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Dental Assistants
Works chairside with dentists, preps patients and takes x-rays.
Read the full guide
Dental assistants prepare patients and instruments, hand tools to the dentist, take x-rays and impressions, and handle records. In Pennsylvania, Expanded Function Dental Assistants (EFDAs) do more, such as placing fillings, with extra training and state certification.
Open the dental assistant guide
The guide checks the courses against your plan, with things to try each year. Free account needed.
High school courses that build toward it
- Physical Education · Health and PE
Builds working with customers and clients, which this job uses.
- English 10 · English
Builds reading and writing, which this job uses.
- Anatomy and Physiology · Science
Builds health and medicine, which this job uses.
- Entrepreneurship · Career and Technical
Builds business management, which this job uses.
- Computer Science Principles · Computer Science
Builds computers and electronics, which this job uses.
Ranked by how much the job relies on what each course teaches, from O*NET's knowledge ratings. Your school's own courses and the counselor have the final word.
Dental Assistants on O*NET OnLine · O*NET 31.0 (U.S. Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections 2025.