How to Become a Dental Assistant in Illinois

Who can apply

• Illinois does not license or register dental assistants. A dental assistant may perform dental services under the supervision and full responsibility of a dentist (225 ILCS 25/17(g)).
• For most duties, 'appropriately trained' means your supervising dentist considers you competent through on-the-job training (68 Ill. Adm. Code 1220.245).
• The Act exempts dental assistants who expose dental x-ray films from the practice of dentistry; there is no separate state x-ray permit for assistants (225 ILCS 25/17(f)).
• Some duties need formal training first: coronal polishing, pit and fissure sealants, monitoring nitrous oxide or sedation, restorations and coronal scaling.
• To monitor nitrous oxide, polish or place sealants under the rule you must be at least 18 and have 1,000 hours of clinical dental assisting experience, be a CODA-accredited program graduate, or be a DANB Certified Dental Assistant.

Step by step

1. Get hired and trained on the job by your supervising dentist.
2. Keep BLS (CPR) certification current if you will monitor nitrous oxide or sedation or work as an expanded function dental assistant.
3. After you meet the 1,000-hour, CODA graduate or DANB CDA requirement, take approved courses for the duties you want: coronal polishing (6 hours), sealants (2 didactic + 2 clinical hours), and nitrous oxide monitoring (at least 6 hours).
4. Give your dentist your course completion certificate; the dentist keeps it on file and must show it to IDFPR on request.
5. For restorations, first complete approved coronal polishing and sealant courses, then a structured program (at least 16 didactic + 14 manikin hours) at a CODA-accredited school, or, with at least 4,000 hours of direct patient care, one run by an approved statewide dental association. For coronal scaling on children or intracoronal temporization, you need 2,000 hours first plus a 32-hour program.
6. Once trained in all the listed areas, you may call yourself an expanded function dental assistant.

Training and exam

Training: No training is required to start. Coronal polishing needs an approved 6-hour course (at least 4 hours didactic and 2 hours clinical on human subjects, with a didactic exam). Pit and fissure sealants need at least 2 hours didactic and 2 hours clinical, and the dentist must watch you place 6 sealants successfully. Nitrous oxide monitoring needs an approved course of 6 hours or more (12 hours for older courses taken 1998 to June 2014) plus BLS. Graduates since January 1, 1999 of an approved dental assisting program that covered nitrous monitoring, polishing and sealants do not need these extra courses. Under the Act, placing and finishing amalgam and composite restorations needs a structured program (at least 16 hours didactic and 14 hours manikin, an outcome exam, and 8 restorations observed by the dentist) after completing coronal polishing and sealant training, and coronal scaling of children 17 and under needs 2,000 hours of experience plus a 32-hour program. Expanded function training must come from an approved CE sponsor, a CODA-accredited dental assisting program, or a program approved by IDFPR, and must include BLS.

Exam: There is no state exam to work as a dental assistant. Approved courses carry their own exams (for example the coronal polishing course requires passing a didactic exam, and expanded function programs require an outcome assessment exam). IDFPR's rule for the 40-hour amalgam course also requires DANB's AMP, IS and RF exams (or equivalent) and a pre-examination.

What it costs in Illinois

Fixed amounts are set by the state. Items marked “your quote” are priced by private sellers, so enter what you’re quoted.

Keeping your credential

Renewal: There is no assistant license to renew. Keep BLS certification current where required and keep your course certificates on file with your supervising dentist.

Good to know in Illinois

Supervision limits: A dentist may supervise no more than 4 dental assistants (or hygienists) at a time doing coronal polishing, sealants, nitrous oxide monitoring, or restorations. The dentist must stay in the facility and check the work before the patient leaves.

Coronal polishing limits: Polishing is limited to the clinical crown and existing restorations above the gumline, using a slow-speed rubber cup or brush. Air polishing is not allowed.

Not allowed: Assistants may not diagnose or prescribe, remove calculus (except trained coronal scaling of children), give anesthetics, correct malformations of teeth or jaws, or perform dental hygiene prophylaxis beyond polishing and sealants.

Expanded function dental assistant title: You may use the title only after completing training in all the areas listed in 225 ILCS 25/17.1: digital or material scans for final impressions, pulp vitality testing, restorations, coronal scaling, nitrous oxide flow and monitoring, coronal polishing and sealants, and intracoronal temporization. The Act does not require any assistant to hold this title.

Coronal scaling limits: Coronal scaling by a trained assistant is only for patients 17 or younger without periodontal disease who are on Medicaid, uninsured, or at or below 300% of the federal poverty level. You may use hand instruments only, and a dentist may supervise no more than 2 assistants at a time for it.

Sources

• 225 ILCS 25/17 - Acts constituting the practice of dentistry (as amended by P.A. 104-852, eff. 8-21-26)
• 225 ILCS 25/17.1 - Expanded function dental assistants (as amended by P.A. 104-637, eff. 7-24-26)
• 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1220.245 - Prescribed Duties of Dental Assistants (Cornell LII)