An oral surgery assistant is a dental assistant working chairside for an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, where anesthesia and sedation are part of nearly every visit.
The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) offers a certification built for that setting — DAANCE — but it doesn't change who's authorized to administer anesthesia: that's still the dentist's job, not the assistant's.
The short answer
An oral surgery assistant is a dental assistant working chairside for an oral and maxillofacial surgeon (OMS) — a setting where anesthesia and sedation come up in nearly every visit, not as an occasional add-on.
AAOMS offers a certification built for exactly that environment: the Dental Anesthesia Assistant National Certification Exam, or DAANCE.
DAANCE certifies knowledge around anesthesia assisting and patient monitoring — it does not authorize a dental assistant to administer anesthesia.
That answer doesn't change with this certification: as our guide on whether a dental assistant can administer anesthesia or sedation covers, administering local anesthetic injections, sedation, or general anesthesia stays the dentist's job everywhere.
DAANCE sits alongside that rule, not against it.
DAANCE is a knowledge certification, not a scope-of-practice authorization
What the role adds over general chairside
The clinical mix in an OMS practice looks different from a general dentist's office.
Alongside dentoalveolar surgery — extractions, including wisdom teeth — and procedures like implant placement, sedation and general anesthesia come up routinely rather than occasionally, because many oral surgery cases call for a deeper level of sedation than a general practice typically offers.
That shifts what an assistant spends the day doing.
Anesthesia-adjacent support — preparing the room and monitoring equipment, and helping the surgeon move through pre-operative and recovery routines around a sedated or anesthetized patient — is a bigger, more constant part of the job than in general chairside assisting.
What an assistant is actually authorized to do around that patient, including any monitoring role, is set by the state dental practice act, not by a job description or a certification; see our state-by-state dental assistant requirements for what your state's board actually authorizes.
What DAANCE actually is
DAANCE — the Dental Anesthesia Assistant National Certification Exam — is, in AAOMS's own description, "a two-part continuing education program comprised of approximately 36 hours of self-study material and quizzes and a standardized, computer-based exam." The exam itself is "a two-hour, computerized exam" offered at "more than 100 testing sites."
The exam scores 100 items across five content areas, weighted as AAOMS publishes them:
| Content area | Items |
|---|---|
| Basic sciences | 15 |
| Evaluate and prepare the patient | 20 |
| Assist in administration of anesthetic drugs | 18 |
| Anesthesia equipment and patient monitoring | 22 |
| Emergency treatment and protocols | 25 |
Basic sciences, patient evaluation, and assisting with anesthetic-drug administration make up over half the exam; equipment, monitoring, and emergency protocols make up the rest — a spread that tracks what the role leans on day to day.
Who's eligible to sit for the exam
AAOMS sets two eligibility conditions before you can register.
As AAOMS states it, a candidate must be "employed for at least six months by either an AAOMS fellow/member, or by a dental professional who holds a valid anesthesia permit," and must be "CPR, BLS or ACLS certified."
Both conditions are about where and how you've already been working — six months under an AAOMS-affiliated or permit-holding practice, plus a current life-support certification.
AAOMS's published eligibility criteria don't add a program, school, or prior credential requirement beyond those two.
Does DAANCE change what you're allowed to do?
No. Earning DAANCE is a certification of knowledge, not a change in legal scope.
AAOMS says so directly: "This certification exam may or may not be regulated in your state." AAOMS doesn't name which states do regulate it, and this page doesn't either — that's a question only your state dental board can answer for where you work.
Concretely: DAANCE doesn't authorize a dental assistant to administer anesthesia, and AAOMS's published materials don't attach a pay premium to it or set a recertification interval.
What it demonstrates is that you've studied and tested on the anesthesia-assisting and monitoring knowledge an OMS assistant relies on — a credential for your resume, not a change to who's authorized to do what.
How to confirm your state's rule
Your state dental board — not AAOMS, and not this page — defines what a dental assistant may do around anesthesia and sedation in an oral surgery setting, including any monitoring role.
Our state-by-state dental assistant requirements is the place to start; where it and your board differ, the board is the authority.
This article is general career information, not legal or medical advice. Anesthesia-assisting scope, monitoring rules, and whether DAANCE is recognized in your state vary and change over time — confirm current requirements with your state dental board.