Certified Dental Assistant Requirements

Certified Dental Assistant Requirements Completing a DentalAssistant program can be the opportunity toexplore a wonderful career in the field ofdentistry. While most states donot requirelicensing, obtaining your certification as aDental Assistant will give you and edge over thecompetition. This will allow you to have a wideselection of employment opportunities to choosefrom. Most Dental Assistants with a certificatefind that they are paid more for their work than

those Dental Assistants who have not obtainedlicensing.The Dental Assisting National Board, Inc. set thestandards for the Certified Dental Assistant,known as CDA. The CDA exam is composed of threeparts. The General Chairside is a written testcomposed of 120 multiple choice questions. Thequestions are based on basic Dental Assistantfundamentals. The Infection Control segment isalso a written portion. It is composed of 100multiple choice questions relating toinformation on various diseases, the risks, andprevention methods. The last portion of the examis the Health and Safety portion. This is a 100question multiple choice section that isbasically common sense related. Some NursingAssistants choose to take the Certified DentalAssistant portion as well. This is a 210 questionmultiple choice section.To prepare for the CDA, review your text book and

notes from your Dental Assistant program. It isa good idea to purchase a CDA study guide. You canform a study group with other students who willbe taking the CDA exam. The internet also has manyfree practice tests available. The exam is givenin either a written form or computerized form.Nursing Assistant can choose the method they aremost comfortable with.To ensure you do the best possible on the CDA test,consider scheduling it immediately after you havecompleted your Dental Assistant Program. This isa great time to do it because all of theinformation is still fresh in your mind. You arealso still in learning mode, so you should notsuffer too much from test anxiety. Those who testright after completing their Dental Assistantprogram score better on the test. The longer youwait, they lower your score is likely to be. Itis also less likely you will take the test onceyou have secured employment as a DentalAssistant.

In some states, Dental Assistants who haveobtained the certification can perform variousdental procedures. This definitely makes you agreater asset to the dental facility you work forif your state offers this statute. This will alsoencourage employers in these states to hire youover other Dental Assistants who are notcertified. You will be worth more to the employer,so you will likely be offered more pay and betterbenefits.For Dental Assistants, the decision to take theCDA is theirs to make. Since licensing is not arequirement, then many choose not to go throughthe test of taking another exam. However, thereis nothing to lose because if you don 抰 pass thetest you are still qualified to be a DentalAssistant upon completion of your program.However, the benefits of having an edge over thecompetition as well as the additional pay for thesame type of work are encouraging to proceed with

taking the CDA.CDA exams vary in cost by state. They aregenerally held monthly. You can obtain a scheduleof CDA exams from your program instructor, yourState Dental Board, or from The Dental AssistingNational Board, Inc. They can also refer you tothe best materials to study for the CDA test basedon the requirements of your state.PPPPPWord Count 605