DENTAL ASSISTANT

Job no: 540272
Position type: Full-time
Location: PHOENIX
Division/Equivalent: STATE OF AZ
School/Unit: DEPT OF HEALTH SERVICES
Department/Office: HS-DENT-HSDENTRAD
Categories: Healthcare/Medical Professional Level, Healthcare/Medical Support Level

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DEPT OF HEALTH SERVICES

The Arizona State Hospital (ASH) provides inpatient psychiatric care to persons with serious mental illness who need long-term behavioral health care. ASH promotes hope and wellness for our patients and creates opportunities to participate in planning, delivering and evaluating services that assist with recovery. Treatment is individualized with goals that focus on education about an illness, instilling hope and improving one's overall quality of life. The Arizona State Hospital has a wide range of positions available, from our direct care staff, Nurses and Behavioral Health Technicians to Social Workers, Rehabilitation Specialist and Security to name a few. The Arizona State Hospital also offers 12 hour shifts for our Direct Care staff as well as some alternative work schedules, flexible hours for non-direct care staff. We offer a robust benefit package, including the ADHS Student Loan Assistance Program where eligible employees can receive up to $437.50 per month for their outstanding student loans. Come check us out and see how you can make a difference in the lives of all Arizonans.

DENTAL ASSITANT

Job Location:

Arizona State Hospital

Address: 501 North 24th Street Phoenix, AZ 85008

Posting Details:

Salary: $47,840

Grade: 17

Closing Date: Open until Filled

Job Summary:

The Dental Assistant will assist the dentist in providing direct dental evaluations, patient care/treatment such as fillings or extractions, and performing dental x-rays. The Dental Assistant will answer phones, schedules appointments, coordinate clinic activities with hospital unit staff and other specialty clinic staff. The position will involve providing oral hygiene and dental problem prevention education to patients/residents and maintain hospital dental clinic records and assure completion of those records. The Dental Assistant maintains dental clinic supplies and equipment, decontaminates and cleans instruments after use, prepare instruments for sterilization, sterilizes and stores instruments and supplies for future use.

Job Duties:

Assist dentist in providing direct dental evaluations, care and treatment such as fillings or extractions.
Performs dental x-rays.
Answer phones, schedules appointments, coordinate clinic activities with hospital unit staff and other specialty clinic staff.
Provide oral hygiene and dental problem prevention education to patients/ residents.
Maintain hospital dental clinic records and assure completion of those records.
Maintain dental clinic supplies and equipment. Decontaminates and cleans instruments after use, prepare instruments for sterilization, sterilizes and stores instruments and supplies for future use.
Other duties as assigned as related to the position (typically 5% - 10%)

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities (KSAs):

Knowledge of:

Principles, concepts and current practices of dental care and treatment. commonly performed by a dental assistant.
The supplies and instrumentation utilization in providing basic and expanded dental care.
The principles and methods of sterilizing instruments.
Oral hygiene and plaque control techniques.
Basic knowledge of dental procedures, with the ability to assist the dentist with procedures.
Basic understanding of various supplies and dental equipment.
Basic understanding of dental preventative care and knowledge of providing education to patients regarding dental hygiene.
Basic understanding of oral dentistry methods, infection control, OSHA and hazardous material regulations.
Basic understanding of dental anatomy and pathology.
Basic knowledge of the components, used and effects of pharmaceutical agents used in dentistry.
HIPPA regulations.
Performance Management (PM), and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) and Lean methodologies.

Skill In:

Coordinating office/ clinic appointments.
Scheduling of procedures.
Ordering and maintaining dental supplies and equipment.
Perform preliminary examinations, and record normal and abnormal conditions of patients oral structures and tissue.
Assemble required instruments for appropriate dental procedure.
Decontamination/ cleaning and sterilization of instruments.
Maintaining required documentation.

Ability to:

Use dental equipment and materials.
Follow oral and written instructions.
Perform clerical work.
Communicate both orally and in writing in a professional manner.
Deal with challenging patient population.
Provide fluoride treatments.
Autoclave dental instruments.
Provide patient education effectively.
Support a diverse multi-cultural workforce that reflects the community, promotes equal opportunity at all levels of public employment, and creates an inclusive work environment that enables all individuals to perform to their fullest potential free from discrimination.

Selective Preference(s):

Dental Assistant Certification and 2+ years of experience. Ideally, the successful candidate will have strength to deal with physical situations involving patient care.

Pre-Employment Requirements:

- Arizona Radiological Proficiency Certification & relevant work experience

- A State Hospital employee must be able to obtain a valid Level One Fingerprint Clearance Card pursuant to A.R.S. § 41-1758.07.

If this position requires driving or the use of a vehicle as an essential function of the job to conduct State business, then the following requirements apply: Driver’s License Requirements.

All newly hired State employees are subject to and must successfully complete the Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program (E-Verify).

Benefits:

The State of Arizona provides an excellent comprehensive benefits package including:
− Affordable medical and dental insurance plans
− Paid vacation and sick time
− Paid Parental Leave-Up to 12 weeks per year paid leave for newborn or newly-placed foster/adopted child (pilot program)
− 10 paid holidays per year
− Wellness program and plans
− Life insurance
− Short/long-term disability insurance
− Defined retirement plan
− Award winning Infant at Work program
− Credit union membership
− Transit subsidy
− ADHS Student Assistance Pilot Program

Learn more about the Paid Parental Leave program here. For a complete list of benefits provided by The State of Arizona, please visit our benefits page

Retirement:

To help you build a financially secure future, the State makes monthly contributions to finance your retirement benefit. The State will make a contribution to the ASRS in an amount equal to your contribution. In other words, you and the State will each pay 50% of the total cost of the benefit. New State employees have a 27 week wait period for contributions to begin.

The State of Arizona is an Equal Opportunity/Reasonable Accommodation Employer. Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation such as a sign language interpreter or an alternative format by calling (602) 220-6462. Requests should be made as early as possible to allow sufficient time to arrange the accommodation. DHS is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All newly hired employees will be subject to E-Verify Employment Eligibility Verification.

Advertised: Apr 15 2026 US Mountain Standard Time
Application close: