• Gain a detailed dental history from patients and evaluate their medical history
• They can carry out a clinical examinations
• Complete periodontal examination and charting and use indices to screen and monitor periodontal disease
•  Diagnose and treatment plan
• Prescribe radiographs,  take, process and interpret various film views
• Provide preventive oral care to patients and liaise with dentists over the treatment of caries, periodontal disease and tooth wear.
• Undertake supragingival and subgingival scaling and root surface debridement using manual and powered instruments
• Adjust restored surfaces in relation to periodontal treatment
• Apply topical treatments and fissure sealants
• Give infiltration and inferior dental block analgesia
• Do temporary dressings and re-cement crowns with temporary cement
• Place rubber dam
• Take impressions
• Maintain of implants and treatment of peri-implant tissues
• Carry out direct restorations on primary and secondary teeth
• Fulfil pulpotomies on primary teeth
• Extract primary teeth and place pre-formed crowns
• Identify anatomical features, recognise abnormalities and interpret common pathology
• Oral cancer screening
• Keep full, accurate and contemporaneous patient records

Additional skills which dental therapists could develop include:

1. Tooth whitening to the prescription of a dentist
2.  Inhalation sedation
3.  Removing sutures after the wound has been checked by a dentist

While therapists can’t perform complex procedures like root canals or crowns—those are typically carried out by dentists—they do, however, handle a wide range of important treatments. These include preventive and restorative care that help manage dental disease, particularly in communities with limited access to full dental services.

Overall, dental therapists play a vital role in the dental team. In particular, they bridge the gap between hygiene and dentistry. As a result, they help improve access to care and keep mouths healthy.