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The differences between receptionist secretaries and dental receptionists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a receptionist secretary and a dental receptionist. Additionally, a dental receptionist has an average salary of $34,359, which is higher than the $29,343 average annual salary of a receptionist secretary.
The top three skills for a receptionist secretary include patients, data entry and phone calls. The most important skills for a dental receptionist are patients, customer service, and phone calls.
| Receptionist Secretary | Dental Receptionist | |
| Yearly salary | $29,343 | $34,359 |
| Hourly rate | $14.11 | $16.52 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 61,892 | 66,076 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | High School Diploma, 32% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A receptionist secretary is responsible for providing the best customer service, as well as attending to the needs of existing and potential clients. Duties of a receptionist secretary include managing customer's inquiries and forwarding important calls to the appropriate department, performing administrative and clerical tasks, escalating high-level of client's concerns to the management, keeping the reception area clean, monitoring office supplies and request stocks as needed, and maintaining an organized record of meetings and events. A receptionist secretary must have strong communication and multi-tasking skills to handle workloads of daily operations.
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.
Receptionist secretaries and dental receptionists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Receptionist Secretary | Dental Receptionist | |
| Average salary | $29,343 | $34,359 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $35,000 | Between $27,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Lake Oswego, OR | Bellingham, WA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Illinois Institute of Technology | University of Southern California |
| Best paying industry | Government | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a receptionist secretary and a dental receptionist in terms of educational background:
| Receptionist Secretary | Dental Receptionist | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | High School Diploma, 32% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between receptionist secretaries' and dental receptionists' demographics:
| Receptionist Secretary | Dental Receptionist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.6% Female, 94.4% | Male, 4.9% Female, 95.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.4% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 21.1% Asian, 6.3% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |