Will AI replace Dental Assistants?
Estimated risk score: 31 out of 100
Lower replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (12 to 50).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 16 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 31-9091.00 · Healthcare Support
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 4 of its 16 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Record treatment information in patient records.
- Order and monitor dental supplies and equipment inventory.
- Schedule appointments, prepare bills and receive payment for dental services, complete insurance forms, and maintain records, manually or using computer.
- Provide postoperative instructions prescribed by dentist.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 10 of its 16 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Apply protective coating of fluoride to teeth.
- Assist dentist in management of medical or dental emergencies.
- Clean and polish removable appliances.
- Fabricate temporary restorations or custom impressions from preliminary impressions.
- Make preliminary impressions for study casts and occlusal registrations for mounting study casts.
- Pour, trim, and polish study casts.
What the job is
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.
Also called: Dental Assistant (DA), Certified Dental Assistant (CDA), Registered Dental Assistant (RDA), Expanded Duty Dental Assistant (EDDA), DA, CDA, RDA, EDDA.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate