# Dental Assistants

> Perform limited clinical duties under the direction of a dentist. Clinical duties may include equipment preparation and sterilization, preparing patients for treatment, assisting the dentist during treatment, and providing patients with instructions for oral healthcare procedures. May perform administrative duties such as scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes.

- **SOC code:** 31-9091.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-31-9091-00
- **Also known as:** Certified Dental Assistant (CDA), Dental Assistant (DA), Expanded Duty Dental Assistant (EDDA), Registered Dental Assistant (RDA), Certified Registered Dental Assistant, Expanded Dental Assistant, Expanded Functions Dental Assistant (EFDA), Oral Surgery Assistant
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Prepare patient, sterilize or disinfect instruments, set up instrument trays, prepare materials, or assist dentist during dental procedures.
- Record treatment information in patient records.
- Assist dentist in management of medical or dental emergencies.
- Order and monitor dental supplies and equipment inventory.
- Expose dental diagnostic x-rays.
- Provide postoperative instructions prescribed by dentist.
- Instruct patients in oral hygiene and plaque control programs.
- Take and record medical and dental histories and vital signs of patients.
- Apply protective coating of fluoride to teeth.
- Schedule appointments, prepare bills and receive payment for dental services, complete insurance forms, and maintain records, manually or using computer.
- Make preliminary impressions for study casts and occlusal registrations for mounting study casts.
- Pour, trim, and polish study casts.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Medicine and Dentistry _(knowledge)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Speech Recognition _(ability)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Administration and Management _(knowledge)_
- Administrative _(knowledge)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Instructing _(Specialized Skill)_
- Finger Dexterity _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Henry Schein Dentrix _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Email software
- Kodak Dental Systems Kodak SOFTDENT Practice management software PMS
- Open Dental
- Patterson Dental Supply Patterson EagleSoft
- Quicken
- The Systems Workplace TDOCS
- Web browser software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 26th percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 34th percentile (Moderate) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 38th percentile (Moderate) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 13th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 47th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 6.4% growth (About average); 52.9k annual openings; 381.9k → 406.3k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $47,300; 375,430 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-31-9091-00_