Dental Assisting Programs in Alabama
Alabama has 5 CODA-accredited dental assisting programs, located in Bay Minette, Bessemer, Decatur, Hanceville and Montgomery.
Each program is listed below with its city, address, website, and current accreditation status, pulled directly from the Commission on Dental Accreditation's own program directory.
CODA accreditation is a national credential, distinct from any training requirement Alabama itself sets for working as a dental assistant in the state.
Verify before you apply
At a glance
In Alabama
Programs
5
With a program
Cities
5
Approval without Reporting Requirements
Fully approved
5 of 5
Every CODA-Accredited Program in Alabama
Source: CODA program directory, index dated 2026-09-09. Status terms (“Approval without Reporting Requirements,” “Approval with Reporting Requirements,” “Initial Accreditation,” “Discontinued,” etc.) are CODA’s own.
Reading the List Below
The status shown for each program is CODA's own classification. "Approval (without reporting requirements)" means the program meets or exceeds CODA's basic accreditation standards. "Approval (with reporting requirements)" means CODA identified specific deficiencies that the program must document correcting within a set timeframe — it isn't a signal to avoid the program. "Initial Accreditation" applies to a program that hasn't yet enrolled and graduated its first class.
The accreditation visit years listed are CODA's own review schedule for the program, not a measure of how long the program itself takes to complete.
For admissions, cost, and curriculum details, contact the program directly and confirm current accreditation status with CODA.
CODA Accreditation and the DANB CDA
Graduating from a CODA-accredited program is one of two recognized paths to sitting for the DANB Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) exam's General Chairside component, alongside roughly 3,500 hours of documented on-the-job experience.
Whether Alabama itself requires formal training, a state credential, or neither to work chairside as a dental assistant is a matter of state law — see our Alabama dental assistant requirements guide for what the state requires.
For the general tradeoffs between a CODA-accredited program and on-the-job training, see school vs. on-the-job training, our step-by-step guide to becoming a dental assistant, and what's tested on the DANB CDA exam.
After Graduation in Alabama
A CODA-accredited program is a credentialing step, not a job guarantee.
Program completion generally moves you toward the DANB CDA and any state-specific credential Alabama requires, but pay and hiring outcomes depend on the employer, the market, and what credentials and expanded functions you bring beyond graduation itself.
Once you've completed a program and met whatever credentialing Alabama requires, see our Alabama dental assistant salary guide for what the role pays in the state, broken down by percentile and compared with the national figure.
From there, browse current dental assistant openings in Alabama to see what practices in the state are actually hiring for right now.
Where Alabama's Programs Are
Alabama's five CODA-accredited dental assisting programs are spread across the state rather than clustered in one metro area, with programs in Bay Minette on the Gulf Coast, Bessemer and Montgomery in central Alabama, and Decatur and Hanceville in the north.
That geographic spread means most applicants have a program within reasonable driving distance rather than needing to relocate to the state's largest metro areas.
It's also worth knowing that community colleges make up the state's entire dental assisting program list — a pattern that holds across much of the CODA directory nationwide, since two-year colleges are a common home for allied dental training.
Contact a program directly to confirm its service area, campus location, and whether it accepts applicants from outside its home district.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many CODA-accredited dental assisting programs are in Alabama?
Alabama has 5 CODA-accredited dental assisting programs, located in Bay Minette, Bessemer, Decatur, Hanceville and Montgomery.
Each is listed above with its current CODA accreditation status, address and website.
CODA's own directory is the definitive, up-to-date list — confirm a program's status directly with CODA before applying.
Does a program have to be in Alabama to count toward working there?
No. CODA accreditation is a national standard, not a state-specific one, so a CODA-accredited program from any state satisfies the "CODA-accredited" portion of a credential regardless of where you attend.
What Alabama itself requires to work as a dental assistant in the state — including whether formal training is mandatory at all — is a separate question; see our Alabama dental assistant requirements page for that.
What does "Approval with reporting requirements" mean for an applicant?
It means CODA identified specific deficiencies in the program that must be corrected and documented within a set timeframe — it does not mean the program has lost accreditation or that its graduates are ineligible for certification.
If you're weighing a program with this status, ask the program directly about the deficiencies and the timeline for resolving them, and check CODA's directory for the program's current, up-to-date status before applying.
How do I check a program's current accreditation status?
CODA's own program directory at coda.ada.org is the authoritative, continuously updated source — the status shown on this page reflects a point-in-time snapshot.
Before applying or enrolling, confirm the program's current status directly with CODA or with the program itself.
Is every program on this list accredited?
Every program above is shown with the CODA accreditation status CODA had published for it as of 2026-09-09, the date this directory was last pulled from CODA's own program search. "Approval without Reporting Requirements" is CODA's standard fully-accredited standing; other status terms on this page — such as "Approval with Reporting Requirements," "Initial Accreditation," or "Discontinued" — mean something different, and a status can change after that date.
Confirm a program's current status directly with CODA before applying.
More Alabama & Dental Assistant Resources
Sourced from the CODA program directory (index dated 2026-09-09). Verified September 2026. Program details change. Confirm accreditation status, admission requirements and costs with the program and with CODA before applying.