Dental receptionist vs front office coordinator

The differences between dental receptionists and front office coordinators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a dental receptionist and a front office coordinator. Additionally, a dental receptionist has an average salary of $34,359, which is higher than the $32,844 average annual salary of a front office coordinator.

The top three skills for a dental receptionist include patients, customer service and phone calls. The most important skills for a front office coordinator are patients, customer service, and data entry.

Dental receptionist vs front office coordinator overview

	Dental Receptionist	Front Office Coordinator
Yearly salary	$34,359	$32,844
Hourly rate	$16.52	$15.79
Growth rate	-	-5%
Number of jobs	66,076	131,810
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 32%	Bachelor's Degree, 38%
Average age	42	47
Years of experience	2	2

What does a dental receptionist do?

A dental receptionist is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support dental office operations and ensure that the patients receive the highest quality care services. Dental receptionists manage and schedule the patients' appointments, determine the availability of the dentist, process dental reports and service payments, and ensure the adequacy of dental inventories. They also organize the database system by updating patients' information, sending referrals to medical specialists, pulling-up patient charts, and responding to the patients' dental inquiries and concerns.

What does a front office coordinator do?

A front office coordinator is responsible for assisting clients with their inquiries and concerns and directing them to the appropriate department and personnel to immediately address their needs. Front office coordinators schedule appointments, verify visitors' identities by checking their credentials for security purposes, processing service payments, updating customers' data and visitation log on the database, and escalating high-level complaints. A front office coordinator also performs administrative and clerical tasks as needed, requiring them to have excellent time-management and organizational skills.

Dental receptionist vs front office coordinator salary

Dental receptionists and front office coordinators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Dental Receptionist	Front Office Coordinator
Average salary	$34,359	$32,844
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $42,000	Between $25,000 And $42,000
Highest paying City	Bellingham, WA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Alaska	Massachusetts
Best paying company	University of Southern California	University of California, Berkeley
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between dental receptionist and front office coordinator education

There are a few differences between a dental receptionist and a front office coordinator in terms of educational background:

	Dental Receptionist	Front Office Coordinator
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 32%	Bachelor's Degree, 38%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	University of Pennsylvania

Dental receptionist vs front office coordinator demographics

Here are the differences between dental receptionists' and front office coordinators' demographics:

	Dental Receptionist	Front Office Coordinator
Average age	42	47
Gender ratio	Male, 4.9% Female, 95.1%	Male, 9.0% Female, 91.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 27.0% Asian, 5.5% White, 52.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 24.1% Asian, 6.7% White, 53.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between dental receptionist and front office coordinator duties and responsibilities

Dental receptionist example responsibilities.

Manage an adjoining veterinary supply shop that sell medications, animal food and pet equipment.
Perform administrative and receptionist duties by managing patient records while staying in compliance with HIPAA and JCAHO.
Manage Eaglesoft system thereby maximizing and balancing the calendar of appointments to drive practice revenue while maintaining optimal practice productivity.
Assist office management and staff with administrative projects/responsibilities such as managing time-sensitive projects, filing, copying, and collating materials.
Register new patients according to office protocol using EagleSoft.
Experience in PPO and some HMO insurances.

Front office coordinator example responsibilities.

Manage medical records and other patient information within HIPPA guidelines.
Manage facility procedures relate to insurance and billing and solve patients' queries regarding their insurance renewal and expiry.
Work in Kronos to enter miss punches or correct time for employees when payroll is due.
Apply proper ICD-9 and CPT coding to patient invoices and submit claims to insurance companies for proper reimbursement.
Monitor physician documentation in EHR versus fee ticket and verify that the correct ICD9 and CPT codes are being used.
Maintain confidentiality of patient privacy in compliance with HIPAA regulations.

Dental receptionist vs front office coordinator skills

Common dental receptionist skills

Patients, 35%
Customer Service, 17%
Phone Calls, 10%
Patient Accounts, 8%
Front Desk, 3%
HMO, 3%

Common front office coordinator skills

Patients, 27%
Customer Service, 11%
Data Entry, 5%
Front Desk, 4%
Insurance Verification, 4%
Patient Charts, 3%

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Dental Receptionist
Dental Receptionist vs Front Office Coordinator

Updated January 8, 2025

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