Dental Assisting Professional Certificate

A Professional Certificate in Dental Assisting is awarded upon successful completion of the program.

The Allied Dental Education Program's Dental Assisting Course is the only Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association accredited Program in the State of New Hampshire. The one year program offers students an excellent opportunity to become involved in a health care profession as a member of the dental team in private dental offices, public dental clinics, and institutions.

The dental assistant must possess knowledge of procedures and practices in patient care, laboratory work, and office management. The Dental Assisting Program emphasizes clinical training in the campus clinic and in private dental offices. Theoretical courses are enhanced by laboratory experiences, and students perfect their clinical skills working in a variety of dental offices including general and specialty practices.

Students in the dental assisting program may be exposed to infectious disease and bloodborne pathogens. For this reason, students receive intensive training in the mechanisms of infection control to protect themselves, their co-workers, and the office clientele. NHTI follows the guide lines of OSHA and the CDC.

As a pre-clinical requirement, students will be required to undergo a criminal background check and drug and alcohol screening. No student will be exempt from this process. Students are provided with procedural and cost information subsequent to admission to the dental assisting program and are responsible for all costs associated with these testing procedures.

Prior to enrollment students are required to provide documentation of certification in CPR course that includes infant, child, and adult CPR with AED training; current medical insurance; a complete physical examination; and documentation of current immunizations . Professional liability insurance is available through the college and automatically charged to the student's account.

This program is financial aid eligible. To be eligible for federal financial aid, students must submit an official final high school transcript, or the equivalent documentation that demonstrates high school completion, to the NHTI Admissions Office. Students may also apply for admission into the Health Sciences Program and, with an additional year of study, receive degrees of Associate in Science with majors in Health Science.

Dental Assisting Mission, Goals & Competencies (PDF or contact (603) 271-7149.)

Gainful Employment Disclosure Statement

Transfer Information

• Transferring to other institutions
• Transferring to NHTI

Specific Admission Requirements

1. A course in high school science (biology or chemistry), or the equivalent, must have been completed with a minimum grade of “C”;
2. An informational group interview with the Dental Admissions Committee is required; qualified candidates will be contacted after the deadline to arrange an interview;
3. Observe professional practices in a dental office for a period of not less than twenty (20) hours; please submit the completed Observation Form to the NHTI Admissions Office no later than the application deadline listed above; the form is available in PDF or call the Admissions Office at (603)271-7134.

Internship Considerations

NHTI has developed excellent practicum opportunities for our students to foster hands-on learning while simultaneously receiving credit. Nonetheless, the college's first priority must be to ensure that patients/clients/children/families are not placed in jeopardy by students during learning experiences. Therefore, students in internship, externship, practicum, service learning, and clinical experiences must demonstrate sufficient emotional stability to withstand the stresses, uncertainties and changing circumstances that characterize patient/client/child/family responsibilities. Furthermore, the student is expected to have the emotional stability required to exercise sound judgment, accept direction and guidance from a supervisor or faculty member, and establish rapport and maintain sensitive interpersonal relationships and confidentiality with employees, customers, and/or patients/clients/children and their families.

Health, Character and Technical Standards
Technical standards have been established as a guidance tool for use in realistically informing the student of minimum standards needed to satisfactorily function in the program and ultimately in the profession. Applicants who feel they may not be able to meet one or more of the technical standards listed below should contact the program officials to discuss individual cases. The program officials will seriously consider all academically qualified candidates providing that the technical standards can be met with reasonable accommodations.

Applicants must be in good physical and mental health in order to qualify for the program to include:

1. Sitting at chairside for a sustained length of time with frequent reaching and turning;
2. Manual dexterity to safely perform intraoral instrumentation;
3. Sufficient hearing to assess patient needs;
4. Sufficient eyesight to observe patients, operate dental equipment, including x-ray machines; visual acuity (correctable) to work with small measurements in preparing and manipulating dental materials.

Use of Computers in the Allied Dental Education Programs
Allied Dental Education students will be using computers throughout their programs. Faculty will be instructing them in the application of dental software, as well as the use of conventional software to generate papers, do oral presentations and spreadsheets. To make this process easier for students, it is strongly recommended that they have a good working knowledge of computers before entering the program. Computer literacy courses, such as IT 102, are available through the college.

# major field courses.
* May be taken in the Spring or Summer semester.

Please note: All students enrolled in a clinical course will be charged a $350 per semester clinical surcharge. The following courses carry this charge: DN 191 and DN 196.

CL - Number of lecture/classroom hours per week for the course
LAB - Number of simulation laboratory, laboratory or clinical hours per week for the course
CR - Number of credit hours for the course

Revised: 25 Jan 2012

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