Expanded Function Dental Assistant (EFDA) job description

Expanded function dental assistants do work most assistants are not allowed to touch, and the permission comes from state law. Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Washington each issue their own version of the credential, and Florida and Illinois regulate expanded duties too. BLS counts these assistants on the dental assistant line, so the pay figure is the whole occupation's: a national median of $48,070 in May 2025. On that same line, Pennsylvania's median was $47,930, Ohio's $47,970, and Washington's $58,090.

Core Duties and Responsibilities

What the credential adds is state-specific. The Handbook gives coronal polishing, sealants, fluoride, and topical anesthetic as examples of expanded duties some states allow, and Illinois lists coronal polishing, sealants, and monitoring nitrous oxide or sedation. Pennsylvania and Washington build their credentials around restorative training. Around those duties the job is still a dental assistant's: preparing patients, sterilizing instruments, assisting chairside, and recording treatment, as O*NET lists them.

Common Skills and Technologies

Dexterity matters more at this level, because restorative work is fine handwork in a small space, a quality the Handbook stresses for all dental assistants. Listening, speaking, and reading comprehension lead the skill ratings, and Henry Schein Dentrix is the practice system employers ask for.

Education, Training, and Career Path

Pennsylvania requires an accredited two-year program or a board-approved program of at least 200 hours, plus a state written exam, basic life support, and x-ray certification. Ohio asks for an existing certification, such as the Certified Dental Assistant credential, an accredited course, and an exam. Washington adds a commission-approved course, a restorative exam, and a clinical exam on top of the registration every assistant there holds. Florida stopped accepting the national Certified Dental Assistant credential as a route to its expanded functions credential in May 2009. California's equivalent is a separate, higher license, the registered dental assistant in extended functions. Every route starts from the dental assistant job, which O*NET places in Job Zone Three.

Sources: O*NET 30.0, 31-9091.00 Dental Assistants, https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/31-9091.00. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, 31-9091, https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Dental Assistants, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/dental-assistants.htm. Dental Assisting National Board, state requirements, https://www.danb.org/state-requirements.