Fundamentals of Dental Assisting Certificate of Achievement

The 8 -unit Fundamental Dental Assisting Certificate of Achievement is an entry level workforce preparation program that prepares students for employment as a dental assistant in basic chairside assisting and front office procedures. The courses are prerequisites to the level II Dental Assisting Certificate of Achievement that prepares students to become licensed dental assistants, as well as the dental assistant Associate in Science degree.

The student learning outcomes include:

Upon completion of the program the dental assistant student will be prepared to:

Provide comprehensive dental assisting care to individuals from diverse socioeconomic, educational, and cultural backgrounds according to state regulations in a safe and ethical manner.

Assist in the clinical setting with dental treatment procedures while assuming responsibility for prevention of disease transmission in the work environment.

Responsibilities include: using dental instruments and materials, taking and processing dental radiographs, taking impressions and performing many other dental procedures within the scope of dental assisting practice in the state of California.

Perform front office duties including communicating with patients, other health professionals, dental suppliers, business contacts and insurance companies, scheduling appointments, managing insurance and/or financial aspects of the dental practice and using dental management software systems.

The Dental Assistant curriculum is planned in sequence. Satisfactory completion of all courses with a grade of  “C” or better in a given semester is required before the student may continue to the level II Dental Assistant Program. All required courses in each semester are co-requisites and prerequisites for the subsequent semester. Students must satisfactorily complete all of the courses in the Dental Assistant Program according to the State of California Dental Practice Act guidelines for curriculum.

	Enrollment	Completers
Fall 2021	20
Spring 2022	25	15
Fall 2022	30	20
Spring 2023	30	25
Fall 2023	30	28

The fundamentals of Dental Assisting 8-unit CTE certificate of achievement is intended for workforce preparation and is a level I certificate. The program prepares students for employment as a dental assistant in basic chairside assisting and front office procedures.

Master Planning:

This program fits into the college mission in that West education enriches students with the knowledge and skills needed to earn certificates and undergraduate degrees, to transfer, to build careers, and to pursue life-long learning.

Place of Program in Curriculum/ Similar Programs:

Programs	Certificate of Achievement Level I	Certificate Of Achievement Level II	Degree
Dental Assisting	Fundamentals of Dental Assisting CoA	Dental Assisting CoA	Dental Assisting AS
Pharmacy Technician	Basic Pharmacy Techinician	Advanced Pharmacy Technician	Pharmacy Technician AS
Medical Assisting	Medical Assisting Administrative	Medical Assisting Clinical	Medical Assisting AS
Paramedicine	Emergency Medical	Paramedic CoA	Paramedicine AS

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
Den AST 001	Orientation to Dental Assisting	2 units	S1
Den AST 007	Infection Control for the Dental Setting	1 unit	S1
Den AST 013	Practice Managemengt	2 units	S1
Den AST 008 or   Den AST 012	Introduction to Dental Radiology or Dental Assisting Clinical Sciences	3 units	S1

The program currently resides in the Health Sciences department, and is a stackable certificate: Fundamental of Dental Assisting, Dental Assistant CoA, Dental Assistant AS Degree. Similar program in the department are the Pharmacy Technician Basic CoA, Pharmacy Technician Advanced CoA, Pharmacy Technician AS Degree. Other similar programs include the EMT/Paramedic CoA and Paramedicine AS Degree.

West Los Angeles College and Pasadena City College are the only two public postsecondary education institutions that offer a dental assisting program but they are not in the Los Angeles service area, but rather the San Gabriel Valley service area. An email discussion with a faculty in the PCC dental assisting program, Lori Gagliardi, indicated that PCC is also developing a low-unit certificate for dental assisting as they also identified a need. Moreover, the advisory board indicated a need for more front office dental assistants. The other public postsecondary education institutions that offer the dental assisting program are out of our service area: Cypress College, Cerritos College are in the Orange County service area and Citrus College is in the San Gabriel Valley service area.

Spring 2022: 40 Spring 2023: 45 Spring 2024: 50