Dental Assisting

Gain the knowledge and hands-on skills experience to work closely and confidently with dentists during direct patient care, including diagnostic, preventative and operative procedures. General education and biomedical and dental science courses are coupled with on-campus labs and off-campus clinical affiliations in general, community and specialty dental practice to prepare you to write the Dental Assisting National Board Certification Exam, Minnesota State Board of Dentistry Licensure Exam, and Minnesota Board of Dentistry Jurisprudence Exam.

You’ll learn to:

• Perform dental lab procedures
• Provide expanded functions authorized by the Minnesota Board of Dentistry, such as taking digital dental X-rays, polishing teeth, placing dental sealants, fabricating temporary crowns, administering nitrous oxide sedation and orthodontic duties
• Manage business office responsibilities, such as appointment scheduling and billing procedures

Accreditation

See program accreditation details at Accreditation.

Related Programs

You may also be interested in our Health Sciences Broad Field Transfer Pathway, Pre-Professional Health Transfer Pathway, Associate Degree Nursing program, or Practical Nursing diploma program.

Our Associate of Applied Science degree programs make it possible for you to seamlessly transfer to a four-year college or university to pursue an advanced degree. There are many advantages of beginning your postsecondary studies at M State, including cost savings due to our low tuition rate and smaller class sizes with personalized instruction. Learn more about your transfer options at Transfer Programs and Pathways.

The Dental Assisting program has some special requirements for admission. You can apply by following these four easy steps:

1. Apply to M State
2. Review the Dental Assisting program admission requirements
3. Apply to the Dental Assisting program (fall 2025 application will be available on Jan. 2, 2025)
4. Review the Dental Assisting Application Assessment