Dental Assistant Cover Letter Example

A dental assistant cover letter is read by an office manager first and a dentist second, and both are checking the same things: the state credential, the radiography certification, the procedures you assist with and the pace you keep. The letter has to put the credential in the first sentence, because a practice cannot hire without it, and then show a chair that runs smoothly with numbers rather than adjectives.

The sample below goes with the dental assistant resume example: Brianna Walsh, a registered dental assistant at a family practice in Salt Lake City, applying for a full-time position at a busy general practice in the suburbs. It opens with the posting's description of the office and her credential, spends one paragraph on her current chair with patients per day, the retake fix and the inspection result her resume states, uses her pediatric years to answer a line in the posting, and closes by offering a working interview.

Change the practice type every time you apply. Pediatric offices read for patience and parents, specialty offices for their own procedures, general practices for speed and treatment plan support; the same six years can be arranged three ways.

Updated . The person, the employer and the recipient in this sample letter are fictional. It goes with the dental assistant resume example for the same person.

Dental Assistant sample cover letter

About 273 words, one page in the style of the Formal template.

Brianna Walsh

Registered Dental Assistant, Radiography Certified

Salt Lake City, UTbrianna.walsh@example.com(801) 555-0125

Ms. Teresa VandenbergOffice ManagerFoothill Ridge DentalSandy, UT

Application for Registered Dental Assistant, Foothill Ridge Dental

Dear Ms. Vandenberg,

Your posting for a full-time Registered Dental Assistant describes a busy general practice with three dentists, a full restorative schedule and a day that starts at 7 a.m. I am a Utah-registered dental assistant with six years chairside in general and pediatric dentistry, radiography certified through DANB, and I would like to join your clinical team.

At Wasatch Family Dental I assist two dentists for fillings, crowns, root canals and extractions, seeing 16 to 20 patients a day. I take the digital radiographs and intraoral scans, and after I introduced sensor holders and a positioning checklist our retakes dropped noticeably, which gave the dentists time back in every hygiene exam. I run sterilization and instrument processing for four operatories, and the process passed the state inspection with no findings. After each exam I walk patients through the treatment plan and the cost, and more of them now schedule the care the dentist recommended.

Before Wasatch I spent two years at a pediatric practice in Provo, assisting with cleanings, sealants, fluoride and fillings for children from two to seventeen and using tell-show-do to settle anxious patients, which cut the appointments we had to reschedule. Your posting mentions families and nervous adults, and those two years are why I am comfortable with both. I chart in Dentrix, have used Eaglesoft, and renewed my CPR and BLS certification this year.

My resume is attached with my Utah registration, my radiography certification and both practices. I would be glad to come in for an interview or a working interview in one of your operatories, and I could start with two weeks' notice. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Brianna Walsh

Start yours from this letter

Opens this letter in the editor, in one of the templates below. Swap in your details and the employer's, then fit it to each vacancy in about two minutes.

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How this dental assistant cover letter is built

  1. The opening names the practice, the credential and the years in two sentences

    An office manager screening for a registered assistant checks the credential first, so the letter puts Utah registration and DANB radiography in the opening next to the years of experience. Repeating the posting's own description of the office, three dentists and a 7 a.m. start, shows the letter was written for this practice, and it sets up the evidence about pace that follows.

  2. The second paragraph is the current chair, with the resume's numbers

    Patients a day, dentists supported, the procedures, the retake fix and the inspection are all on the dental assistant resume; the letter arranges them around what a busy general office cares about, which is a chair that keeps the schedule moving. The treatment plan sentence closes the paragraph because it is the one thing an assistant does that shows up in the practice's production.

  3. The third paragraph uses the earlier job to answer a line in the posting

    The posting mentioned families and nervous adults, so the pediatric years get a paragraph: the ages, the technique and the result. Software and the BLS renewal are at the end because an office manager has to arrange both if they are missing, and it is easier to say now than to be asked at the interview.

  4. The closing names what is enclosed and offers a working interview

    Dental offices often ask a candidate to assist for a morning before offering the job, so the letter offers it first. It names the resume and what it contains, gives the notice period and stops. There is no repeated summary of her strengths and no second thank-you.

  5. Addressed to the office manager, not the dentist

    In most practices the office manager screens applications and the dentist meets the shortlist, so the letter goes to her by name. If the posting lists only the practice, call the front desk and ask who handles hiring for the clinical team. Address the dentist directly only when the posting says the dentist is doing the hiring.

Templates for the dental assistant cover letter

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Each one matches a resume template of the same name, so the letter and the resume go out in one look.

Mistakes that cost dental assistant interviews

  1. Leaving the credential until the last paragraph

    Dental assisting rules differ by state, and an office cannot hire you without the right registration, so a letter that mentions it last makes the reader hunt for it. Name your state credential, your radiography certification and your CPR in the first paragraph or in the first sentence of the evidence, and leave the issuing bodies and years to the resume.

  2. Listing procedures without the pace

    Fillings, crowns and extractions appear on every dental assistant letter. Add how many patients a day, how many dentists you support and how many operatories you turn over, and the office manager can picture you in the schedule rather than in a job description.

  3. Sending the same letter to a pediatric office and a general practice

    A pediatric office reads for patience, behavior techniques and how you talk to parents; a general practice reads for speed, expanded functions and treatment plan support; a specialty office wants its own procedures by name. Pick the one the posting is for and lead with that experience, as the sample does with the general practice first and pediatrics second.

  4. Saying nothing about sterilization

    Infection control is what a practice is inspected on and what a new assistant is trusted with first. One sentence on the operatories you process and the last inspection result says you take it seriously. Silence on it makes a manager wonder whether you do.

  5. Telling the dentist you are passionate about oral health

    Every applicant says it, and no dentist has hired because of it. Spend the sentence on something checkable instead: the retake fix, the rescheduled appointments that stopped, the treatment plans patients accepted after you explained them. Those are the sentences a dentist reads twice.

  6. Forgetting the software

    Postings usually name Dentrix, Eaglesoft or Open Dental, and an assistant who already charts in the practice's system needs less training. Name what you use in a clause. A letter that never mentions software reads as if you have not worked in a modern office.

Questions about the dental assistant cover letter

How long should a dental assistant cover letter be?

One page: three or four paragraphs and 250 to 350 words. The sample above is about 270. Office managers read applications between patients, so the first paragraph has to say which job, which credential and how many years before anything else.

Who do I address a dental assistant cover letter to?

The office manager, unless the posting names the dentist. Their name is often on the practice website's team page; otherwise call the front desk and ask who is hiring for the clinical team. "Dear Hiring Manager" works when no name is available, and the practice name in the first sentence shows you still looked.

What if I am newly certified with only an externship?

Treat the externship as your first job: the practice type, the hours, the procedures you assisted with and what you were trusted to do alone by the end. Say that your radiography certification and state registration are complete, or give the date you expect them, and say what you want to learn in your first year. Practices hire new graduates when the credentials are in order and the attitude is right.

Should I mention expanded functions?

Yes, if your state permits them and you hold the permit: coronal polishing, sealants, placing temporaries or whatever applies where you are. Name the function and the permit in one sentence. A general practice gets more from an assistant who can take tasks off the dentist, and the posting may ask for it directly.

How do I explain leaving a practice after a short time?

Briefly, and only if the short stay is recent: the practice closed, the dentist retired, the commute became impossible. One clause is enough, then back to the evidence. The interview is the place for anything longer, and most office managers have seen a practice close.

Do I need a different letter for a corporate dental group?

The same shape with a different emphasis. Group practices read for production, speed and comfort with their software and protocols, and they often screen through an online form, so put the credential and the patient volume in the first paragraph where a recruiter will see it. A small private practice reads more for how you treat patients and whether you will stay, so give the pediatric or anxious-patient story more room.

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