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The differences between expanded duty dental assistants and certification specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a certification specialist has an average salary of $45,265, which is higher than the $39,095 average annual salary of an expanded duty dental assistant.
The top three skills for an expanded duty dental assistant include patients, OSHA and patient care. The most important skills for a certification specialist are patients, medical terminology, and surgical procedures.
| Expanded Duty Dental Assistant | Certification Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $39,095 | $45,265 |
| Hourly rate | $18.80 | $21.76 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 23,594 | 43,565 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 25% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Average age | 38 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 2 | - |
An Expanded Duty Dental Assistant helps a dentist perform a wide range of administrative duties. Their duties include making impressions of a patients' teeth, performing preliminary oral examinations, and preparing filling materials.
A certification specialist is primarily in charge of conducting inspections and assessments, ensuring operations and procedures comply with certification guidelines and requirements. Although their responsibilities may vary upon their industry or organization of employment, it usually entails reviewing certification applications and system plans, arranging schedules and tests, organizing orientations, providing advice or guidance to new members of the workforce, and implementing strategies. Moreover, they also perform administrative support tasks such as processing the necessary documents, facilitating activities, and coordinating with internal and external parties.
Expanded duty dental assistants and certification specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Expanded Duty Dental Assistant | Certification Specialist | |
| Average salary | $39,095 | $45,265 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $53,000 | Between $25,000 And $81,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | - | New York |
| Best paying company | - | Apple |
| Best paying industry | - | Insurance |
There are a few differences between an expanded duty dental assistant and a certification specialist in terms of educational background:
| Expanded Duty Dental Assistant | Certification Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 25% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Most common major | Dental Assisting | Business |
| Most common college | - | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between expanded duty dental assistants' and certification specialists' demographics:
| Expanded Duty Dental Assistant | Certification Specialist | |
| Average age | 38 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 7.9% Female, 92.1% | Male, 26.3% Female, 73.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.3% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 7.9% White, 58.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 11% |