Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between expanded duty dental assistants and certified medical technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an expanded duty dental assistant, becoming a certified medical technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an expanded duty dental assistant has an average salary of $39,095, which is higher than the $38,859 average annual salary of a certified medical technician.
The top three skills for an expanded duty dental assistant include patients, OSHA and patient care. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.
| Expanded Duty Dental Assistant | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $39,095 | $38,859 |
| Hourly rate | $18.80 | $18.68 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 23,594 | 164,424 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 25% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Average age | 38 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 12 |
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.
Certified Medical Technicians are specialists in medical diagnoses by performing laboratory testing and analysis for hospitals and physicians. Their duties include lab sanitization to prepare for testing and collection, recording medical samples for testing, specimen preparation, blood drawing for donation and testing, and assisting physicians with sample collection as well as equipment handling in surgical rooms. They must also understand how to use complex and sensitive testing equipment such as cell counters, analyzers, microscopes, and centrifuges.
Expanded duty dental assistants and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Expanded Duty Dental Assistant | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average salary | $39,095 | $38,859 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $53,000 | Between $28,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Denton, TX |
| Highest paying state | - | Alaska |
| Best paying company | - | Favorite Healthcare Staffing |
| Best paying industry | - | Health Care |
There are a few differences between an expanded duty dental assistant and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:
| Expanded Duty Dental Assistant | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 25% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Most common major | Dental Assisting | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | University of Connecticut |
Here are the differences between expanded duty dental assistants' and certified medical technicians' demographics:
| Expanded Duty Dental Assistant | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average age | 38 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 7.9% Female, 92.1% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| 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, 15.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 10.0% White, 53.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 8% |