The Dental Assisting National Board, Inc (DANB) has researched job titles for dental assistants across the United States and developed a single chart to view the landscape of the profession. Without a single, nationally accepted set of guidelines that govern the practice of dental assisting in the country, it is difficult to execute a concise overview of this valuable dental team member. This first-ever "national roadmap of job titles" (pdf) is another beneficial result of the DANB/ADAA Study to Define and Rank Core Competencies for Dental Assistants.

The difficulty in gathering job titles is that, depending on the state in which the dental assistant is employed, a dental assistant's job title varies even if he or she is allowed to perform the same duty. For example, to be considered qualified to perform coronal polishing procedures, the various titles a dental assistant must hold, depending on the state in which this coronal polishing procedure is being performed, include:

• Advanced Dental Assistant (ADA)—South Dakota
• Certified Ohio Dental Assistant (CODA)—Ohio
• DANB Certified Dental Assistant (CDA)—Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio
• Dental Assistant II (DA II)—North Carolina
• Dental Assistant Qualified in Coronal Polishing (DA Qualified in Coronal Polishing)—Arizona, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Mexico, Kansas, Illinois
• Dental Assistant Qualified in Expanded Functions (DAQEF)—Missouri, New Hampshire

While a national study of job titles is interesting as well as frustrating, it is more important for dental assistants to know what job titles their state dental practice act defines and allows. They also must know which duties are legally allowed to be delegated to qualified dental assistants so they can perform these duties in their role on the dental team. It is unfortunate that the workload of the office may lead to a situation where a dental assistant is asked to perform, or makes a decision to perform, a function that he or she may not be qualified or legally allowed to perform. Accessing DANB's Web site (www.danb.org) to identify state-specific dental assisting titles, required qualifications, and allowable duties is a way to promote safe and legal dental assisting practice.

DANB's role in the oral health care community is to provide assessment and measurement tools to identify and promote the competency of dental assistants. DANB's national Certification exam programs (Certified Dental Assistant and Certified Orthodontic Assistant), which contain DANB component exams (Radiation Health & Safety, Infection Control, General Chairside, and Orthodontic Assisting) and DANB's Certified Dental Practice Management Administrator exam program are accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, a commission of the National Organization for Competency Assurance with the responsibility for evaluating credentialing programs.

This new "national roadmap" has joined other DANB online resources to promote the dissemination of dental assisting information to benefit the entire oral health care community. The "State-Specific Information" link on DANB's Web site also provides:

• a list of the dental assisting job titles used at each level of the dental assisting career ladder;
• information about which DANB exams are recognized or required;
• a dental assisting Functions and Requirements chart, which shows the titles for each level of dental assistant, the duties dental assistants are allowed to perform at each level (and under which type of supervision), the duties that are restricted across all levels, and the education, exams, and/or credentials that are required to perform those duties; and
• a link to the state board of dentistry Web site, if additional information is needed.

DANB is committed to advancing dental assisting as a profession. Working toward uniform national standards and credentials is an integral part of this work.