As a Dental therapist with SA Dental, you will

• Provide dental services to eligible clients.
• Provide services consistent with the clinical directions, procedures and clinical practice guidelines of Statewide Dental Services (SWDS) and Adelaide Dental Hospital (ADH).
• Provide direction to Dental assistants / Dental assistant trainees.
• Provide dental services to eligible clients who present with dental diseases and oral health problems of a complex nature.
• Assist less skilled practitioners in the treatment of more complex cases

Dental Therapists are classified under the SA Health “Allied Health Professional” (AHP) stream. They may be registered with the Dental Board of Australia as either a Dental Therapist or an Oral Health Therapist.

The classification levels for Dental Therapist positions are at the AHP1, AHP2 and AHP 3 levels. Within each classification level, there are a number of salary increments.

• AHP1 and AHP2 level positions are general Dental Therapist positions
• AHP 3 level positions are Senior Practitioner roles with responsibility for clinical KPI’s and staff development in the organisation.

The starting classification and increment level for a newly qualified Dental Therapist is at the AHP101 increment level. Dental Therapists with 5+ years’ experience will be appointed at AHP105.

Dental Therapists who have been at the AHP105 level for 12 months will be eligible to apply for the AHP2 classification level after satisfactory completion of probation and sustained achievement of clinical and business KPI’s over four consecutive quarters.

SA Dental is an employee of choice for many clinicians starting in their oral health careers.

Learn more about how we support new clinicians through the Clinicians Early Development Program (CEDP).

SA Dental recruits Dental therapists 1-2 times a year (depending on staffing requirements) for the Dental therapist candidate pool.

The recruitment process aims to find suitable candidates for permanent and contract Dental therapy roles at the AHP1 or AHP2 levels to fill vacancies that can arise at any time. Positions at the AHP3 level are promotional roles that are advertised when a vacancy becomes available. The selection process is merit-based with candidates ranked in relative order of merit against the Position Descriptions.

The recruitment process aimed at finding suitable candidates for the Dental therapist roles is described below.

Step 1 – Lodge Application

Step 2 – Reference checks

Step 4 – Interviews

Step 5 – Outcome (Successful or Unsuccessful)

• SA Dental utilises the Dental therapist candidate pool to fill Dental therapist vacancies in the organisation
• As staffing in any organisation is rarely static, vacancies can occur at any time. It is therefore useful to have a pool of candidates to directly approach who have been selected as suitable for employment (via a merit-based selection process) to fill vacant positions. This is more efficient than having to conduct a separate selection process each time a vacancy occurs.
• When vacancies arise the information (including location, description of the role, hours per week etc.) is circulated to the candidates in the pool.
• All candidates in the pool are asked to indicate if they are or are not initially interested in the available role/s and are asked to respond within a 3-day timeframe.
• Candidates who are not interested in a position remain in the pool for 12 months and continue to be notified of any available positions for which they can express interest.
• For the group who indicated interest, careful consideration is given to match the vacancy to the skill and experience levels of candidates. Discussions commence with the highest-ranked candidate.
  • After further discussion with relevant managers to provide more detailed information to assist candidates to make a decision if it is a role they would like to accept we arrange an appointment for the position.
  • If it is a role they decide they are not interested in, the candidate remains in the pool as described above and the next ranked candidate from those interested is approached. This process is repeated until the vacancy is filled.

Candidates who accept an offer of employment will be sent the necessary pre-employment documentation to complete including the screening checks listed below. An offer of employment can only be confirmed if these mandatory checks are satisfactory.

• Health Care Worker Immunisation Screening – it is a requirement to provide the SA Dental Staff Health Nurse with documented evidence of immunisations and blood test results for immunity against a range of diseases. Immunisation boosters may be required to complete the Pre-employment screening and gain a clearance to work with SA Dental. COVID-19 vaccination is an essential requirement under the Emergency Management (Healthcare Setting Workers Vaccination) (COVID-19) Directions 2021 to work in a SA Health/Health care setting.
• Working With Children Check – undertaken via the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion (DCSI). National Police Checks are not sufficient to gain employment with SA Dental Service.
• Credentialing - All dental operators need to be credentialed before they can commence their clinical position. Credentialing is the formal process of checking “to verify the qualifications, experience, and professional standing of health care practitioners for the purpose of forming a view about their competence, performance and professional suitability to provide safe, high-quality health care services “.

Dental practitioners are asked to provide certified copies of relevant documents to support the declaration made in their application form.

When these clearances are in place, a start date, as well as arrangements for induction & orientation, are confirmed which includes a clinical program, policy discussion and training in the Titanium system (patient charting, recording and appointing system utilised in SA Dental).

We recommend registering for a ‘job alert’ on the SA Health Careers website, to keep up to date on Dental therapist selection processes.

1. Log onto SA Health Careers
2. Select the “Job Alert” button on the left-hand side.
3. Enter your email address
4. Keywords: Dental
5. Select the following items to ensure that all dental advertisements are captured

• Categories : Select All
• Locations :Select All
• Work Type : Select All

The job alert will last 90 days and details can be updated if required.

As positions are advertised, registered users will be sent an email to your nominated email address which will provide information of the positions available and a link to the online application form.