Meetings & Education

The FAO Offers the required Expanded Duties Course to train your orthodontic care team. Much thanks goes out to our Expanded Duties Committee, chaired by Dr. Richard Mariani, for the time and effort it takes to put on these essential courses.

Please note that the expanded duties course offered by the FAO covers six of the 9 delegable functions applicable to most orthodontic offices. The three not covered are: 1) radiology certification, 2) taking alginate impressions for diagnostic study models and 3) application of acid etch prior to bonding new brackets. If your assistant has received formal training, i.e. graduated from a certified dental assisting course, then they probably are covered for these three expanded functions. However, if they only received on-the-job training in these duties, then they are most likely not certified to perform these duties in the state of Florida. The Florida Dental Association offers a Radiography Training Program.

The following is a calendar of the offered expanded duties courses, with area directors, their contact information, and location. If you have assistants that need their expanded duties certification, please contact your area director for more information. Additional courses may also be set up for assistants in taking impressions and acid etch on an as-needed basis.

Click here to read an article from FDA Today that explains the necessity of certification for orthodontic assistants.