Dental Assistant
Services

News & Information

Articles:

New Certifications Coming Next Year
CPR No Longer Counts Towards CDE Credits Requirements
CPDA is Renamed CPFDA
Discontinuance of CDE Course Approvals
Additional Expanded Functions Approved in NJ
Government Phase-Down of Amalgam Use
Introducing a new DANB Credential: The CPDA Certificate

New Certifications Coming Next Year

January 24^th, 2012

Two additional DANB certifications are expected in 2013. For dental assistants new to the field there will be an Entry-Level Dental Assistant (ELDA ) credential, and for more experienced assistants a Certified Restorative Functions Dental Assistant (CRFDA ) credential is also planned. The intention of these additional credentials is to further develop and expand the dental assisting profession.

A concrete date for the new credentials has not yet been announced, and with it still being early in 2012 changes and/or adjustments to the current plans may be possible. As always, Dental Assistant Services will keep you apprised of any updates.

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CPR No Longer Counts Towards CDE Credits Requirements

January 24^th, 2012

With the new year came some changes to the DANB Recertification Requirements. Whether certificants (credentialed dental assistants) realize it or not, there are a number of categories that describe the different ways by which a person can collect continuing dental education credits, also known as CDE credits. One of the changes is that some categories have been combined and the total number of categories has decreased to four.

Perhaps the most significant change impacting your recertification requirements is a change made with respect to the CPR requirement. Having an active certification in Cardiovascular Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) was previously and still remains a requirement in order to maintain your CDA or other DANB certification. However, CPR courses will no longer count towards the required number of CDE credits.

So to clarify, if for example you have a CDA certificate that you are looking to renew you will need to complete the following three requirements:

(1) Pay the annual renewal fee
(2) Maintain a current CPR certification
(3) Earn 12 CDE credits (not including CPR)

Additional DANB certifications (e.g. COA , CPFDA ) may carry additional recertification requirements. One more change to the recertification requirements is an increase in the renewal fees, which now begin at $60. These changes went into effect on January 1, 2012.

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CPDA is Renamed CPFDA

January 21^th, 2012

On April 1, 2011 a new DANB certification went into effect. The Certified Preventative Dental Assistant (or CPDA ) certificate was designed to show proficiency in four task areas: coronal polishing, topical fluoride application, sealant application, and topical anesthetics application. Dental Assistant Services posted an article back in April of last year explaining that New Jersey based dental assistants are not permitted to do coronal polishing (prophy), as per the NJ State Board of Dentistry. For this reason, the certification is essentially not applicable in the state of NJ.

It was recently announced that for the sake of clarification, the CPDA certification would be renamed. Now called the Certified Preventive Functions Dental Assistant (or CPFDA ) certification, the CPFDA is otherwise the same credential as the CPDA. It still requires the same four exams in order to show proficiency in the four areas listed above. Additional information about this certificate, including links to the DANB website is available here.

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Discontinuance of CDE Course Approvals

August 12^th, 2011

Individuals in the dental assisting field are familiar with the various DANB certifications; most notable to New Jersey dental assistants is that they offer a CDA certificate. In order to maintain a valid CDA certificate it must be renewed annually. As part of the renewal process you are required to collect 12 continuing dental education (CDE) credits each year. While you are not required to submit evidence of your CDE credits each year, certain individuals may be randomly audited. Those certificants who are chosen to be audited must then submit the following documentation:

Your name
Your certification number
The name of the course sponsor (e.g. if you take one of our CDE courses, Dental Assistant Services would be the sponsor)
The course date
The course title
A description of the material in the course
The number of credits earned

While nobody may want to be audited, inevitably some people will be audited. Traditionally to assure that your collected credits would pass an audit, providers (or sponsors) such as Dental Assistant Services could in advance obtain DANB approval for the CDE courses they wanted to offer. Sponsors could then advertise not only that they offered a CDE course, but that they offered a CDE course that was approved by the same agency responsible for establishing the criteria that determines what makes for an acceptable course.

As of July 2011, advance DANB approval for CDE courses will no longer be provided. That is, CDE course sponsors can no longer ask for pre-approval of courses that they may like to offer to the public. Courses however that have already been approved will continue to be recognized until their respective expiration dates.

It was emphasized that DANB's decision to no longer pre-approve CDE courses does not mean that they will not accept CDE courses provided by Dental Assistant Services and other entities for the purposes of renewing your credentials, but rather that sponsors will no longer be permitted to advertise that their courses have DANB approval.

Put another way, CDE courses will still be required and accepted for renewing a dental credentials, but pre-approval and advertising of CDE courses as having DANB approval will not continue.

In addition, a number of other changes and requirements with respect to how DANB trademarks, service marks, and certification marks can be used have been implemented. This includes what parts of speech that DANB marks can and cannot be used in, as well as how they can and cannot be used in a sentence. As such you will likely notice specific terminology and phraseology being used along with additional disclaimers when and wherever references to DANB marks are made. This would include the footnotes (crosses or daggers) that are present throughout this site.

So what then is a person who holds a DANB certificate supposed to do in order to assure that their CDE courses will be accepted and that their certification will be renewed and continue to be valid?

A recent DANB statement explained that people have mistakenly believed that they approve course sponsors (as opposed to specific courses), that DANB approval reflects the quality of a course, and/or that certificants may only take CDE courses that have been pre-approved. DANB's statement continues that certificants may take any CDE course that relates to the practice of dentistry or dental assisting for the purpose of renewing a certificate so long as the course meets their Recertification Requirements.

This means that certificants will now have to take a more active approach to determining which CDE courses they should take. In essence the recertification policies include the following:

The course must relate to dentistry or dental assisting. If you are unsure about the relevancy of a particular course you're considering taking, DANB's suggestion is that you to contact them directly. Their contact information is available on the right side of their homepage towards the bottom.
Courses must be a minimum of 45 minutes long.
CDE credits are valid for two years after you take the course.

For the full list of recertification policies, please see page four of their Recertification Requirements. Worth noting is that you will be granted a three month grace period if you do not meet all of your renewal requirements by the expiration date before you are denied permission to continue calling yourself a certificant (certificate holder).

Specifically with respect to CPR certification, DANB approval does not extend to specific providers of CPR courses. Instead they have established a list of pre-approved providers. If you take a course that is offered in conjunction with one of these pre-approved providers, then a copy of your CPR card will be considered acceptable if asked to document your CPR certification. The full list of approved CPR providers can be seen on page seven of their Recertification Requirements.

We realize that all of this information may be difficult to follow and it is certainly very important with respect to your career. If you should have any questions, please feel free to call our office at 732-919-1816. You may also call them directly. DANB's number is 1-800-367-3262.

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NJ State Board of Dentistry Approves of Additional Expanded Functions

July 23^rd, 2011

Dental Assistant Services would like to clarify the following. As of February of this year (2011) New Jersey Registered Dental Assistants (RDAs) can apply topical anesthesia, apply fluorides, and apply pit and fissure sealants as they relate to the prevention of oral disease and discomfort. However, RDAs cannot perform prophylaxis. Please click here and scroll down to pages 30-10 and 30-11 (items 23 and 34) to see the law itself directly from the NJ State Board of Dentistry's "Dentistry Regulations" (13:30-2.4).

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Government Phase-Down of Amalgam Use

June 10^th, 2011

In the past few years the United Nations Environmental Programme has met and discussed the use of mercury (in all forms). In 2009 it was agreed that an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee would be developed to create a legally binding agreement between nations regarding the trade and use of mercury. Specific goals included reducing the supply of mercury, reducing the amount of mercury traded between nations, reducing atmospheric emissions of mercury, enhancing environmentally sound storage of mercury, and enhancing public awareness around potential mercury toxicity.

While these meetings were not exclusively focused on dental amalgam, its use was included in their discussions as a mercury containing product.

In early 2011, many opponents of dental amalgam use began speaking up about what is being called a "government phase down" of the use of mercury-based amalgams. As an example, Charles G. Brown, the President of the World Alliance of Mercury-Free Dentistry, is cited on April 5^th, 2011 as saying:

In an extraordinary development that will change the global debate about amalgam, the United States government has announced that it supports a “phase down, with the goal of eventual phase out by all Parties, of mercury amalgam”... [With this announcement] the U.S. speaks up for protecting children and the unborn from amalgam, recommending that the nations “educate patients and parents in order to protect children and fetuses”... [and] for the human right of every patient and parent to make educated decisions about amalgam. (Source: The Center for Natural Dentistry)

Much of the information made available to the public about this phase down is based primarily on commentary and/or incomplete information, while the US government's actual and specific statements and intentions appear less readily available. Below is a brief summary of the actual statements made by both the United Nations and the United States.

Tooth with an amalgam filling At their January 2011 meeting in Japan, the United Nations Environmental Programme reported that "representatives of non-governmental organizations on dental amalgam expressed support for a reduction in the use of amalgam in dentistry while acknowledging that its elimination was not feasible. Research into and development of alternatives to dental amalgam was suggested."

Later on, the recently formed United States Mercury Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) put out a report indicating that they support "the development of a comprehensive, legally-binding instrument on mercury that will significantly reduce global mercury use and releases and improve the global environment... The United States is providing these comments to give further clarity or additional information on specific elements".

In this report they specifically address dental amalgam by stating that, "The United States supports further consideration of dental amalgam by the INC such that the agreement is able to achieve the phase down, with the goal of eventual phase out by all Parties, of mercury amalgam upon the development and availability of affordable, viable alternatives... Such a paragraph could commit Parties to phase down the use of mercury amalgam or address mercury releases through conducting and promoting further research on alternatives, mandating the use of separators in dental offices, promoting and incentivizing prevention strategies, educating patients and parents in order to protect children and fetuses, and training of dental professionals on the environmental impacts of mercury in dental amalgams." (Source: The United Nations Environment Programme)

In other words, while the anti-mercury movement is promoting the fact that the United States government has decided to work towards phasing down the use of dental amalgam, what is often left out is that there is no set timeline for when this will occur. The government has basically stated that they would like to stop using mercury, but only when they determine that suitable and affordable alternatives are available.

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Introducing a new DANB Credential: The CPDA Certificate

April 5^th, 2011

The CPDA certificate or Certified Preventive Dental Assistant certificate is a newly offered DANB certification. The CPDA certificate is a newly offered credential that went into effect on April 1, 2011. The CPDA certificate shows proficiency in four task areas: coronal polishing, topical fluoride application, sealant application, and topical anesthetics application. According to the NJ State Board of Dentistry no New Jersey based dental assistant is permitted to do coronal polishing (prophy). The other three tasks (fluoride application, sealant application, and topical application) can all be performed by an RDA. Thus in the state of New Jersey, the CPDA certificate is essentially not applicable. Click here for additional information about the CPDA credential.

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