News from DANB's Board of Directors following its annual meeting August 2009

Still time to apply for DANB’s proposed CDA/GC Exam Pilot Pathway study

In May, the Dental Assisting National Board, Inc. (DANB) announced that dental assisting students attending programs at DANB-approved vocational-technical schools might soon become eligible to participate in a proposed pilot study that would allow them to take DANB’s Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) exam or the General Chairside Assisting (GC) component exam after one year of work experience. DANB would like to announce some important changes, including extending the application deadline to the proposed CDA/GC Exam Pilot Pathway study to encourage participation by all dental assisting programs housed within institutions accredited by agencies recognized by the United States Department of Education.

At its August 2009 meeting, DANB’s Board of Directors voted on changes to the proposed CDA/GC Exam Pilot Pathway study criteria. First, the study is currently a proposed study. In order to move forward with DANB’s proposed pilot study, DANB’s Board of Directors first will review feedback from communities of interest, and then determine if a sufficient number of qualified dental assisting programs have applied to participate. Adequate participation in the study is required so that DANB is able to use GC exam pass rate data from pilot study exam candidates to determine if these candidates pass the GC exam at a rate that is equivalent to the pass rates of candidates who applied to test through current CDA/GC exam eligibility pathways. If too few CDA/GC exam candidates participate in the study, exam performance results cannot be generalized to the population of these students, and so no new CDA/GC exam eligibility pathway would be considered.

Second, if DANB conducts the study, testing under the proposed CDA/GC Exam Pilot Pathway study would not begin until January 2011, and would then end with CDA/GC exam applications received or postmarked by Dec. 31, 2013.

DANB’s national exams and Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) certification are recognized or required in 37 states plus the District of Columbia. DANB’s CDA exam is composed of three component exams: Radiation Health and Safety (RHS), Infection Control (ICE), and General Chairside Assisting (GC).

Because the RHS and ICE exams have no eligibility requirements, many vocational-technical dental assisting programs take advantage of the opportunity for their students to take these two component exams during the school year. However, candidates must then meet eligibility requirements to apply for the GC exam, and must pass all three component exams within a five-year period to become a DANB CDA.

Currently, there are two main eligibility pathways to qualify to take DANB’s full CDA exam or the GC component exam. Graduates of dental assisting or dental hygiene programs accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) apply to test through Pathway I, while on-the-job-trained dental assistants with two years of work experience and proof of high school graduation or equivalent apply to test through Pathway II. All CDA and GC exam candidates must hold a current DANB-accepted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certificate.

During the three-year study, DANB will accept CDA/GC exam applications from graduates of DANB-approved dental assisting vocational-technical programs who also have one year of dental assisting work experience. To be considered DANB-approved, dental assisting programs must meet the following requirements:

• Be housed within an institution accredited by a U.S. Department of Education (USDoE)-recognized accrediting agency
• Be at least one academic year in length (25 semester or trimester hours, or 36 quarter hours, or 900 clock hours, with a minimum of 300 clinical hours)
• Present a comprehensive dental assisting curriculum that teaches contact areas addressing all core duties performed by dental assistants

Dental assisting students who graduate from a DANB-approved dental assisting program would be required to meet these eligibility prerequisites:

• High school graduation or equivalent
• Graduate from or complete a DANB-approved vocational-technical dental assisting program
• Complete a minimum of one year of continuous full-time work experience (at least 1,750 hours) as a dental assistant
• Hold DANB-accepted CPR certification that is current at the time of application and exam date

Program directors should not wait to participate! One of the eligibility requirements for students wishing to test under the new pilot pathway is the completion of at least one year (1,750 hours) of continuous full-time work experience as a dental assistant. That means students graduating from 2009 classes could be eligible to take DANB's CDA exam under the pilot pathway when testing begins in 2011. Be sure to let your graduating students know about this exciting opportunity as soon as your dental assisting program becomes eligible to participate in the proposed CDA/GC Exam Pilot Pathway study.

Program directors who have already been approved for participation should take a moment to notify any students, personnel, or administrators who may be affected by the date changes. DANB sincerely appreciates your interest in the proposed pilot study.

The CDA/GC Exam Pilot Pathway study offers dental assistants the possibility of one more way to become a Certified Dental Assistant, which may advance their career, meet state dental assisting requirements, and bring greater earning power! Download an application at www.danb.org or contact [email protected] today.

Upcoming changes in DANB exam policy

• Beginning April 1, 2010, DANB will offer the Radiation Health and Safety (RHS) and Infection Control (ICE) exams as a packaged testing event (that is, both exams offered back-to-back during one testing appointment) for an exam fee of $220 ($80 less than taking the exams as separate testing events). As is true when taking these two exams separately, candidates who pass one or more of these component exams will earn either Certificates of Competency in Radiation Health and Safety or in Infection Control, or in both.
• The DANB Board approved removing the restriction of “continuous” from the current work experience policy. Effective Aug. 24, 2009, DANB will now accommodate dental assistants applying to take the Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) or Certified Orthodontic Assistant (COA) certification exams or the General Chairside (GC) or Orthodontic Assisting (OA) component exams through eligibility Pathway II, who have small gaps in their dental assisting work experience. This means that DANB will accept applications from candidates who may have been unemployed (for example, due to a move or a layoff) for a few weeks or months during the two- to four-year period. This accommodation will be made as long as CDA, COA, GC, and OA exam candidates applying through Pathway II have accrued 3,500 hours of work experience between a minimum of at least two years [24 months] (if employed full time) and at least four years [48 months] (if employed part time).
• Because of the increasing availability of fraudulent and unrecognized high school diplomas through the Internet, the DANB Board of Directors approved a change to the Proof of High School or Equivalent Policy, which applies to requirements for eligibility to apply to take DANB’s CDA, GC, COA, and OA exams through the work experience pathway. The change, effective Aug. 24, 2009, requires that the high school must be a recognized school in the U.S. Education System. Proof of postsecondary education must be from a U.S. Department of Education (USDoE)-recognized institution.

DANB develops new national exams for expanded functions

• DANB has begun developing five new national expanded functions exams and plans to begin administering the exams in 2010. The five new DANB national expanded functions exams will test knowledge required to competently perform these functions: Coronal Polishing, Applying Topical Fluoride, Applying Sealants, Applying Topical Anesthetic, and Scaling for Plaque-Induced Gingivitis Patients.