Dental Assistant
Program Overview
The Dental Assistant program provides students with sufficient theoretical knowledge and practical skills to perform efficiently in a professional capacity in an entry-level position. This program includes courses covering management skills, appointment scheduling, laboratory procedures, maintenance of patient records, chairside assistance, instructing patients in proper oral hygiene, and assisting in the selection, placement, and removal of rubber dam, sutures, and periodontal packs.
Skills Proficiency
Students must be able to perform certain skills to work as a Dental Assistant. These skills are learned in the lab portion of the program. The classroom portion of the program is divided into one-half lecture and theory and one-half lab, which is where practical application of theory is performed. The instructor evaluates every lab experiment or practical work. Hands-on instruction with the actual tools of the trade facilitates the transfer from theory to practice. Students will perform certain activities on each other. All students must participate. All students must take and pass a clinical skills test before being released for their externship.
CPR Certification
To be eligible for American Heart Association (AHA) certification, students must attend all scheduled hours of CPR lecture and pass practical checkoffs and a written exam. A student who is tardy or misses a lecture must repeat the lecture, even if the student passes the checkoffs and written exam. If CPR is offered during another shift in the same term, the student may attend that lecture. If not offered during that term, the student will receive an incomplete for the course until the lecture is repeated. AHA requires that students pass the CPR written test with a grade of at least 84 percent. If below 84 percent, they may retake the exam once. The original test score will be used to calculate the course grade. If the test is retaken and failed a second time, the student must repeat the entire course of CPR instruction. If a student is absent for the entire course, it is his or her responsibility to contact the instructor to find an appropriate session or class to attend. If the student does not do so, he or she may not graduate.
State Certification
The Florida State Board of Dentistry will issue a certificate for dental radiographer after three months of continuous on-the-job training, assisting in the positioning and exposing of dental radiographic film under the direct supervision of a state-licensed Dentist.
Program Delivery
The Dental Assistant program is delivered in a blended format. Courses will be delivered entirely online, entirely on-ground or with an appropriate blend of both online and on-ground hours in the same course. Of the 800 program hours, a maximum of 400 course hours (50.0%) may be offered online.
Program Objectives
- To provide a learning atmosphere that is similar to an actual working atmosphere.
- To provide experience in the clinical area to correlate with classroom instruction.
- To provide the education and skills needed to pass a national registry exam, if needed.
- To instill in the student a sense of professionalism in behavior, attitude, and dress.
Registration and certification requirements for taking and passing this examination are not controlled by Concorde, but by outside agencies, and are subject to change by the agency without notice. Therefore, Concorde cannot guarantee that graduates will be eligible to take this exam, at all or at any specific time, regardless of their eligibility status upon enrollment.
Georgia residents who graduate from the program and practice in Georgia will not be permitted to practice some duties taught in the program due to differences in scope of practice for Dental Assistants in Georgia. Students are encouraged to request a copy of the current laws/rules governing the practice of dentistry in the state of Georgia.
*These courses are offered online.
**A portion of these courses are offered online.
This applies to all students starting on or after February 12, 2024
(Ground/Online)
(Ground/Online)
(Ground/Online)