10 Dental assistant training
We’ve put together a list of dental assistant training courses to help your team stay up to par with industry standards. These courses will equip your dental health practitioners with proper knowledge on topics like infection control, electrical standards, and ionizing radiation standards.
1. PPE for General Dentistry
Every clinical practitioner should make it a top priority to reinforce security measures, so they can protect themselves and their patients from potential hazards in the workplace. To do this, start by training your dental team on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s PPE for General Dentistry course covers all the important information and guidelines needed for this medical field.
This three-part dental assistant training course starts with an introduction to dental care, how infections can spread in healthcare facilities, and how PPE can protect dental and oral healthcare workers. It also tackles the different PPE essentials, along with a step-by-step procedure for wearing and keeping them in good condition.
By the end of the course, your team will know the wearing standards for PPE and learn how to respond to different scenarios of infection transmission with the course’s interactive visual kits.
Take advantage of this free training material to effortlessly upgrade your team’s dental assistant skills. It’s presented in bite-sized chunks for effective knowledge retention and with gamification features for better learner engagement. To top it off, you can acknowledge their hard work and distribute certificates once they’ve completed their course.
- Cost: Free
- Scope: PPE for general dentistry, dental care, how infection occurs, how PPE protects, proper usage and maintenance of PPE
Created By SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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2. HIPAA Compliance Training
When working in the health sector, it’s important to know that patients’ privacy comes first. As dental assistants, it’s part of their legal duty to safeguard the security and privacy of protected health information (PHI) under their care.
SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s micro-course, HIPAA Compliance Training, aims to make sure your team is up to date with the details of the HIPAA Act and is better aware of their role in compliance.
This course begins with an overview of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), including what it gives and protects. Throughout the lessons, your learners will learn about the various rules for privacy, security, and breach to avoid or counter any threat to PHI. It’ll help them develop their skills for clear communication on regulations, and practicing the best solutions for various HIPAA compliance scenarios.
As an admin, you can easily check what they’ve understood about HIPAA through SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s interactive, in-built quiz maker tool called Rapid Refresh. You’ll only need to fill out a simple spreadsheet to have it automatically made and delivered to your dental team. You’ll also have access to detailed reporting and analytics for concrete data on their progress and performance.
- Cost: Free
- Scope: protected information, glossary of HIPAA terms, personal health identifiers, HIPAA compliance scenarios, privacy rule, breach rule, security rule, threats and remedies, best practices
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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3. Dentistry & Human Life
If you’re training dental assistants who are just starting out, you can use Dentistry and Human Life by edX to give them an overview of what it’s like to work in the field of dentistry. It’s a dental assistant program online with eight instructor-paced introductory lectures on dentistry's various perspectives and cultural significance.
Covering a wide range of topics, the course delves into areas such as dental humanities, the history of dentistry, daily dental care, and pain management. It also introduces learners to basic anatomic structures, orthodontics, and other specialties in dentistry.
But rather than being solely scientific in nature, it focuses on topics and stories that your learners can relate to in their everyday work lives.
- Cost: 40 USD
- Scope: dental humanities, history of dentistry, dental care, pain treatment recovery, anatomy, orthodontics and orthognathic surgery
Created by edX
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4. Infection Control
Dental assistants often have the responsibility of preparing dental procedures.This involves disinfecting and sterilizing clinic tools and equipment. SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s Infection Control course is a comprehensive three-part training program aimed to equip dental healthcare personnel with the most effective methods to control and prevent the transmission of infections between themselves and their patients.
To dive deep into the topic, your team will go through lessons on the chain of infection and common infectious diseases that can put them at risk. They’ll also explore the relevant terms and components of infection control. By the end of the course, they’ll learn how to keep themselves safe with PPE and decontaminate dental equipment by following the standard safety procedures.
You can use this self-paced dental assistant training course to train your team on one of the most essential healthcare steps. SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s creator tool lets you apply interactive and engaging features like videos, quizzes, games, and assessments. You’ll be able to explain complex concepts in a way that’s enjoyable and easy to retain.
- Cost: Free
- Scope: chain of infection, common infectious diseases, standard safety precautions, components of infection control, PPE for dental work, disinfecting dental materials
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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5. Electrical Standards
Electrical Standards by SC Training (formerly EdApp) talks about the OSHA electrical standards for dentistry, with the objective of teaching dental healthcare workers how to recognize, manage, and prevent electrical hazards in the clinic.
The dental assistant training course contains useful tips and techniques related to hazard and risk assessments. Your learners will go through the best practices for minimizing the risks associated with electrical tools. Once finished, you’ll have a team that’s able to correctly identify dental hazards and implement the necessary procedures when working with electrical dental equipment.
And because healthcare workers tend to be busy, SC Training (formerly EdApp) has divided this course into two microlearning lessons. That means your dental team can float through lessons at any time, place, or device of their choice. You may also explore this dental assistant training manual for other recommended courses with the same format.
- Cost: Free
- Scope: OSHA electrical standards for dentistry, electrical dental equipment, hazard and risk assessment, management, and prevention.
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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6. Ionizing Radiation Standard
Dental radiography has made it easier and more efficient to diagnose patients’ dental conditions. But it also poses a potential risk to dental healthcare personnel who are consistently exposed to radiation, which can lead to severe medical problems.
With SC Training (formerly EdApp)'s Ionizing Radiation Standard course, your dental assistants can learn essential techniques to manage and minimize radiation exposure, making sure that they can perform their daily tasks in the safest possible manner.
This three-part dental assistant training program starts with an introduction to the radiation present in the dental practice, the suggested dosage, and the health effects of ionizing radiation. Throughout the lessons, your team will learn how to survey a radiation area before posting caution signs, signals, and labels to prevent radiation hazards. They’ll also know about several potential radiation sources and how to take preventive action to reduce exposure.
- Cost: Free
- Scope: radiation safety in dentistry, ionizing radiation, caution signs, labels, and signals, reducing radiation exposure
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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7. Professional Dental Terminology for the Dental Assistant and Hygienist
Dentalcare’s self-instructional course on Professional Dental Terminology introduces healthcare practitioners to the common terminology used in dentistry. Dental assistant classes like this are essential to making sure your team has the foundations of dentistry covered, starting with communication. They’ll be able to speak with patients and other dental team members more effectively.
This program helps your learners become familiar with the appropriate dental terminology related to intraoral and extraoral structures, restorations, disease processes, and oral care. They’ll learn how to address patient inquiries or concerns, including explaining basic dental diseases to their patients. They’ll also encounter case scenarios and dialogue tests where they need to answer questions best fitting the conversations. This allows them to practice thinking critically when faced with similar situations in real life.
- Cost: Free
- Scope: appropriate dental terminology, communicating with patients, how to address inquiries and concerns
Created by Dentalcare.com
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8. Infection Control for Dental Healthcare Professionals
Biologix Solutions’ Infection Control for Dental Professionals is a dental assistant training course specifically designed to deliver up-to-date knowledge about infection control practices and principles in dental practices. It seeks to reduce the spread of healthcare-associated infections by incorporating CDC guidelines, OSHA standards, and ADA recommendations into each lesson.
This course discusses some of the most important topics related to infection control and prevention in the dental field. Course-takers will learn about standard precautions, hand hygiene, PPE, and respiratory hygiene or cough etiquette. They’ll also go through lessons on safe injection practices, disinfection of patient-care items and devices, environmental infection management, and more.
- Cost: 25 USD
- Scope: infection control practices, hand hygiene, PPE, safe injection practices, sterilization of used items, environmental infection control and prevention
Created by Biologix Solutions
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9. Online Dental Assistant Certification Training
Divided into 30 lessons, CareerStep’s Online Dental Assistant Certification Training extensively covers the ins and outs of the dental assistant career. It offers a complete package of skill-based instruction, in-depth knowledge, and certificates that can be used for National Entry Level Dental Assistant (NELDA) and Registered Dental Assistant (RDA) exams.
With this health care course, your team will learn the necessary skills and strategies that come with dental assisting and have a clearer understanding of their roles. It discusses some of the tasks that they’ll encounter in their day-to-day work, such as hygienic practices, claim-form processing, and identifying, using, and caring for dental instruments.
Other lessons lean toward the technical side of the job, including dental infection control, tooth morphology, dental pharmacology and radiology, and oral health and nutrition.
- Cost: 3,799 USD
- Scope: infection control, oral health and nutrition, tooth morphology, pharmacology, radiology, dental office management, clinical dental procedures, HIPAA fundamentals, clinical externship
Created by CareerStep
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10. Hazard Communication
Understanding hazard communication can help identify and effectively communicate workplace dangers like dangerous chemicals or infectious materials. SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s Hazard Communication course will take your team through an immersive learning experience where they’ll learn the necessary steps to reduce the risks of possible injuries or illnesses and, in turn, maintain a safe dental environment.
This course contains three simple lessons that can help both aspiring and existing dental assistants communicate hazards clearly and effectively. As your team goes through the lessons, they’ll discover how to read safety labels and store chemicals safely. It’ll test your team’s knowledge and problem-solving skills with real-life scenarios of potential dangers when using chemicals.
The course ends with an overview of safety data sheets, including sections on first aid measures, handling and storage, ingredient information, and exposure control, among others.
With health training software like SC Training (formerly EdApp), you’ll have access to this dental assistant training program for free, along with other dentistry and healthcare topics to guide your team. You can also explore a collection of courses in their vast course library, where you can easily customize thousands of pre-made modules according to your training needs.
- Cost: Free
- Scope: hazard communication standard, reading chemical labels, safety data sheets
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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Without proper training, dental assistants may lack the confidence to help in dental procedures, follow protocols, or handle emergencies—ultimately compromising patient care and increasing medical errors and health risks.
Dental assistant training courses will equip your team with the knowledge and expertise they need to deliver optimal patient care. By staying updated with the industry’s latest advancements and best practices, they can better support dentists in administering efficient and safe treatments. You can also pair these courses with hands-on training for a balanced and more effective learning process.