Dental Assistant
Services

Continuing Dental Education (CDE) Courses

CDE Course List ¦ Course Descriptions ¦ Registration/Payment Options
View the schedule for the live CDE courses ¦ View conditions of purchase

All certified and/or registered dental assistants (CDA certificants and RDAs) in NJ are required to obtain CDE credit hours as part of the renewal process. CDEs are also often referred to as CEUs (continuing education units). Click here to learn more about the requirements to maintain and renew your dental assisting credentials (dental x-ray license, CDA certificate, and RDA license).

Traditionally, one of the Dental Assisting National Board's (DANB's ) roles would be to provide advance approval for continuing dental education courses. At this time they will no longer pre-approve CDE courses. Click here for further details. However, they will continue to honor CDE courses that have already been pre-approved up through their respective expiration dates (listed below). Upon expiration, CDE courses may still be accepted toward certification renewal, however we will no longer be permitted to advertise them as such.

These courses may also apply towards your continuing education requirements if you are a dental hygienist or a dental assistant/hygienist from a state other than NJ. Please check with your respective credentialing board in advance as we cannot guarantee which credentialing bodies will and will not accept these courses.

Below is a list of all our CDE courses. For your convenience we offer courses taught live at Dental Assistant Services as well as a number of home study courses. Click on the course title to view a description of the course. You can register/purchase these courses online, by mail, or in person. See below for further details.

In order to receive your CDE credits and a certificate of completion for a home study course you must successfully pass a brief test at the end of the course. Tests are not timed and not designed to be difficult, but simply to assure that you have read through the material. All answers are in the course material provided. If necessary you may be given a second opportunity to retake the test. Upon completion of the course and receipt of your passing test you will be issued a certificate of completion (also called a credit sheet).

In New Jersey, there is no limit on the number of home study courses you can take in renewing your CDA certification. However there is a limit of 5 home study credits per renewal period for your RDA license. Since you have to renew your RDA every other year and can use the same credits for both your CDA certificate and RDA license renewals you'll end up having to take 24 CDE credits (for your CDA certificate alone) every two years. Only five of those 24 credits must be taken as live courses to meet the biannual RDA renewal requirements.

CDE Course List:

Course title:	CDE credits:	Format:	Cost:	Register:
Abuse and Neglect in the Dental Office	2	Home study	$60	Purchase online ¦ Registration form
CPR for Healthcare Professionals	3	Live	$50	Register with Team Life
Dental Diet, The	4	Home study	$110	Purchase online ¦ Registration form
Drug Interactions	2	Live	$60	Register online ¦ Registration form
Managing Stress in the Dental Office	1	Home study	$30	Purchase online ¦ Registration form
OSHA Regulations	4	Live	$90	Register online ¦ Registration form
OSHA Regulations	4	Home study	$110	Purchase online ¦ Registration form
Understanding the Apprehensive Patient	3	Home study	$90	Purchase online ¦ Registration form

Other CDE Options:

Course title:	CDE credits:	Format:	Register:
Expanded Functions	20	Live	Registration form
Infection Control	15	Live	Registration form

CDE Course Descriptions:

Abuse and Neglect in the Dental Office

This course reviews the concepts of abuse and neglect. It describes and discusses child abuse, elder abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. It reveals signs that you may observe in dental patients who may be in an abusive or neglectful relationship. It then discusses what you should and should not do when faced with a patient who you believe may be in such a relationship. The course further reviews employment issues and background check practices as related to abuse and neglect. Finally, it discusses the issue of reporting possible incidences of abuse or neglect. This includes how to make a report as well as what can and should be reported.

Author: Mark Scarola
Format: Home study
Credits: 2 hours
Price: $60
Pre-approved through: June 24, 2013

Purchase online ¦ Registration form

CPR for Healthcare Professionals

Cardiovascular Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) for Healthcare Professionals is a hands-on first aid course designed to meet the needs of healthcare professionals. It covers both adult and infant CPR techniques and procedures. The course is taught by Team Life.

This course is taught at Team Life, which is located at 291 Route 34 in Colts Neck, NJ and is approximately 4 miles from Dental Assistant Services (DAS). One of DANB's requirements is that everyone take a CPR course and have a valid CPR certification prior to taking the General Chairside exam. With this in mind, Team Life offers CPR courses that coincide with the General Chairside courses taught at Dental Assistant Services, though other dates may also be available. Please contact Team Life directly if you have any questions about this course.

As of January 1, 2012 credits obtained from CPR courses will no longer count towards the renewal requirements for DANB certifications such as CDA certificates. Maintaining a current and valid CPR certification is still required, however the credits earned from taking a CPR course will not count as continuing dental education (CDE) credits.

Instructor: Team Life
Format: Live
Price: $50

When is this course offered? ¦ Register with Team Life

The Dental Diet: Are the Healthiest Foods for Your Body the Healthiest for Your Teeth?

We’ve all heard that fruits and vegetables are good for our bodies. But are those same fruits and vegetables the best choices for your dental health? Are sugary snacks as bad for your teeth as we assume? Is it better to drink tea in the morning than coffee? Whenever you consume foods and drinks you do so orally, which means that they must travel through your mouth and past your teeth. As this course explains, what’s good for the body may not necessarily be good for the teeth. Specific vitamins, supplements, acid levels, and some alternative oral therapies are also discussed.

Author: Mark Scarola
Format: Home study
Credits: 4 hours
Price: $110
Pre-approved through: May 16, 2014

Purchase online ¦ Registration form

Drug Interactions

This course teaches you about various medications that patients may be taking and their potential interactions with medications commonly used in a dental office. Contraindications and side effects are also discussed.

Instructor: Jim Schatzle of Team Life
Format: Live
Credits: 2 hours
Price: $60
No longer pre-approved (Why not?)

When is this course offered? ¦ Register online ¦ Registration form

Expanded Functions

This course will cover all of the expanded functions that can be performed by a NJ registered dental assistant (RDA). Course topics will include: rubber dams, retraction cords, construction of temporary crowns, cementation and cement removal, periodontal dressing, matrix placement, pit and fissure sealants, and topical fluoride. The course runs for a total of eight 2½ hour class sessions.

Please note: This is the same course that would prepare a student for the DANB

expanded functions exam. Click here for a more detailed course description. If you are already a CDA

certificant and are taking Expanded Functions to become an RDA, this course can also be used to earn you CDE credits towards the renewal of your CDA certificate. If you are already an RDA and you take or retake this course it can be used to earn you CDE credits for both your CDA certificate and RDA license (i.e., 20 credits for each!).

This course cannot be registered for or purchased online.

Instructor: Gail Scarola-Villanueva
Format: Live
Credits: 20 hours
Pre-approved through: May 16, 2014

When is this course offered? ¦ Registration form

Infection Control

This course covers a wide variety of subjects including microbiology, transmittable and bloodborne diseases, cross infection, modes of transmission, the potential for employee exposure to infectious materials, sharps disinfection, sterilization, barrier protection, personal protective equipment, hazardous communication, materials, waste, labeling and spill clean up, and exposure incident procedures.

All applicable OSHA regulations and current CDC guidelines will also be discussed. Additionally, all students will receive a thorough course manual describing the content of the course that can be used for reviewing and studying the material. This course runs for a total of seven 2½ hour class sessions.

Please note: This is the same course that would prepare a student to take the DANB

infection control test. Click here for a more detailed course description. If you are already a CDA

certificant and are taking Infection Control to become an RDA, this course can also be used to earn you CDE credits towards the renewal of your CDA certificate. If you are already an RDA and you take or retake this course it can be used to earn you CDE credits for both your CDA certificate and RDA license (i.e., 20 credits for each!).

Please be aware that this course is not the same as the OSHA Regulations course described below. Additionally, this course cannot be registered for or purchased online.

Instructor: Gail Scarola-Villanueva
Format: Live
Credits: 15 hours
Pre-approved through: March 29, 2012

When is this course offered? ¦ Registration form

Managing Stress in the Dental Office

In an ideal world we would all be stress free. Unfortunately, we are subject to daily stress in both our professional and our personal lives. This course discusses personality characteristics and how they relate to our understanding of stress. It expands upon strategies that people regularly employ for dealing with stress. These strategies are then applied to some of the specific stressors found in a dental office. The course ends with a list of over twenty specific stress reducing techniques.

Author: Mark Scarola
Format: Home study
Credits: 1 hour
Price: $30
Pre-approved through: June 24, 2013

Purchase online ¦ Registration form

OSHA Regulations

This course is an interactive lecture that lists and reviews all the requirements necessary to help make your office OSHA complaint. Participants will receive a list of requirements and updates that need to be made to your office's infection control training manual and engage in a discussion concerning current OSHA standards. It does not however provide the specific OSHA requirements and updates. Our updated and pre-designed infection control training manual may be purchased separately by contacting our office.

Additionally, the program will cover the current CDC guidelines, as required by the NJ State Board of Dentistry. Those in attendance will receive copies of the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and the Hazardous Communications Standard.

Whether taken live or as a home study, this course is an opportunity for an individual or group of individuals to meet the annual training and updating session requirement set by OSHA and may be ideal for anyone who was out sick or otherwise unavailable when your office held their own annual training.

While it provides the annual training and updating requirement set by OSHA, it may also be taken simply for the CDE credits (if for example you are not currently employed at an office). In other words, you'll meet the OSHA requirement and earn 4 clinical CDE hours even if you're only after one or the other.

This course is not the same as our Infection Control course designed to help people work towards obtaining a CDA

certificate, which can also be taken for 15 clinical CDE hours as described above.

The OSHA Regulations program can be confusing as it is offered in a variety of formats including at your office, at Dental Assistant Services (DAS), and as a home study. Please click here for a more details. The format described here is only for individuals who wants to attend in person at DAS or take the course as a home study.

Please note: If you use the registration form please be sure to specify whether you are interested in the live course or the home study version.

Instructor/Author: Gail Scarola-Villanueva
Format: Live and home study
Credits: 4 hours
Price: Varies
Pre-approved through: May 16, 2014

When is this course offered? ¦ Register or purchase online ¦ Registration form

Understanding the Apprehensive Patient

Studies have reported that as many as 80% of adults in the United States are apprehensive about receiving dental treatment, with 5-10% of adults avoiding dental treatment entirely, simply because of fear. This apprehension can cause patients potentially severe levels of both stress and anxiety. It can also lead to patients risking their dental and physical health, not showing up for their scheduled appointments, and more challenging/ longer appointments if and when they do show up.

In this course, students are encouraged to develop greater levels of empathy and understanding for their patients and to experience the dental procedure as their patient would. Students are taught simple and specific techniques to help reduce patient anxiety in both children and adults.

Author: Mark Scarola
Format: Home study
Credits: 3 hours
Price: $90
Pre-approved through: June 24, 2013

Purchase online ¦ Registration form

Registration & Payment Options:

All CDE courses (live and home-study) may be purchased in one of three ways:

Complete a registration form that you can print out and mail in with a personal check or money order.
Come by our office in person with your completed registration form. You then have the option of paying by check, money order, credit card, or cash. Click here for our hours. You may want to call in advance to make sure that someone will be around to process your payment when you stop in.
Purchase online through PayPal using a credit card or PayPal account. You do not need to already have a PayPal account or register for one in order to buy online. The Expanded Functions and Infection Control courses however, cannot be registered for or purchased online. Please use a registration form (accessed above) and one of the first two options listed here.

The DANB-Approved Logo is a trademark of the Dental Assisting National Board, Inc. (DANB) and is used under license. “Approved for DANB CDE Credit” indicates that a continuing education course meets certain specifications set forth by DANB for approval of continuing education courses and that credits earned upon completion of this course may be used to meet DANB’s Recertification Requirements. DANB does not, however, endorse or recommend any particular continuing dental education course or course sponsor.

Move your cursor over the logo to the right for a larger image.