An expanded functions dental assistant places and finishes fillings and does other restorative steps after the dentist prepares the tooth, as state rules allow. The dentist checks the work before the patient leaves. That frees the dentist to start on the next patient sooner.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
You'll do the restorative and preventive work your state allows an expanded functions dental assistant to do, so our dentists can spend chair time on what only they can do. After the dentist prepares a tooth, you place and finish the restoration, and the dentist checks your work as your state requires. You also assist chairside and train other assistants.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Place, carve and finish amalgam and composite restorations after the dentist prepares the tooth, within your state's scope of practice for expanded functions assistants.
Place sealants, apply fluoride and do coronal polishing where your state allows.
Make and cement temporary crowns, and take final impressions or scans where your state allows.
Place rubber dams, matrix bands and wedges to isolate and set up restorative work.
Have the dentist check each restoration before the patient leaves, following your state's supervision rules.
Assist chairside, take radiographs and turn over rooms when the restorative schedule allows.
Train dental assistants on materials, isolation and room setup.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review the restorative schedule at the morning huddle and plan which procedures you'll place.
Work across [two] operatories with the dentist, finishing restorations while the dentist moves to the next patient.
Write procedure notes that show which steps you did and that the dentist checked the work.
Check curing lights, handpieces and restorative materials, and report anything worn, broken or low.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Restorations approved by the dentist without rework: [your target].
Restorative appointments started on time: [your target].
Dentist wait time between procedures: [your target].
Procedure notes complete with dentist sign-off: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Current [State] expanded functions permit, license or registration (EFDA, RDAEF or your state's title).
Completed the expanded functions training and exams your state requires.
Radiography certificate or permit, where your state requires one.
Experience with posterior composites and layering techniques.
Has trained other dental assistants.
7. Physical Requirements
Sit chairside for long periods doing precise hand work, often with magnification.
Move between operatories and stand to set up rooms during the day.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Clinical work with exposure to blood, saliva, aerosols, bonding agents and curing lights, with PPE and eye protection provided.
Hours: [schedule], following the restorative schedule.
Based at [practice]; some days may be at a nearby practice.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new expanded functions dental assistant gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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What's different about expanded functions work in a dental group
The state creates this job and sets its limits. Its rule decides what the assistant may place, what the dentist must check, and who has to stay in the building.
One job, many state titles
DANB says each state defines expanded functions in its own way and gives the role its own title. You'll see EFDA, registered dental assistant in extended functions (RDAEF), licensed dental assistant and others. Before you move an EFDA to an office in another state, check whether their permit counts there. Source: Dental Assisting National Board: Become an EFDA.
The dentist has to stay in the building
Pennsylvania requires every expanded function to be done under direct supervision. That means the dentist is in the office, and personally diagnoses the problem and approves the procedure. The dentist stays while the assistant works, and checks the work before the patient leaves. If no dentist is on site, the EFDA does no restorations that day. Source: 49 Pa. Code § 33.205a: practice as an expanded function dental assistant.
What stays with the dentist
The same Pennsylvania rule lists what an EFDA may not do. That includes exams, diagnosis and treatment plans, and cutting tooth or gum tissue. It also rules out giving anesthesia or nitrous oxide, and the final check of how the work meets the bite. The EFDA's own list covers rubber dams, matrices and wedges, liners and bases, fillings, sealants, fluoride, polishing and some impressions. Source: 49 Pa. Code § 33.205a: practice as an expanded function dental assistant.
Two rooms, one dentist
The payoff comes from the schedule. The dentist numbs and prepares a tooth in one room, then moves on while the EFDA places and finishes the filling. That works only if the schedule books the EFDA's time as its own column, plus a few minutes for the dentist's check. Without that, an EFDA ends up working as a chairside assistant.
Notes show who did each step
Chart notes should say which steps the EFDA did and that the dentist checked the work before the patient left. That record shows the supervision rule was followed if the state board, a payer or a patient ever asks. Build it into the note template so nobody has to remember.
How much expanded functions dental assistants make
Dental assistants who work for dental offices earned a median of $23.08 an hour ($48,000 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $48,070 median for dental assistants in all industries. About 354,900 of the 387,790 dental assistants in that survey work for dental offices.
An hourly role. If the group pays EFDAs more than its other assistants, say how much more in the ad. It tells assistants whether earning the permit pays off.
Dental offices
$48,000$48,000 median Middle half $44,360–$58,020 10th–90th $37,090–$62,040
All industries
$48,070$48,070 median Middle half $44,340–$58,090 10th–90th $37,130–$62,250
$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Dental offices
$37,090
$44,360
$48,000
$58,020
$62,040
All industries
$37,130
$44,340
$48,070
$58,090
$62,250
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Places restorations that pass the dentist's check without rework
Sets rubber dams, matrices and wedges right the first time
Knows the state's expanded functions list and stops at its edge
Works on their own in one room while the dentist is in another
Teaches other assistants with patience
Teach these on the job
The group's restorative materials and each dentist's preferences
How your schedule template books EFDA time
Posterior composites, if their training leaned toward amalgam
Your intraoral scanner for final impressions, where your state allows
Note templates that record the dentist's check
Expect curing lights, composite and amalgam kits, rubber dam and matrix systems, magnifying loupes, and charting in the practice software. Name the composite system and matrix bands your offices use, because EFDAs trained on one system will ask.
Count these per EFDA and per dentist they work with. The restorative schedule the office books shapes them as much as anything the EFDA does alone.
Restorations approved by the dentist without rework
Of the restorations the EFDA placed, how many the dentist approved at the first check. Log any adjustment or redo in the procedure note so it can be counted.
Restorative appointments started on time
Restorative visits where the EFDA was ready to begin as soon as the dentist finished the prep. Use schedule time stamps or a simple start log.
Dentist wait time between procedures
Minutes the dentist waits for the EFDA, or for the EFDA's room, before the check. Sample a few days a month by hand if your software doesn't track it.
Procedure notes complete with dentist sign-off
Notes that list the steps the EFDA did and show the dentist's check, signed the same day. Pull unsigned notes from the software each week.
Career path
Dental assistantBuilds chairside years and any x-ray credential the state requires.
Expanded Functions Dental AssistantPlaces restorations after the dentist's prep, under a state permit.
Lead EFDA or clinical trainerTrains assistants across offices and sets up restorative rooms.
Practice managerMoves into running an office after years on the clinical side.
Through the state's own route. Pennsylvania accepts three: a board-approved EFDA program of at least 200 hours, a board-approved two-year dental assisting degree, or a hygiene school that taught at least 75 hours of restorative functions. Then candidates pass a written exam. The license renews every two years with 10 hours of continuing education. Two of those hours must cover child abuse recognition and reporting.
How much does an expanded functions dental assistant make?
Dental assistants who work for dental offices earned a median of $23.08 an hour ($48,000 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $44,360 and $58,020 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What is a CRFDA?
It stands for Certified Restorative Functions Dental Assistant. It's a national credential issued by the Dental Assisting National Board (DANB), made up of four exams: temporaries, impressions, restorative functions and sealants. The template asks for it as a plus, alongside the state permit. But it's the permit that lets the assistant do the work.
How is an EFDA different from a dental hygienist?
A hygienist holds a license to clean teeth and treat gum disease, and runs a schedule of their own patients. An EFDA works on the dentist's restorative patients, placing and finishing fillings after the dentist's prep. An EFDA who wants to treat patients on their own schedule would need hygiene school and a hygiene license.
Is an EFDA worth adding to a dental office?
It pays off when dentists have more filling and crown work than chair time. Look at each dentist's backlog of planned restorative work, and whether the office has a spare room for the EFDA. In an office whose days are mostly hygiene exams and checkups, a strong chairside assistant may help more.
What should an EFDA job ad include?
Your state's title for the role and the permit it takes. Then the procedures your dentists will hand off, and how many rooms the EFDA works across. Say whether the EFDA trains other assistants. Say whether the group pays for permit renewal and continuing education.
