Dental Assistant Resume: Templates & Guide

get started today

As a dental assistant, you’re used to helping give patients fillings and crowns, but do you know how to plug in gaps in your own resume? Luckily, we’ve pre-poured some impressions of ideal resume templates that you can use to extract your next career opportunity!

Dental Assistant Resume Example MSWord®
Download our free Dental Assistant Resume Template in Word and provide proper care to your most important patient – your career!

View in fullscreen

View in fullscreen

Download template

ResumeGiants » Examples » Dental Assistant Resume

Dental assistants aid dentists during each operation, ensuring patients leave with a positive experience. If you wish to update your dental assistant resume to seek new employment opportunities, this article is for you.

This content will reveal vital details on what constitutes an effective dental assistant resume produced in interviews within a short time. Also, some examples and templates will be available to ensure complete comprehension of the lessons.

Before proceeding with tips on creating dental receptionist resumes, it’s worth noting that completing this task alone is tricky as you have to keep multiple factors in mind. These elements may include the font, style, size, page format, etc.

For this reason, we recommend easing the hassle with our online resume builder, a platform consisting of several templates and examples, ensuring you complete the task within a short time.

Visit ResumeGiants builder today and make building a dental assistant resume easy.

Let’s begin!

As previously mentioned, building a dental assistant resume from scratch is complex. Before providing you with the knowledge to make one, it’s best to look at an example for a better understanding.

Below is an example of a dental assistant resume:

Resume Example

Copy to clipboard

Copied!

[Charlotte Foster]

[Dental Assistant]

[1225 Crossing Meadows, Dakota, MN 54650 | 453-655-0996| charlottefoster@gmail.com]

Summary

Dental Assistant with over 5 years of experience offering excellent clinical and customer relations skills gained within high-volume dental practices. Diplomatic, personable, and adept in managing sensitive situations, assisting in instructing patients, monitoring and ordering supplies. Efficient and precise in chairside dental assisting.

Experience

Dental Assistant

Marrow Dentalcare | Dakota, MN

2017 – Current

• Efficiently manage patient care, office and laboratory duties within a multispecialty dental group employing 12 dentists and 15 dental assistants.
• Administered sedatives to patients before the procedure and aided the dentist in providing proper care.
• Coordinated emergency referrals, ensuring they reached providers promptly
• Managed the dental facility inventory to provide patient care
• Tracked clinic repairs to equipment supported the upgrade to clinic space
• Gained experience in exposing and processing X-rays; fabricating crowns, pouring impressions, trimming models and preparing orthodontic equipment; and assisting with extractions, impactions, fillings, implants and local anesthesia.

Dental Assistant

Dymentum Health | Duluth, MN

2016 – 2017

• Worked chairside assisting family dentists with routine cleaning and specialized procedures, making patients feel as relaxed as possible and preparing them for treatment.
• Measured blood pressure and pulse before treatment began
• Provided and reviewed patients’ health histories before treatment commenced
• Provided patients with instructions on personal oral healthcare
• Constructed mouth guards, bleach trays, temporary crowns, and casting models.
• Prepared dental materials like cement when needed.

Education

Dental Assistant

Hibbing Community College | Hibbing, MN

2015 – 2016

Skills

• Clinical Sedation
• X-rays
• Extractions
• Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
• Fabrication
• Dental instrument preparation
• Vital Signs

Certifications

• DANB Certified Dental Assistant (CDA)
• Intravenous Clinical Sedation
• Certification Nitrous Oxide
• Certification Basic Life Support Certification (ARC)

Hobbies and Interests

Knitting Reading Biking

This resume example is straightforward and letting the hiring manager understand what skills, experience, and qualifications you possess, let them judge whether you’re a valuable asset.

Besides the document’s content, the resume format immediately decides whether the hiring manager will continue reading your paper or toss it in the bin. For this reason, the first factor to consider is correct formatting, which this section will tackle.

First, format the document in reverse chronological order, allowing recruiters to see your best assets. Essentially, this option presents your most recent and relevant work experience at the top of the page, keeping the recruiter engaged with your value.

Another factor that makes reverse chronology essential is that recruiters tend to skim the latter half of a resume after reading the first half. You want your best to appear first.

Use plenty of big headings, white space, and clear fonts (Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, Verdana) to improve readability. Unconventional options require more mental effort to read, which may spell doom for your Dental assistant resume.

Additional recommendations include:

• Use bullet points for past jobs
• Assign one-inch margins on all four sides
• Don’t size should be 11 or 12
• Divide your resume with heading (executive summary, education, skills, etc.)
• Don’t use photos

A resume summary is a brief introduction to the document to highlight your most valuable skills and professional achievements. This section gives the hiring manager a quick overview of your abilities and value, encouraging them to continue reading.

Similar to every part of a resume, a correct way exists to write this summary, and the guidelines include:

• Place it on top: The resume summary functions as the first thing a hiring manager reads before the remaining content. For this reason, please put it on top of the document; else, it serves no meaningful purpose.
• Give it a professional tag: Ensure your resume summary possesses a straightforward label like Qualifications summary, resume summary, Career profile, etc. Anything that falls short of this requirement appears unprofessional or unnecessary.
• Keep it brief: The resume summary is a short overview of your qualifications and professional strength and should exceed a few lines. A brief paragraph is sufficient for the task.

Two examples of the concept are here further to understand the structure and format of a resume sample. These include:

A Dental Assistant resume is crucial for applying as a dentist helper, and this document has specific formats to display your work experience, skills, education, and other essential details.

Keep in mind that the format may change depending on how much information you wish to display; nevertheless, this section aims to present the most common steps for creating an effective dental assistant resume.

These phases include:

1. Outline Your Skills

The “Skills’” section is crucial to your Dental Assistant resume as it allows the employer to understand what makes you a valuable addition to the establishment. Remember that all skills mentioned under this heading must be relevant, and these abilities may include:

Consider including a section that lists your skills that best fit the job description. For a dental assistant, relevant skills include:

• Effective communication
• Cleanliness
• Detail-oriented
• Customer service
• Ability to follow orders
• Compassion
• Teamwork
• Positive attitude

You’d also want to add technical skills, such as:

• X-Ray processing
• Understands dental tools
• Teeth Cleaning | Dental Radiographs
• Bleaching Tray & Temporary Crown Fabrications | Instrument Sterilization
• Temporary Fillings | Periodontal Dressings | Operatory Preparation

We recommend writing all your skills on a piece of paper to get a broad understanding of your professional abilities. Consider including skills that you think are unnecessary to the job description as you may discover other talents.

For example, writing down that you have good conversation skills also shows that you’re an excellent listener that can follow instructions.

2. Display Your Work Experience

It’s one thing to have skills in a profession, and it’s another to apply them successfully. Your experience section shows that your abilities were practical when used in your previous place of work.

If you don’t possess work experience as a former dental assistant but have a history with a similar field, consider including it in your resume. For example, a volunteer position at the dentist’s office may show you understand the daily activities in such an environment.

Remember to list your experience in descending order, beginning with your most recent dental assistant job. Most employers prefer knowing about your last 5 or 10 years of work history, so it’s best to save them time and show what they want.

3. Present Certifications

While it’s not impossible to find work as a dental assistant without the relevant certification, having the documents increases your chances of employment. The dentist will indicate whether you need these qualifications in the job description.

Nevertheless, including these pieces of information in your Dental assistant resume will help you stand out against competitors with no qualifications. The most popular certification for dental assistants is the Certified Dental Assistant (CDA), offered by the Dental Assisting National Board.

Aside from that, other relevant certificates are worth mentioning as they demonstrate your qualification for the job. Remember to include the organization that granted the certificate when listing it.

4. Include Your Education

While not having qualifications doesn’t always stop you from employment, most dentists prefer hiring assistants with formal education.

For this reason, it’s best to outline your education on your resume in descending order, starting from the most recent to the farthest. Also, include the institution you attended, the year of admission and graduation, and what certificate(s) you earned.

Presenting your previous work experience, projects, and volunteer activities on your resume plays a crucial part in landing an interview with the dentist. However, there are specific ways to outline these factors to ensure they are sufficiently concise and descriptive.

This section should provide the prospective employer with substantial knowledge of your career past, strengths, skills, achievements, and many more. To achieve this goal, here are some tips to follow:

• Begin by staring the name of your previous place of work along with the location, date, and job title
• List your experience in reverse chronological order with your most recent experience first
• Be concise in your descriptions and use strong verbs. Ensure each description is relevant to the job role
• Use the present tense for career activities that are still ongoing and past tense for old experiences
• Avoid pronouns and prepositions like “I” “The” & “And”
• Aim to quantify your accomplishments and responsibilities if possible. For example, “successfully examined an average of 23 patients monthly for three years”.
• Only describe your experience and achievements, and avoid telling the organization’s duties.
• List the organization’s top three or four experiences to keep the document short.

These quick tips are sufficient to help structure the experience section in your resume, ensuring you present the maximum value.

Skills are abilities and talents you develop to complete specific tasks in an establishment. There are several skills, but the two most prominent are soft and hard skills.

This section aims to provide you with information to display these abilities on your resume, ensuring your document appears clean and concise. These tips include:

• Ensure each skill is relevant to the Dental assistant position
• Categorize each skills type (for example, soft skills and hard skills)
• Each skill should appear in bullet points with no more than 10 in each category.
• Ensure the listed skills are also reflected in your experience section
• Start with the most in-demand skill

Now let’s take a look at the best skills for a dental resume:

A certificate is proof that you possess specific training that has received approval from an authorized organization. This document shows your devotion to your career and provides evidence for your mentioned skills.

Even if the job doesn’t require certification, adding them can boost your resume, draw the employer’s attention, and present you as a competent and valuable hire.

To effectively outline these factors in your dental assistant resume, consider following the tips below:

• Name of Certification
• Name of Certifying Agency or Body
• Dates of Obtainment
• Location (If the certification is location-specific)
• Expiration date (don’t list expired certificates)
• Unfinished (include the expected finishing date)

While you won’t always need a formal education to impress a dentist and become their assistant, having such knowledge at your disposal raises your value in the employer’s eyes. In this case, consider assessing and strengthening your education section with additional information.

For example, instead of stating your school name, program length, and program title, include extra details like the degree’s length, hours of lab training, externship, and more. It will help you come across as valuable.

Your contacts are equally as essential as your experiences, skills, and education as it allows the hiring manager to reach you for clarification or an interview. A well-organized contact section should be complete and include factors like your name, phone number, email address.

When composing this section, ensure to include the following:

• Name (full name)
• Professional Email address
• Physical mailing address (optional except requested)
• Active cell phone number
• Links to a professional profile or portfolio

Knowing how to address and address your cover letter is your first step in writing this vital introductory document. However, finding the right person to mention required research and some work, which may impress the reader.

As a rule of thumb, you should always address your cover letter to the hiring manager of the job or company that’s receiving your application. The salutation should include a “Mr.”, “Ms,” or any relevant title followed by their name.

As for finding the hiring manager’s name for the cover letter, often, it will appear on the job description. However, such detail isn’t included, seek it from other sources, and these may include:

• The company website: Consider visiting the company’s “About US” or “Company Directory” page as it often outlines all the relevant staff members in the organization.
• LinkedIn: The company’s LinkedIn page also contains information about its staff members, so visit the site and use filters to sort out the name.
• Google search: A specified Google search can help uncover the precise name of the hiring manager, and you can do this by inserting the company’s name and the relevant title into Google. The name is guaranteed to appear if the company has an online presence.
• Contact the company: Suppose you can’t find the hiring manager’s name on LinkedIn, the company’s website, or via a Google search. In that case, the last resort is contacting the company directly and asking for the information.

Explain that you want to apply for a position and address your cover letter to the hiring manager. The company will most likely provide the information, as research and respect are commendable traits in the corporate world.

Don’t worry if the options presented above prove ineffective at acquiring the hiring manager’s name. You can proceed with your cover letter without their name, as many methods exist for such scenarios.

Below are some standard options for addressing your cover letter to an unknown person:

• Dear Sir/Madam
• Dear Human Resources Director
• Dear Hiring Manager

There you have it, all the information you need to create an effective dental assistant resume that convinces employers. However, before applying this information, allow us to build your dental assistant resume with our resume builder.

This tool contains multiple resume templates and guides, ensuring that you construct a well-formatted resume with little to no hassle.