Dental Assisting - Certificate
This certificate program offers a challenging career in the rapidly growing field of dental assisting. In addition to assisting dentists in all phases of dental treatment, dental assistants are valuable members of the dental team with skills in office management, clinical assisting, laboratory procedures, dental radiography, and infection control.
The Front Range Dental Clinic, staffed by licensed dentists, provides a portion of the clinical experience, as well as an internship feature of the program. Each student must take three sequential clinical courses, without a semester break between the experiences. If for some reason the student must miss a semester of clinicals, the student will need to repeat the prior clinical experiences. These clinical hours exceed the required the 300 clock hours of the American Dental Association.
In order to graduate, a grade of "C" or better is required to all courses to receive a certificate. Completion of radiology courses qualifies students to take radiographs in the State of Colorado.
Students must submit to a criminal background check and drug screening prior to entering their Clinical Internship I. Students are responsible for the cost of these tests.
The Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association accredits the program, a special accrediting body recognized by the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation and by the U.S. Department of Education. Graduates are eligible for the Dental Assisting National Board Examination. Students must have a high school diploma or GED.
Requirements
Assessment testing is required for all students. Students who are reading at college-level and place into CCR 093 or above and MAT 050 or above may begin this program of study. Students scoring below this level should consult with a faculty member before registering for courses in this program of study.
Required Courses
| DEA 102 | Principles of Clinical Practice | 3 |
| DEA 104 | Specialties in Dentistry | 2 |
| DEA 111 | Dental Office Management | 2 |
| DEA 120 | Introduction to Dental Practices | 1 |
| DEA 121 | Dental Science I | 3 |
| DEA 122 | Dental Science II | 3 |
| DEA 123 | Dental Materials I | 3 |
| DEA 124 | Dental Materials II | 3 |
| DEA 125 | Dental Radiography | 3 |
| DEA 126 | Infection Control | 3 |
| DEA 131 | Dental Radiography II | 3 |
| DEA 132 | Medical Emergencies in the Dental office | 2 |
| DEA 134 | Prevention and Nutrition in Dentistry | 3 |
| DEA 181 | Clinical Internship I | 1 |
| DEA 182 | Clinical Internship II and Seminar | 6 |
| DEA 183 | Clinical Internship III | 2 |
| General Studies Elective | 3 |
General Studies Elective: Electives must be selected from the Approved General Education Electives List for the AAS degree.
Total Credit Hours: 46
Gainful Employment Disclosure Information
The U.S. Department of Education requires colleges to disclose a variety of information for any financial-aid-eligible program that "prepares students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation." The information provided here is the best available to us but represents one year's data only. We hope that this information is helpful to our current students and to prospective students as they make their career and educational choices. For more Gainful Employment information, please go to the FRCC website: www.frontrange.edu/GainfulEmployment.