Dental Assistant Requirements in Pennsylvania: Registration, X-Ray Rules & Allowed Duties

The chapter licenses dentists and dental hygienists and separately certifies expanded function dental assistants; only a certificate holder may practice as an EFDA in the Commonwealth.

It defines a broader category, auxiliary personnel, as anyone who performs dental supportive procedures under a dentist's general or direct supervision, but that category is not itself a licensed or certified title.

A candidate for EFDA certification must show graduation from a Board-approved EFDA program at a 2-year college offering an Associate Degree, graduation from a dental hygiene school with at least 75 hours of clinical and didactic instruction in restorative functions, or completion of a Board-approved EFDA certificate or diploma program with at least 200 hours of clinical and didactic instruction, then pass a written examination acceptable to the Board.

The application fee was $110 effective November 5, 2022, rising to $120 on July 1, 2025 and $132 on July 1, 2027.

Separately, the biennial renewal fee is $31 for the April 1, 2023-March 31, 2025 period, $37 for the 2025-2027 renewal period, and $44 for the 2027-2029 period and thereafter.

The chapter's general definitions distinguish direct supervision, where the dentist examines the patient, authorizes the procedure, and is physically present and available in the facility, from general supervision, where the dentist need not be physically present.

For expanded function dental assistants specifically, the practice section defines direct supervision more narrowly: the dentist must be in the office, personally diagnose and authorize the procedure, remain in the office while it is performed, and personally evaluate the completed work before the patient is dismissed.

Under direct supervision, an EFDA may place and remove rubber dams, matrices and wedges; apply cavity liners and bases; place and condense amalgam restorations and carve and contour them; place and finish composite resin restorations or sealant material; perform coronal polishing as defined in the chapter; perform fluoride treatments including fluoride varnish; and take impressions of teeth for study models, diagnostic casts or athletic appliances.

Every one of these services must be performed under the dentist's direct supervision.

The chapter's own EFDA scope-of-practice list does not include exposing radiographs; radiography is governed separately for auxiliary personnel generally.

Auxiliary personnel who have passed the radiologic procedure examination the Board has adopted — defined as the Radiation Health and Safety examination administered by DANB — may perform radiologic procedures on the premises of a dentist under the dentist's direct supervision, and the dentist must be on the premises when the procedure is performed, though not required to personally observe it.

An expanded function dental assistant is barred outright from administering local anesthesia, parenteral or inhalational sedation, nitrous oxide analgesia or general anesthesia.

Separately, for a dentist's sedation permit, auxiliary personnel who assist in administering general anesthesia, deep sedation or conscious sedation must be trained for the duties delegated to them, perform only under the permitholder's direct on-premises supervision, not go beyond the scope of the permitholder's authority, and hold current BLS certification; they may not perform duties that require the permitholder's own professional judgment or that involve actually administering the anesthesia or sedation.

An expanded function dental assistant must complete 10 hours of continuing education each biennial period, compared with 30 for dentists and 20 for dental hygienists, and 2 of those hours must be in approved child abuse recognition and reporting courses.

Unless exempt, an EFDA must also complete 3 of the 10 hours in coronal polishing, in a hands-on clinical course rather than video, online or distance education; assistants who are also licensed dental hygienists, or who completed coronal-polishing coursework in a Board-approved EFDA program after June 28, 2010, are exempt from that specific requirement.