THE EFDA RUINED THE CDA

Hi Cheyenne!!! So I’m a DA in Ohio, new grad but have been working for 9 months in the field. From my experience, there are some EFDA’s who look down on assistants as if they don’t matter unless they have a CDA or a CODA which is the Ohio certification. Basically the office will follow whatever the EFDA says, but our value is just as equal if we put in the same amount of work. I may not be able to place a filling, but I can make a temporary crown and seat permanents. Hygienists usually are the ones rooting for us new DA’s because all we want is to learn and sometimes we’re treated like the lowest of the totem pole but the reality is we really help the entire practice run smoothly. The more an assistant knows the more valuable they are. Hope this helps the convo. Great video btw!! Stay safe!

I’m in Missouri and a RDA which isn’t recognized in my state but can get my expanded functions if needed

Im a RDA in WA; we pack cord, temp crowns, prophys, place temp fillings, sealants etc. If we become CDA’s my company pays a $1.50 more. If we later become EFDA we can take final impressions, place fillings etc.

Have been a Hygienist for 35 years, and was a dental assistant in my state that has no licensing requirement for DA's, just take blood-born pathogens class and pay a fee, before that. EFDA's have been in my state for less than 10 years. When I went from DA to RDH, my wage more than doubled, so I don't think the wage disparity is new. I agree that dental assistants should be paid much more, but the employer- in most cases, the DDS- is the factor that has "ruined" the pay rate for assistants. For some reason, you and your fellow assistants, who frankly are the backbone of our practices, are not financially valued by practice managers.

Do what you love girl

Im in the process of going through DA school right now. Its a big bummer that school has sorta stopped right now. I was wondering where do you get your EFDA certificate? Do you prepare while working with your dentist and him/her showing you how certain things are done?

Hi! I just got my EFDA certification. What would you say the average wage would be for this education? More than $18 hr? I've heard many different wages so I wanted to get your input from your experience as a dental assistant. Also, I live in FL so not sure if that makes a difference.

Did you have to take a HESI Exam before you got into dental school? I am still a junior in high school but with everything going on (COVID-19), I am stressing more about my future and having to take this exam. For where I want to go to school we have to take a (HP) Admission Assessment, I just want to know if you had to take something like this, and also what you used to help you study if you had to take it???

I could literally write a BOOK on this topic. So here I go!
DANB to me- exists for no reason other than to collect money from assistants and hygienists. Every single state in the U.S has a state dental board so why isn't there a national standard of care OR why doesn't every state follow DANB rules and regulations? Assistants have to be the middle man following both systems regulations and it gets VERY CONVOLUTED (especially when you want to move states) OR you could have zero credentials and fly completely under the radar and MAYBE make less hourly?
Take me for example: I am from Ohio where I earned my CDA. Yearly CDA's are required by the state to do 12 CE hours and pay like $50 to uphold their CDA license and pay a separate fee yearly to uphold their radiography license with proof of a yearly CE course (to the state, not DANB). These functions allowed me to do exactly what Oregon considers to be EFDA. In OH I wanted to move up in my field so I went on to do an EFDA course at The Ohio State University which in OH is the equivalent of an EFDA with restorative functions here in OR where you actually pay thousands of dollars to take a course to learn to restore teeth. BTW this was a 1 day 8hr prerequisite course with a lecture and written test and assistant must place a class I amalgam on a typodont where your average score determined if you MIGHT be selected to take the actual course... I paid hundreds of dollars to take, prior to I had to have the Doctor I worked for write a letter stating I am qualified and they feel I am capable of performing these functions ect JUST TO TAKE THE PREREQ course to try and get into the actual course-- It's so hard to get accepted because they're allowing hygienists to take the course...why hygienists would need to help their practice in that function makes no sense but that's an entire other topic...
Anyway in 2018 my husband and I relocated to Oregon, they denied my credentials via DANB Pathway IV (there are multiple pathways) that cost me another couple hundred dollars to apply and get denied and said with my 6 years of experience and my OH State CDA I could not be an EFDA in Oregon without taking 2 DANB exams and paying again for another application, doing a form signed by my current employer that I am capable of performing all these functions and now here I am 2020 just paid $450 more dollars to take two Oregon board exams to earn my EFDA. All of this time and money and I literally am doing the exact same thing I did 3 years ago in another state. It has been the most frustrating and stress of my career, and has gained me no more experience! It is so unjust what Assistants have to deal with between their State dental boards and DANB, they are not on the same page and we are not earing an appropriate wage for all that we have to do to uphold what sometimes feels like meaningless credentials and work our way up in a field that we love. Basically, you're going to earn as much money hourly as the doctor you work for feels you deserve, not your state, not DANB. I am totally on your side Cheyenne!

Do a day in the life of a dental assistant quarantine edition! 😂

I graduated with my EFDA certificate and I didn’t get more money cause of it 😂 I just graduated DA school 4 months ago I know more than your average DA/someone learning on the job. I also thought if you have your CDA license that means you can also become a DA instructor/teacher 🤷🏻‍♀️.

If you are an office trained dental assistant, meaning you didn't go to school, can you get the EFTA certificate?

I’m a EFDA in PA, and we need continuing education

I feel you girl!! I’m a RDA in the state of Vermont they pay very good here 25-30 bucks a hour, what you mentioned as EFDA functions: Place cord and fabricate temporary crowns is not considered EFDA in my state, the placement of restorative is what is EFDA here.. but anyways.. I wanted to move out of state and almost every state requires to have CDA só here we go applying for DANB!! And now with all this coronavirus a lot of people are quitting they job :( sad.

Make a video about the pay rate of DA’s 😀

I’m a RDA. Took a 12 week course for basic knowledge. Had to get my finger prints taken for a background check, get a pass port photo taken, and fill out an application for the state (Texas) have to renew every 2 years. Have to have 8 hrs of CE (my company pays for it) I can’t do sealants, can only do the opposite impressions on whatever part of the mouth the appliance is being made for, if pt is getting a top partial I can only do the bottom impression. Can’t polish until I’m a RDA for 2 years and that’s another class, can get N20 monitoring certified at anytime. No certification needed to make temps or pack cord.

Everyone asks me if I'm going to "continue my education and become a hygienist or just stay an assistant." Like assisting is a bad thing. I don't like hygiene. I don't want to be a hygienist and clean peoples teeth all day. I want to stay in restorative. I feel like it is more rewarding in restorative and I am making a difference. We dont get the recognition or pay we deserve. I wish there was a national agency that fought for us. Yes, we have the ADAA but I have yet to see the difference they have made. I am an EDDA. My state doesn't recognize EFDAs.

What I learned the hard way is not everyone is your best friend, yes having nice conversations and stuff is fine but I personally am just in and out of work. I like to focus on what I do and make sure I focus on all patients instead of who’s looking down on me or what not. I feel like working in the field is harder when you just feel like everyone’s looking down on you. You just have to know you’ll always get better at what you do and there’s always new things for ALL of us to learn even including the ones with more experience than us.

Because EFDAS do way more. CDA and RDA don’t know how to do half the things that dentist or EFDA does.

I just passed my RHS test and im going to try for EFDA and there is few paths to pick which is better to have ORB or ICE? or whats the difference if you dont mind explaining

what type of restorative procedures can a EFDA do in your state? in TX we don’t really go by a EFDA guideline, we all usually just have our RDA, we can polish teeth, sealants, temp crowns/bridge, pack cord or retraction paste, suture removal, dry socket (irrigation clean out and placing paste), adjust dentures and partials, dry canals, fluoride, perform vitality tests, and do emergency dental exams with Doctor permission. In Texas we are able to do many thing, those are just some of the more intuitive things we can do alone. i love being a DA bc we can do a super wide range of stuff w/ and w/out our Doctors. and theres so much more i just named someone i knew off the top of my head, and the good thing about assisting is the more you learn and the more experienced you are the easier it is for the Doctor to just leave the opp and trust you to handle a task. and you learn so much, our patients appreciate seeing us being able to do so much as just an “assistant” i like to think of ourselves as mini dentists 🦷

I’m a RDA in Tennessee. In Tennessee RDA’s can get certified in sealants, n20, coronal polishing and radiology at my old office the assistant did everything, impressions, crown preps, packing the cord, seating crowns and etc. In Tennessee you have to have be working in a dental office for at least 2 years before we can get our EFDA and the EFDA at my old job definitely got paid more than just the RDA’s There.

I can’t wait to be an assistant i can’t wait to help the dentist and being a big help in the office that’s what would make me fulfilled !! I can understand it

Holla!! OHIO EFDA DID ruin a Certified Dental Assistant I am so happy you brought it into light💛 I stay current the laws dont require CE after EFDA.

My mind is just already overwhelmed because they don’t pay anyone enough. My office looks like the EFDAs and hygienist are better than CDAs. They have the EFDAs doing all these tasks but the attitude is “all the CDAs do is assist and X-ray”. I can see that and the pay reflects.

Simply put! they figured out away to give us more work and pay DA less.

How do you become a EFDA ? Is there a application you submit after meeting the requirements ? I looked online and I’m so confused

In California CDA is not really important. What matters is to pass the board to get license and become an RDA.

I'm in TN and we do RDA. You go through a school. Schools range from 10 Saturdays to 9 months to a year. Depending on how much time you can spend and money. As a RDA. I can make temps. You can get your N2O monitor, sealant placing and Coronal Polishing added on. You have to have those to go to Efda training. Starting out pay for a RDA is around 15 and I think efda avg is 20 per hour

So this might be an off topic question, but I live overseas in Korea and about to go through a dental assistant program through Red Cross at the military base I’m at. It doesn’t get me certified, but it does give me a leg up in the field with 500 hours worth of hands on learning. That being said, since I’m overseas, should I get my CDA, and do I have to continue more hands on learning in order to obtain that? Or is it an online test I can take through danb? Or do I wait and get my EFDA or CDA once I get back to the states? I’d like to get my CDA if possible that way I’m able to get a job once I’m back in the states. But if it requires more hours I might not be able to get while in Korea, I don’t mind waiting too much. I just don’t want to be out of practice for long after I’m done with the program.

Here in WA state I am a LICENSED EFDA (Expanded Functions Dental Auxiliary). I had to go through separate course college training and am legally able to place PERMANENT fillings and take FINAL impressions. It’s interesting how confusing the EFDA title is because in some areas EFDA is just packing cord and making temporary crowns. I had to go to college for an extra 10 months for this title on top of my CODA accredited College training in 2003 for your basic dental assistant training. I still maintain my CDA to this day for almost 15 years. In WA state there is a “distinct” EFDA license, but many can “be” EFDA but not be able to carry out the money making functions. It’s unfortunate that both have the same acronym but completely different functions.

I am an RDA in California.
It's above a CDA.
It's almost identicle to an EFDA except for 2 difference which I believe is denture soft reline, and polishing fillings.

Thank you so much for this explanation, you rock

Is the EFDA the same as an EDDA? I’m in SC and that’s what my school offers.
EDDA Expanded Duty Dental Assistant

When they add more duties for Dental Assistants they don't pay us anymore, they just have us do more work. For example, the law changed in Oregon January 2020 to allow us to do final impressions for dentures. I work in a denture office, this gave me me a lot more work with no more pay. So it wasn't that exciting for me that this law changed. LOL

You get the RDA when you complete a dental program. You get CDA after you pass the state boards test . EFDAs just a higher title than DA

RDA here now studying for RDAEF2 ❤️

I live in PA- EFDA here. I can place permanent fillings, temporary fillings, sealants, coronal polishing, temporary crowns, pack cord. I do have an EFDA license & take CE courses. I’m my opinion well in PA- we do WAY MORE than hygienists. They literally clean teeth & go home. In my office Hygiensts have their own assistants that takes their X-rays, clean their rooms/ instruments/chart/apply flourish/bleaching.

What an EFDA does is an RDA in California.. in CA an EF2 allows you to place indirect/direct restoration, take master impression, final impressions, cement permanent crowns basically do everything but numb and drill enamel (an ef2 can use the handpiece on restorations.

It all depends how is the work you like to do. For example, I like variety. My reason is "VARIETY". I get bored and tired very easily of doing the same thing over and over again. I like moving around and I like speed variety... sometimes fast pace and sometime slow pace, and I like also to work under pressure for which my position is Registered Dental Assistant, and we have a hygienist at the office, so I get to help her with coronal polish, flossing, varnish fluoride and sealants. When my doctor has crown preps, then I work on the temporary crowns, cementing them, picking the shade. when I am not working on patients, I get to clean rooms, sterilization of instruments. I am always busy. Since I am working towards my RDAEF2 license, I help my doctor with dentures/partials dental work by taking alginate impressions from the start of the case, throughout the process, and to deliver and adjusting of his prosthodontic work, I do tooth whitening, place composite fillings, I pack the retraction cord and take the final impression as doctor deems needed for a bridge or a crown according on the load of patients and the flow of the day. I sometimes help taking x-rays. I do all this because I love doing several things and I enjoy it. For me doing only what the hygienist does which is scaling and numbing all day long seems to be so freaking boring for me to be doing it over, and over again. But for those people who like repetitious work is ok because variety gives them a lot of stress. Yes. My new license I am getting prepared for is for an increment of my salary, but the most important thing for me is the joy and the passion of working on variety of patients as well, I like working on little children here and there! young patients, young adults, adults and elderly because I get to talk to them in different ways and I learn different things from them. Sometimes I am more playful and tease my patients and sometimes I am more serious with them according to the patients' age and their moodiness. I love what I do. My goal is to be much more helpful and productive to my doctor's production. In my personal opinion I do not believe EFDA has ruined CDA... I believe is advancement very similar to the nurses... they have similar titles like: CNA, RNA and other different titles like dentistry have under the categories of dental assisting, under the categories of nurses, and under the categories of doctor's titles. Dentistry is part of medicine, and it has its specialties and their titles as well as medical doctors do. So "NO" I do not believe EFDA has ruin anything about CDA at all. Each part of the world has different titles as well and each place have their own rules and regulations. In some countries doctors and dentists can do more than others. Each USA States have also their own rules and regulations and limitations.

I’m an RDA in Washington state and I can make temporary crowns/bridges, do sealant, as well as pack cord. An EFDA in Washington can place fillings.

California we have DA,CDA, RDA & RDAEF

Yes rda are in Texas sane as cda. Same thing

I’m kinda curious what efdas can do in your state? Do you place fillings, build ups? In Ohio efdas make as much or more then a hygienist.

RDA = Registered in states (some states have a friendship like ig your RDA in Georgia you can work In Ohio (just an example I am not familiar on if thiese two states have this between eachother))

CDA= certification that is excepted in any state no matter which state you took your boards test at. This is what I am familiar with I am a EFDA, CDA RDA don't be fooled by my buisness logo xD

I’m barely seeing your video now and hope you don’t mind me chiming in but I am currently a CDA in NM and have been doing lots of functions in the dental office as aloud including coronal polishing floruide and sealants buuuuuut have a hyg in the office pushing that us assistants haven’t had testing specifically for those subjects, so now that I’ve been there for 5 years I’m expected to take those small tests to get my EFDA alongside my full CDA. And even restorative functions certification which is making me wonder what kind of raise am I looking forward to. So as of right now.. I’m scheduled for 6 ! Yes 6 ! Danb tests by early may !. Send help !.

Hi, my name is Vanessa, and I am a Dental Assistant. I am RDA and EFFA or QDA. I know that CDA meant you don't have to take over all the board exam for each state you move to, which is cool. I chose EFDA for the state of MD because it pays more.

I apreciate you❤

RDA is the higher license and RDAEF 2 is even higher. You can make 44-50 an hour as a RDAEF 2 in California

I agree. We do a lot and we don’t get paid enough.