Dentists supervise two types of support staff. The first are dental assistants who perform clerical tasks and help dentists with patients. The second are hygienists who can perform many of the tasks that dental assistants do, but can also work independently, such as by cleaning patients’ teeth. Salaries differ by job titles. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistants process patient paperwork, schedule dental appointments and prepare patients for dental treatments. Assistants may need only a high school diploma and can learn their skills on the job, or they can go through one or two-year educational programs offered by technical schools and community colleges. The biggest employers of assistants were dental offices, which employedout of a total ,