How to Become a Dental Assistant in North Carolina

What you can do from day one

A Dental Assistant I in North Carolina works under a dentist's control with basic supportive duties and no formal credential required, which is how most people enter.

A Dental Assistant II can perform a much wider set of duties, listed in 21 NCAC 16H .0203, including impressions, matrix bands and wedges, cavity liners and bases, temporary restorations, retraction cord, suture removal, and orthodontic duties, all under the dentist's direct control and supervision. Radiography is not one of the things you have to wait for; see below. There are four routes into DA II under 21 NCAC 16H .0104: a CODA-accredited dental assisting program, one full school year of a CODA-accredited dental hygiene program, passing the DANB Certified Dental Assistant examination, or two years as a DA I totalling at least 3,000 hours within five years plus a three hour sterilization and infection control course and a three hour dental office emergencies course. Current CPR is required either way.

The X-ray rule in North Carolina

Radiography does not belong to the DA II level. Under 21 NCAC 16H .0201 a Dental Assistant I may expose radiographs once the radiology training in G.S. 90-29(c)(12) is done, which is the same requirement that applies at DA II. The statute gives three ways to satisfy it: hold DANB certification, complete an accredited dental assisting or hygiene program, or pass a board-recognized equivalency examination backed by seven hours of instruction in the production and use of dental X-rays plus a clinical dental radiology program of at least seven hours. North Carolina issues no X-ray permit or card for any of these.

The North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners publishes the exact DA II qualification routes in 21 NCAC 16H .0104. Check them before enrolling in anything, because the experience route takes two years and 3,000 hours while passing the DANB Certified Dental Assistant examination can get you there sooner. The board does not certify or register assistants at either level, so it is your employer who verifies that you meet the classification.

The fastest realistic path

Step 1: Prepare, get hired as a DA I, and start counting the experience that qualifies you for DA II.

Step 2: Complete the radiology training first, since it is what lets you take X-rays as a DA I, then keep accumulating the hours toward DA II.

Step 3: Step up to DA II duties and pay, then consider national certification as your career grows.

Common questions