Dental receptionist vs office representative

The differences between dental receptionists and office representatives 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 an office representative. Additionally, a dental receptionist has an average salary of $34,359, which is higher than the $32,535 average annual salary of an office representative.

The top three skills for a dental receptionist include patients, customer service and phone calls. The most important skills for an office representative are patients, customer service, and phone calls.

Dental receptionist vs office representative overview

	Dental Receptionist	Office Representative
Yearly salary	$34,359	$32,535
Hourly rate	$16.52	$15.64
Growth rate	-	-5%
Number of jobs	66,076	149,852
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 32%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
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 an office representative do?

Office Representatives are administrative professionals assigned to do various admin work in the office. They are in charge of managing communication lines, correspondences, and packages. They are often assigned to sort documents, update records, and file papers in the proper cabinets. Office representatives are considered front desk officers as well. They respond to inquiries by guests, direct guests to their meeting areas, and receive mail. They may also be assigned to manage meeting rooms and update appointment calendars. They should have good communication skills and should be service-oriented.

Dental receptionist vs office representative salary

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

	Dental Receptionist	Office Representative
Average salary	$34,359	$32,535
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $42,000	Between $23,000 And $45,000
Highest paying City	Bellingham, WA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Alaska	New York
Best paying company	University of Southern California	Citi
Best paying industry	Health Care	Agriculture

Differences between dental receptionist and office representative education

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

	Dental Receptionist	Office Representative
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 32%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	Western Carolina University

Dental receptionist vs office representative demographics

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

	Dental Receptionist	Office Representative
Average age	42	47
Gender ratio	Male, 4.9% Female, 95.1%	Male, 26.6% Female, 73.4%
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, 10.9% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 21.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 53.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between dental receptionist and office representative 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.

Office representative example responsibilities.

Manage the medical front office and coordinate business operations with physicians and legal staff for a busy MRI facility.
Manage correspondence and documentation for OSHA compliance and hold some accounts payable responsibilities by coding invoices for processing and payment.
Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Reconcile any EOB, insurance payment or discount errors.
Perform physician coding abstracting medical records with ICD-10, and CPT.
Post payments and enter charges utilizing appropriate ICD9 and CPT codes.

Dental receptionist vs office representative skills

Common dental receptionist skills

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

Common office representative skills

Patients, 20%
Customer Service, 13%
Phone Calls, 8%
Patient Appointments, 7%
EMR, 5%
Excellent Interpersonal, 5%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Dental Receptionist
Dental Receptionist vs Office Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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