Dental Medicine

A Case Western Reserve University EFDA classroom
Certificate

About the Program

Restorative dentistry is an art form—and Case Western Reserve University offers the hands-on experience you need to master it. The Expanded Function Dental Auxiliary (EFDA) Dental Medicine Certificate program from the university’s School of Dental Medicine is designed with your success in mind. 

The first EFDA program of its kind in Ohio, our nine-month option provides you with expert faculty instruction in a state-of-the-art learning facility. If you are a certified dental assistant (CDA) or registered dental hygienist (RDH) with a strong desire to further your dental expertise in the art of restorative dentistry, look no further than Case Western Reserve. 

What to Expect

Our certificate program provides you with a rigorous, high-caliber education on a flexible schedule. As an EFDA student, you will attend class one day per week August through May, selecting the Wednesday or Friday session. Our intimate class sizes—which involves a maximum of 20 students per class—allow our expert faculty to guide you in hands-on patient care. You will earn experience using both direct vision and indirect mirror vision to complete and evaluate restorations, perfecting fine motor skills to enable accurate and safe application of dental instruments and other restorative procedures. 

AMAZING’ is one word that comes to mind when describing the instructors [at Case Western Reserve]. All of them have a lot of patience and energy to support the group of students. They are very active and flexible to accommodate anyone's needs without any discrimination. They just perceive every student equally irrespective of their background and guide them through the course.”

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Beyond the Classroom

In the EFDA certificate program, you’ll complete your coursework in Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic’s Health Education Campus, home to the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion and the Dental Clinic. This 477,000-square-foot building is where medical, nursing, dental and physician assistant students learn, study and dine together. 


By the Numbers

1st

 EFDA program in Ohio

1:7

faculty to student ratio

9

month program

20

 students average cohort

Admission Requirements

To apply for the EFDA certificate program, you must have at least two years of chairside-assisting experience in general dentistry (within the past five years), unless RDH (however, strongly recommended). You also must have proof of your current CDA status (copy of current certification document showing certification expiration date is required) from one of the following:

  • Dental Assisting National Board (DANB)
  • Commission on Ohio Dental Assistant

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