Dental Assistant

How to hire a Dental Assistant for your practice

Before you write the job posting, settle three questions. They determine which profile you really need and help you avoid the most common mis-hires in German dental-practice operations.

Question 1: ZFA, Zahnarzthelferin or an advancement qualification like ZMP, ZMF or ZMV? The job title Zahnarzthelferin was replaced in 2001 by Zahnmedizinische:r Fachangestellte:r. In substance the terms overlap, but younger profiles have a modernized training with a stronger focus on hygiene, billing and practice IT. Above the ZFA there are four advancement qualifications with their own focus: ZMP (prophylaxis), ZMF (extended clinical assistance), ZMV (administration and billing), dental hygienist (periodontology aftercare). If you are looking for the operational ZFA work at reception, in treatment assistance and in routine billing, advertise a ZFA. If you are looking for an independent prophylaxis consultation, deeper administration or dental-hygiene aftercare, advertise the respective advancement qualification. A ZFA role with ZMP or ZMV expectations either attracts overwhelmed profiles or puts off qualified ZFA candidates with unrealistic requirements.

Question 2: Which specialty, and with which clinical focus? A ZFA from a general dental practice works with different reflexes than a ZFA from an orthodontic, implantology, oral-surgery, pediatric or periodontology practice. The specialty-specific routines (bracket placement and archwire changes in orthodontics, augmentation assistance and bone-substitute material in implantology, sedation preparation in oral surgery, behavior guidance with children, closed and open curettage in periodontology, Cerec CAD/CAM support in the digitally oriented practice) are not freely interchangeable. Name the specialty in the title or in the first two sentences of the ad and list the clinical focus areas concretely (four-handed assistance in filling therapy, root-canal treatment, extraction, implantation, orthodontic treatment, PZR preparation). That saves time in screening on both sides.

Question 3: Which focus in the task mix, reception, treatment or billing? The task mix of a ZFA varies by practice size and organization. Three typical focuses: (1) reception- and organization-near with appointment coordination, phone, insurance check, prescription management, patient communication, supplemented by BEMA pre-work; (2) treatment-near with four-handed assistance, reprocessing, impression-taking, PZR preparation, smaller surgical assistance; (3) billing-near with BEMA quarterly billing, GOZ private billing, the orthodontics quarterly report, HKP creation, mixed statutory-plus-self-payer cases, supplemented by external communication with dental private-billing services. In very small practices (one dentist plus 1-2 ZFA) all three focuses are bundled in one person. In MVZ, chain and larger group practices the focuses are often distributed across several ZFA roles. List the topics covered explicitly in the ad; a ZFA with three years of pure treatment routine will need 6-8 weeks of onboarding in a purely billing-near role.

If the three answers converge on a full-time Zahnmedizinische:r Fachangestellte:r with a clearly defined specialty and task focus, see the ready-to-use template on the Job description tab.