ideal opportunity to launch you into an exciting second or even third act in the new year. The following steps were designed by Dental Dynamic Staffing to help you come up with your career plan.

The first essential element in creating a career plan is to reflect on where you are with your current career. What did you achieve over the last 12 months? Are you a new graduate or long time #DentalProfessional? Perhaps you started taking on some new responsibilities at your #DentalOffice or you’re expanding your skills through continuing education. Maybe you’re a #DentalAssistant and want to be a #RegisteredDentalAssistant or #Dentist some day. Consider your accomplishments and goals and document them. Think about how you can enhance those accomplishments and continue to grow with the items you enjoy doing most.

It’s also important to reflect on what you don’t enjoy and what didn’t go very well over the past year. It’s difficult to revisit the times you’ve struggled or failed, but these experiences can be helpful in identifying areas that need improvement. Write down those items and determine if those are things you can change and if so, how.

Take a look at yourself and try to identify your personality, core values, work ethic’s, communications habits, personal life, etc. While it might not feel productive to revisit these, self-assessment is a crucial part of creating an effective career plan. Here are a few questions to consider. Read them and write down your thoughts.

• What do you do in your current dental position?
• What do you enjoy most about your current job?
• What do you enjoy most about your work environment and co-workers?
• What do you like least about your current job, work environment and co-workers?
• What would you like to do in your dental office that you aren’t doing today?
• What responsibilities do you have that you wish you could change?
• What do you value most about your current position?
• Where do you want to work? (Consider location and ideal office environment)?
• What concerns do you have that keep you up at night?
• How does your work life fit in with your personal life?
• What flexibility do you need to make you happy in your personal life?
• If you could have your ideal job, what would it be?

Now that you’ve finished your reflection and self-assessment, it’s time to give yourself a list of goals.

Many people think they only have one option. That’s not true in the dental industry. Make sure you are aware of all your options. Working directly for a company, full time, is definitely one option. Many dental professionals are unaware of the fact that you can work directly for a staffing company or work for both a staffing company and a dental company at the same time. Working full time, temporarily or part time for a staffing company can be a very attractive option! Follow sites that share valuable dental information and videos and follow blogs and industry experts to stay abreast of the latest news.

Working for a staffing company can enhance your work/life balance and could be exactly what you need. Staffing companies offer unlimited flexibility. You can take a longer vacation, work weekends, decide what days to work based on your schedule that week, etc. You might be single and want to work 60 hours a week or you might have several kids and only want to work one day a week. For example, Dental Dynamic Staffing offers quarterly bonuses to employees based on the number of hours you work. In addition, DDS takes care of payroll and taxes so you don’t have to worry about getting hit with an unexpected tax bill at the end of the year. If you need benefits, you might want to work full time for a dentist down the street, and also be a temporary employee three days a month. The options are wide open to you if you align yourself with a good staffing company who takes care of payroll.

Once you know your options, set your goals. Be specific. Make yourself a list of goals that are measurable, achievable and relevant. Be sure to set both long and short term goals as well as a path to accomplish them. Create a list of your short term goals. What do you need to do this month? What do you need to accomplish this year?

Next, what do you want to be doing five years from now? Where do you want to be living? What do you want your lifestyle to be like? Long term goals are important because they factor in your life. Do you want to be a business owner? Do you want to be able to spend more time with your kids? Are you working until you save up to send your kids to college? Is your goal to have a lake house and boat? These are all examples of long term goals. They might seem far fetched today, but having them and revisiting them on a regular basis will help you accomplish them. Your goals may change over time, but keeping them updated is an important task to keep you focused.

Now that you have all your short- and long-term goals and an inventory of your current skills and interests, it’s time to move forward and think about the steps you’ll need to take to accomplish these goals. First, for goals with a due date, add them to your calendar so you can assess your progress and stay on track. For goals that are a bit more nebulous, spend some time thinking about the best way to achieve them. Reach out to your network of colleagues and friends. Whatever your plans are, write them down and hang them on your refrigerator or another place you look at regularly. You are more likely to achieve goals that are written down and visible to you on a regular basis.

Share your goals with a spouse, colleague, mentor, or friend who will hold you accountable to the goals you’ve set. Most often, career plans fail simply because people forget what they’re working toward. It’s easy to get caught up with patients, family, household issues, etc. Find time to pursue your goals. Strive to meet the deadlines you’ve set for yourself and don’t give up if you get off track.

Companies like Dental Dynamic Staffing can help. DDS can offer options with various hours in a variety of cities. Add contacting DDS to your short term goal list. Even if you don’t switch jobs today, get signed up to be notified when full time, part time and temporary positions are open up near you. Working as a temp at a few different offices, lets you try before you commit. You might like temporary work and decide to do it full time. That’s another option to consider. The key is broaden your knowledge about the dental industry that you are a part of and make the options work for you! Subscribe to dental channels and follow social media sites that can give you valuable information.

Have you ever wished for a dental job with a more flexible schedule? Maybe you’re tired of the usual 9-to-5 or want to gain new experience and explore different kinds of dental practices. Perhaps you’re looking to take on additional work for added income and want to find a temp job that fits your lifestyle.

All of these are great reasons to explore opportunities in temporary dental work. Whether you’re new to the dental field or a seasoned pro, temporary work can be an exciting experience for professionals who appreciate diversity and enjoy the variety and change temp work offers.

However, temporary work isn’t without its challenges. From unpredictable hours to learning the operations of a new office, working as temporary dental staff has its downsides and won’t be a good fit for everyone. In order to set yourself up for success, let’s look at a few important things you should know before taking your first temporary dental job.

Before committing to working as a temp, it’s important to know your rights and understand the state and federal laws that govern how you can practice. The U.S Department of Labor has classified temporary workers as employees in all but a few distinct circumstances.

However, a common complaint raised by temporary dental workers is that they are often treated as contractors rather than employees by some referral staffing agencies and dental offices. This classification shifts the tax burden onto the temp, and, should the worst happen, you won’t be eligible for unemployment or workers’ compensation as a contractor.

Our staffing agency, on the other hand, hires temporary workers as employees and pays the necessary federal and state taxes required, as well as issues a W-2. Temporary employees are then placed in offices where they agree to work for certain periods of time. This employment arrangement complies with federal and state laws and helps ensure temporary staff are treated fairly. If you’re interested in pursuing temporary dental work, either full or part-time, be sure your employment agreement aligns with applicable laws and works to your benefit.

Working as a dental temp can be exciting and offers lots of opportunities and experience in various dental settings. However, along with this variety comes some uncertainty. Dental practices operate in different ways, use diverse systems, and have their own expectations when it comes to temporary staff. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it is helpful to be prepared and know a bit about how your new practice operates before your first day.

Once you’ve received a temporary assignment, consider reaching out to the office manager or dentist prior to your start date. Confirm the address, when you need to arrive, what hours you’re expected to work and any other questions you might have. If you’re working with a dental staffing agency, they’ll also be able to help you prepare for your first day. A good staffing agency will have resources that ensure you’re ready to get started, and they should be able to answer any of your questions about hours and pay rates.

When you arrive on your first day, try to pay attention to the office flow and watch how the office operates. How does the dentist prefer to work? Do staff chat extensively with patients or are appointments kept short and scheduled back to back? When problems or issues arise, how are they handled and by whom? These kinds of details can be important clues to understanding a practice and will allow you to integrate quickly into office operations while providing quality dental care to your new patients.

Of course, it’s impossible to prepare for every scenario and situation you may encounter, so if something unexpected does come up, don’t be afraid to ask for help. A new office won’t expect you to know your way around and most are happy to help temporary staff learn the ropes.

While working as temporary dental staff offers excitement and the chance to break out of everyday routines, the tradeoff can be felt when it comes to building relationships with staff and patients. Unlike conventional dental employment, temporary work can vary greatly in frequency. A practice may require you to fill in for several weeks at a time or only every now and again when a full-time staff member is out sick.

If the temporary work is especially infrequent, it can feel like you’re constantly starting over and you might not be able to connect with patients and other staff in the ways you’re used to. If this becomes a challenge, talk to your staffing agency and consider looking for long-term temporary work or temp-to-hire positions that offer the flexibility and consistency you desire.

Despite the irregularities of temporary work, you can still establish a good rapport with the dental practice you’re assigned to. Much like the relationship you might build with regular patients, you can develop a good working relationship with a dental office by helping wherever necessary and going above and beyond to learn how the office want tasks to be done. Maybe you help set up or break down rooms and instruments or step up to assist when the dentist is running behind.

Whatever the case, make sure patients always have a good experience, and don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from other staff. These qualities will help you stand out and be remembered. With a good attitude and willingness to work hard, you’ll leave a lasting impression and increase the likelihood you’ll get called back the next time the practice needs a temp.

Temporary dental work can be a great experience for the right person. Changing offices regularly can help you learn new dental techniques, gain exposure to a variety of patient populations, and improve your clinical and communication skills in different dental environments.

Yet, for all the advantages of temporary work, there are also disadvantages. From disorganized offices to dealing with poor equipment, high expectations, and inconsistent hours, working as temporary dental staff can be draining. Ultimately, it’s important to know yourself and how you prefer to work in order to build a successful dental career.