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Measuring Dental Assisting Excellence

More than 37,000 dental assistants are currently DANB certified. DANB certifications and certificates of knowledge-based competence are recognized or required in 38 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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The Dental Assisting National Board (DANB) is recognized by the American Dental Association as the national certification board for dental assistants. DANB offers five national certifications:
  • National Entry Level Dental Assistant (NELDA®)
  • Certified Dental AssistantTM (CDA®)
  • Certified Orthodontic Assistant (COA®)
  • Certified Preventive Functions Dental Assistant (CPFDA®)
  • Certified Restorative Functions Dental Assistant (CRFDA®)
The DALE Foundation, the official DANB affiliate, benefits the public by providing quality continuing education and conducting sound research to promote oral health.
The DALE Foundation offers interactive online courses and resources to advance the dental team and prepare dental assistants for DANB exams. Excellence is important to the DALE Foundation, which is why all of the e-learning courses and study aids are created by educators and experts in the dental community. The DALE Foundation’s products adhere to the same quality and high standards for which DANB is known.

About DANB’s 2018 Salary Survey

DANB’s 2018-2019 Dental Assistants Salary and Satisfaction Survey was conducted in October 2018. The findings in this report are based on a 14% total response rate from a stratified random sample of 6,000 CDA certificants and more than 4,000 non-certified assistants who passed DANB’s RHS, ICE or CP exams. Survey researchers consider this response rate sufficient to generalize the results to the population surveyed.
Salary figures are reported as the median response (the median is the point in a data set at which about 50% of the responses fall above and 50% fall below). Salary figures are reported as hourly wages, without including the dollar value of any employee benefits.
DANB has conducted a salary survey every two years since 2004. The consistency of data over these years supports the conclusion that these results are representative of the population.
Download Salary and Satisfaction Survey