Dental Assistant Job at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Portland

VA Portland Health Care System is a Complexity Level 1a Facility and provides extensive primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care in outpatient, inpatient, residential, and community settings. VAPORHCS is a multi-site medical system that includes a major medical facility in Portland, Oregon, outpatient and residential facilities in Vancouver, Washington, and 10 Community Based Outpatient Clinics.

Summary: The duties of this position include but are not limited to the following: Assists the dentist in many aspects of direct patient care and performs other clinical and clerical functions independently of direct supervision.

Responsibilities include:

• Shows courtesy, respect, and a positive attitude for patients, co-workers and the public
• Provides assistance to customers with questions or concerns, provides service recovery
• Sets up operatory and/or surgery suite for planned dental procedure and cleans dental unit for timely turnover
• Passes instruments safely, accurately, and efficiently
• Keeps operative field clear of debris and retracts oral tissues effectively and comfortably
• Prepares dental medicaments and impression materials per manufacturer's instructions
• Accomplishes all intra-operative procedures within standard infection control protocols
• Assists in routine general dental procedures using concepts of four-handed dentistry
• Assists in specialized dental procedures, such as oral surgery, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, implant placement and restoration
• Maintains both routine and specialty dental equipment per manufacturer instructions and dental service standards
• Exposes both standard and specialty dental imaging (i.e. TMJ, ceph, cone beam) in traditional and/or digital formats

Work Schedule: 4 10-hour shifts, no weekends. Weekly day off TBD.

Requirements: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

• Citizenship: Citizen of the United States
• English Language Proficiency: Must be proficient in spoken and written English
• Experience and Education: Six months experience that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work, or provides familiarity with the work, or successful completion of a 1-year dental assistant program accredited by the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA)
• Certification: Public Law 97-35 requires that persons who administer radiologic procedures meet the credentialing standards in 42 CFR Part 75

Grade Determinations: The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-6. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-3 to GS-6.

: Moderate lifting/carrying (15-44 lbs.), light lifting (under 15 lbs.), use of fingers, both hands required, standing, repeated bending, near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4, depth perception, and hearing (aid may be permitted). Environmental factors include radiation (x-rays).