According to Education-Portal.com, Riverside Community College has the largest school for orthodontic assistants, based on student populations in 2011. With three campuses distributed throughout California, Riverside offers an associate degree program for prospective dental assistants at each campus. The program consists of courses that address important topics such as dental assisting, chairside assisting, radiology, infection control, dental sciences and pre-algebra. As the students acquire knowledge and develop their skills regarding dentistry, more advanced dental assistant courses in the program cover surgical, restorative and dental office issues.
San Antonio College has a dental assistant program that equips students with the required knowledge and necessary skills to achieve successful careers in a wide variety of dental settings. The curriculum of the school's associate degree program includes informative lessons regarding communication in the dental office, preventative dentistry, laboratory procedures, dental materials and emergency procedures. To graduate, students are also required to successfully complete numerous general education courses pertaining to art, science and English, a seminar for dental assistants and a clinical dental capstone course. San Antonio College also provides a certificate program for students who want to be trained and certified to work as competent orthodontic assistants but who do not want to take the general education courses.
The University of Alaska in Anchorage offers an associate degree program and a certificate program in dentist assistant; both programs are accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association. Students benefit from the advanced resources, innovative technological equipment and experienced instructors who train them to increase the efficiency of the dentist and to deliver oral health care. The curriculum incorporates informative lectures and valuable hands-on lab assignments into the programs; courses discuss relevant subjects such as dental practice management and professionalism, chairside techniques, radiography, biomedical sciences, a dental assisting practicum and a clinical practicum. Students who want to graduate with an associate degree must also take several general education courses.
City College of San Francisco, according to Education-Portal.com, is the second largest school with a dentist assistant program in the nation. The school offers degree and certificate programs in dental assisting that train students to competently and effectively contribute to various dental procedures. The school's certificate degree program in dental assisting usually takes one year to complete, while it typically takes two years to graduate from the associate degree program. The courses in the program prepare students to pass the California State Licensure Examination to become official registered dental assistants, and also equip students with the skills needed to pass the National Examination to become a certified dental assistants. Furthermore, the program trains the graduates to thrive in a variety of orthodontic assistant positions, including dental assistant, office manager, insurance billing clerk, registered dental assistant and sales representative.