Dental Assistant, Ocean Reef

In a lot of practices your job title is dental assistant. Your actual job is dental assistant, receptionist, stock controller, laundry, IT support, and the only person who knows where the spare autoclave seals live. None of that is in your position description, because nobody's looked at it since you signed it. Work arrives by whoever's closest, and when the sterilising falls behind it's somehow still yours.

If that isn't familiar, that's a good sign about where you work.

What's different here

Three things. None of them are remarkable. They're just written down and actually done. Your job is defined. There's a position description for this role, it's filled in, and you get a copy on day one rather than after you've asked twice. It isn't a document that goes in a drawer. It's the thing we both point at when a week starts drifting.

The jobs that aren't yours belong to someone else. You won't be chasing a stock order at half past six, because ordering is the practice manager's job. The clinical work that is shared, sterilising, turnover, lab liaison, is allocated by the Clinic Coordinator rather than landing on whoever's closest to it. Shared isn't the same as absorbed. The difference is whether anyone's actually directing it, and here someone is.

The day gets planned out loud. There's a huddle every morning before the first patient, so you know what's coming rather than finding out when it's wheeled in. It's also where you say what you need, which is a better system than hoping somebody notices.





The practical details

Dental Assistant, full-time or part-time. We'll work out which around the right person rather than deciding before we've met anyone.

- Set days, agreed up front, and rosters out at least a fortnight ahead in Deputy
- Above award. We'd rather talk about pay properly and early than reduce it to a range in an ad.
- Scrubs provided, paid fortnightly, and treatment at staff rates after six months
- Digital scanning, 3D printing, appliances made in house, and you'll be trained on the parts of it that are yours
- Cert III and one to three years chairside is the usual shape. If you've done chairside work without the certificate, apply anyway and say where you're up to. Some experience and the right attitude beats a certificate and the wrong one.

Day to day it's chairside across general and restorative work, sterilisation and infection control, set-up and turnover, lab liaison, and the huddle. This is a balanced practice rather than a rapid one. New patient exams run long, because information comes before treatment. If you've come from somewhere that runs on volume the pace here will feel odd for about a month. Most people stop missing it.

To apply

Built slowly. Built right. Built once. Send your CV and a short note. Not a formal cover letter.

One thing to answer in the note: tell us what your last job actually involved, as opposed to what it was called.

Apply via Seek.

Reef Dental Centre · Experience · Caring · Quality

📌 Dental Assistant | Ocean Reef | A Job That's Actually Your Job
🏢 The Reef Dental Centre
📍 Ocean Reef