Dental Front Office

A career as a dental front office team member can be very rewarding. The term “dental front office” is a broad title used to refer to a person who works in any of the various front desk or front office positions in a dental office.

Dental Front Office Positions

Dental front office can denote a dental receptionist, dental schedule coordinator, dental appointment coordinator, dental financial coordinator, dental treatment coordinator, dental insurance coordinator, patient coordinator, dental hygiene coordinator or basically any person who performs in a front desk position.

Dental Front Office Attributes

Quality dental front office employees are in high demand. Healthcare is the leading industry today. Some of the attributes helpful to qualify for a dental front office position are integrity, strong desire to help others, detailed and organized, excellent communication skills, good listener, professional demeanor, multi-tasker, flexibility, team player, caring and willing attitude.

Dental Front Office Responsibilities

A career as a dental front office professional affords the opportunity to work in a professional atmosphere and make a difference for others. It is so rewarding to be a part of giving someone his or her smile. Those in the dental profession are not just in the “teeth business”, but more importantly, in the business of changing lives.

In addition to greeting patients as they enter and exit the office, a dental front office team member may also be the primary person for answering the telephone in the dental office when patients call to schedule an appointment with the doctor or hygienist. The dental front office person may also be the person in charge of taking and delivering messages to the dentist and co-workers from persons calling into the office, including dental sales representatives and suppliers, dental labs, dental insurance companies etc.

A dental front office team member may also be the person who is in charge of filling the schedule for the dentist and hygienist. He or she will be accountable for maintaining a productive schedule to meet the financial goals of the practice as set forth by the dentist and/or office manager. This will include all correspondence, both oral and written, with patients concerning dental appointments. Dental front office team members will send out reminders to patients who are due to come in for their continuing care, as well as receive calls from patients when they need to reschedule a dental appointment they have made previously.

In addition, the dental front office team member markets the practice. He or she will handle incoming calls from new patients who are calling to inquire about the services offered by the practice and essentially “sell” the potential patient on the benefits of choosing to have their dental care in this practice.

Other duties of a dental front office team member may be contacting insurance companies to verify patient’s coverage and benefits, estimating and presentation of fees for treatment needed, filing claims, and monthly billing to patients who owe a balance to the dentist.

In addition, running the end of day reports on the computer, and balancing the monies collected with the totals on the day sheet is another responsibility of the dental front office team member. In some offices the individual is responsible for ordering the supplies for the business office, as well as in rare cases ordering the clinical supplies. The dental front office team member also acts as the liaison with the dental laboratory, to insure patient lab cases are sent out and received back in the office in a timely manner.

Whatever you decide, a career as a dental front office team member has a great deal to offer in the way of return on your investment. The following is a list of our online dental management and insurance courses.

IAPlus Academy is the industry leader in online training for the dental profession.