Dental Assisting Programs in Georgia
Georgia has 10 CODA-accredited dental assisting programs, in 10 cities from Albany to Valdosta.
Each is listed below with its city, address, website, and current accreditation status, pulled directly from the Commission on Dental Accreditation's own program directory.
This list covers only CODA-accredited programs — what Georgia itself requires before you can work chairside is a separate question from accreditation, covered on our dental assistant requirements guide.
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At a glance
In Georgia
Programs
10
With a program
Cities
10
Approval without Reporting Requirements
Fully approved
9 of 10
Every CODA-Accredited Program in Georgia
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
CODA uses a few specific status terms. "Approval (without reporting requirements)" means the program meets or exceeds CODA's basic accreditation standards. "Approval (with reporting requirements)" means CODA found specific deficiencies the program must correct within a set timeframe — it is not a warning to avoid the program, just a compliance step in progress. "Initial Accreditation" applies to a program that hasn't yet graduated its first class.
One program below, Lanier Technical College in Gainesville, carries a fourth status: "Teach-Out." In CODA's own words, that means the program "is in the process of voluntarily terminating its accreditation due to a planned discontinuance or program closure," and CODA monitors it only until the students already enrolled finish — it is not accepting new students, unlike the rest of the programs listed below. The last- and next-visit years shown are CODA's own accreditation-visit schedule, not the program's academic calendar.
For admissions, cost, and current status, contact the program directly and check CODA's own directory, which is the definitive, up-to-date source.
Why Accreditation Matters for Your Credential
Whether Georgia requires formal dental assistant training at all is a matter of state law — see our dental assistant requirements guide rather than anything here.
What CODA accreditation does affect is your national certification path: the DANB Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) credential's General Chairside component requires either graduating a CODA-accredited program or documenting roughly 3,500 hours of on-the-job experience.
If you're still weighing which route to take, see our school vs. on-the-job training comparison, our step-by-step guide to becoming a dental assistant, and our breakdown of what's tested on the DANB CDA exam.
After Graduation in Georgia
Once you've completed a program — or an on-the-job path, where the state allows it — the next questions are what the job pays and where the openings are.
Our Georgia dental assistant salary guide covers current pay data for the state, broken out against the national figures, so you can see how Georgia compares before you negotiate an offer.
From there, browse current dental assistant openings to see what practices are actually hiring for right now.
Where Georgia's Programs Are
Georgia's 10 programs sit at technical colleges spread across the state rather than clustered in one metro area — Albany, Athens, Augusta, Calhoun, Columbus, Gainesville, Lawrenceville, Savannah, Statesboro and Valdosta each have one.
That spread puts a program within reach of most of the state, from the Atlanta suburbs (Lawrenceville) to the coast (Savannah) and south Georgia (Valdosta, Albany, Statesboro).
One exception: the Gainesville program, Lanier Technical College, is in Teach-Out status and is not admitting new students — see "Reading the List" above before counting on it as an option.
Check the table above for the specific address and website nearest you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many CODA-accredited dental assisting programs are in Georgia?
Georgia has 10 CODA-accredited dental assisting programs, in 10 cities: Albany, Athens, Augusta, Calhoun, Columbus, Gainesville, Lawrenceville, Savannah, Statesboro and Valdosta.
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 an out-of-state CODA-accredited program count in Georgia?
Yes.
CODA accreditation is a national standard, not a state one, so a program accredited by CODA counts regardless of which state it's located in.
What varies by state is licensure and any credentialing rules the state itself sets — see our dental assistant requirements guide for that side of the picture.
What does "Approval without Reporting Requirements" mean?
It's CODA's classification for a program that meets or exceeds its basic accreditation standards at the time of its last review, with no outstanding deficiencies to report.
It is CODA's most straightforward status, distinct from "Approval (with reporting requirements)," which flags specific items a program must still address within a set timeframe.
Do I have to attend a CODA-accredited program to work as a dental assistant in Georgia?
That depends on Georgia's own rules for the role, which this page doesn't cover — see our dental assistant requirements guide and our school vs. on-the-job training guide for how the state's options compare.
CODA accreditation is most relevant to the DANB CDA certification's eligibility requirements, not to state law generally.
What does it mean that the Gainesville program is in "Teach-Out" status?
Lanier Technical College's program is voluntarily closing.
CODA's own definition: the program "is in the process of voluntarily terminating its accreditation due to a planned discontinuance or program closure," and CODA monitors it only until the students already enrolled finish.
In practice, that means it isn't accepting new students — confirm current enrollment status directly with the program or CODA before applying.
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 Georgia & 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.