Dental Assistant
Services

Renewing Your Credentials

Dental X-Ray (Radiologic Technologist) License

Your Dental Radiologic Technologist license (more commonly called your dental x-ray license) is valid for two years and will expire on December 31^st of every even year. You will receive an invoice from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Bureau of X-Ray Compliance when your license is about to expire.

There are no continuing education requirements to keep your license valid. You simply need to complete an online or paper renewal application and pay the appropriate fee. Paper renewal applications are mailed out prior to license expiration. Holding a dental radiograph

Regardless of how long you've had your license you will still have to complete the same process and pay the same fee because you're renewing and paying to have a valid license for the next two years and not the last several months or so that you've been licensed.

When you're ready, you can renew your license online or if you still have questions click here for additional information from the Bureau of X-Ray Compliance.

Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) Certification

CDA

certificates must be renewed every year. One of the Dental Assistant National Board's (DANB's

) responsibilities is to oversee CDA certifications. In order to renew your certification you are required to complete 12 continuing dental education (CDE) credits each year. It's worth noting though that CDE credits can be carried over for up to 2 years. So for example, if you earned 15 CDE credits this year you would have met the 12 credit requirement for this year and would already be 3 credits ahead for next year.

However you cannot break up the credits from a particular CDE course. For example, if you already had 10 credits for this year and took a five credit course you cannot use two of the five credits this year and carry over the remaining three. But if you took two more separate courses this year (one two-credit course and one three-credit course), then you could use the first course (2 credits) for this year and carry over the second course (3 credits) for next year. If this sounds too confusing, please contact us and we'd be happy to explain it further.

In addition to the 12 annual CDE credits requirement, you must also pay a renewal fee and maintain a valid and current CPR certification. Any credits earned by taking a CPR course for the sake of maintaining a valid certification will not be counted towards the annual 12 credits requirement.

The renewal period begins and ends on the day of the year that you earned your certification. So if you earned your certification on February 12^th you will have until the next February 12^th to earn the required 12 CDE credits. This is the case whether you've had your certificate for 20 days or 20 years. Your renewal date will however change if you obtain an additional DANB

certificate.

Shortly before your renewal date you should receive a letter in the mail. Once you've confirmed that you have enough CDE credits and a current CPR certificate you can send in a mailed form or renew online.

As far as the credits themselves, one of DANB's

requirements is that you may take a maximum of 3 non-clinical CDE credits per year. There is also a 3 credit annual limit for video and/or audio recordings of a convention seminar. Home study courses do not have an annual limit (so long as they are clinical courses).

Another one of DANB's

roles is to conduct random audits. If you are selected for an audit you will be informed by mail and asked to show documentation of having earned the required number of CDE credits and a current CPR certificate. For this reason, it is important to hold on to all documentation of credits earned during the year. Remember that credits can be carried over for a total of 2 years.

For additional information about renewing your CDA

certificate, please click here.

Registered Dental Assistant (RDA) License

RDA licenses must be renewed every two years. The New Jersey State Board of Dentistry is responsible for overseeing RDA licenses and requires that you obtain 10 continuing dental education credits during each biannual period. Regardless of the date that you earned your own license, all RDA licenses expire on December 31^st of every even year.

Shortly before your renewal date you should receive a letter in the mail. Once you've confirmed that you have enough credits you can renew your license online (the website address will be provided with the paperwork you receive in the mail) or you can call an automated phone number to request that a paper renewal form be sent to you. You will also be required to pay a renewal fee.

The State Board permits 5 of the required 10 credits to be completed as either written or electronic home study courses. Credits used to fulfill your CDA

requirements may also be used to fulfill your RDA requirements. That Dental assistant at computer

means, you do not need 12 credits for your CDA certificate plus 10 more for your RDA license. You can use 10 of the 12 "CDA credits" towards your RDA renewal. If you would like to read more about the credit requirements needed to maintain an RDA license in NJ, please click here and scroll down to pages 19 and 20.

If this is your first renewal period the required number of credits may vary. Specifically, if you initially became licensed in an odd year you will still be required to complete the full 10 credits prior to the end of the next year (which will be an even year). If on the other hand you earned your license in the current year and it is an even year, the total number of credits you'll be required to obtain will vary depending upon the actual date that you became licensed.

Keep in mind that in NJ you are required to have a CDA

certificate prior to obtaining an RDA license and that you will have to renew your CDA certificate on an annual basis (earning 12 credits in the process) regardless of when you earned your RDA license. As a result you will probably not have to worry much about collecting "RDA credits". You should typically already have enough credits accrued simply by keeping your CDA certification renewed and in good standing.

For additional information about the RDA license renewal process you can contact the NJ State Board of Dentistry directly.