What Can an Expanded Functions Dental Assistant Do in Florida?

How Florida's rule is built

Section 466.024 of the Florida Statutes lets a dentist delegate remediable tasks and leaves the detail to the Board of Dentistry.^[1] The Board defines a remediable task as an intraoral task that does not create unalterable changes in the oral cavity or contiguous structures, is reversible, and does not expose the patient to increased risk.^[2] Rule 64B5-16.005 then sorts the permitted tasks into groups, each defined by a training requirement and a supervision level.^[3]

The two training types are defined in Rule 64B5-16.002. On-the-job training is given by a licensed dentist who assumes full responsibility for it. Formal training is an expanded-duty course at a CODA-accredited school or a program approved by the Board.^[4] An “EFDA,” in Florida terms, is an assistant with that formal training — see EFDA in Florida: requirements and duties explained.

Formal training, direct supervision

These are the duties where the dentist checks the result before the patient leaves. They make up the core of restorative and prosthodontic assisting.^[3]

• Placing or removing temporary restorations, with non-mechanical hand instruments only
• Polishing dental restorations and polishing clinical crowns, when not for the purpose of changing the existing contour of the tooth
• Removing excess cement from restorations and appliances with non-mechanical hand instruments
• Cementing temporary crowns and bridges with temporary cement
• Fabricating temporary crowns or bridges intraorally, without adjusting the occlusion
• Packing and removing retraction cord, provided it contains no vasoactive chemicals
• Monitoring nitrous-oxide–oxygen administration, within the limits the rule sets
• Inserting or removing dressings from alveolar sockets in post-operative osteitis
• Impressions for orthodontic retainers, bleaching trays, passive appliances and mouth guards
• Orthodontic support: selecting and pre-sizing bands and archwires, preparing tooth surfaces for bonding, and recementing loose bands
• Charting existing restorations and missing teeth

Formal training, indirect supervision

Here the dentist must have examined the patient, authorized the procedure and be in the office, but does not have to inspect the work before dismissal. These are the duties that return the most chair time.^[3]

• Applying sealants
• Applying topical fluorides approved by the American Dental Association or the Food and Drug Administration
• Placing or removing rubber dams
• Placing or removing matrices
• Applying cavity liners, varnishes or bases
• Placing and removing periodontal and surgical dressings
• Removing sutures
• Impressions for study casts, opposing models and stents
• Placing or removing orthodontic separators; securing or unsecuring an archwire
• Positioning and exposing dental radiographs — with an important qualification, below

What an on-the-job-trained assistant may do

An assistant with no formal schooling is not limited to passing instruments. With training from the dentist, the rule permits the following.^[3]

The Board's April 2026 amendment added further tasks to the group performed with on-the-job training under direct supervision.^[3] If you are building an office protocol, work from the current rule text on the Florida Administrative Code site rather than from any summary, this one included.

What no dental assistant may do

The limits matter as much as the permissions, and they are where offices get into trouble.

• Anything irremediable. A dentist may not delegate irremediable tasks to a hygienist or an assistant. Cutting tooth structure or soft tissue is the clearest example.^[1]
• Diagnosis, treatment planning and prescribing. These may not be delegated to anyone other than another licensed dentist.^[1] An assistant exposes the radiograph; the dentist reads it.
• Scaling, root planing and gingival curettage. The statute allows these to be delegated to a dental hygienist but not to a dental assistant.^[1] Polishing clinical crowns is not a cleaning.
• Local anesthesia. Administration is limited to dentists and to appropriately certified dental hygienists.^[5]
• Adjusting occlusion. Even where the rule allows a temporary to be fabricated, it excludes adjusting the bite.^[3]
• Lasers. Rule 64B5-16.001 excludes laser use from remediable tasks except as an assessment device. The Board opened rule development on limited laser use in September 2026, so watch this one.^[2][3]
• Any listed task without the listed training or supervision. The permission is the whole package, not the task alone.

What this looks like in a working day

Take a crown preparation appointment. A formally trained, radiographer-certified assistant can expose the pre-operative image, place topical anesthetic, place the rubber dam, pack retraction cord once the dentist has finished the preparation, take the opposing impression, fabricate the temporary, cement it with temporary cement and remove the excess. The dentist diagnoses, anesthetizes, prepares the tooth, checks the occlusion and approves the temporary before the patient leaves.

That division of labor is the entire economic case for expanded functions. The dentist's time is spent on the irreversible, diagnostic work only a dentist can do. It is also why the training is task-specific: FIDA's Expanded Functions for the Dental Assistant course is organized around thirteen procedures — sealants, fluoride, polishing clinical crowns, liners and bases, temporary restorations, matrices, alginate impressions, temporary crowns, retraction cord, periodontal dressings, the dental dam, suture removal and infection control — each practiced clinically under the student's own supervising dentist.

For dentists: three rules of thumb

1. Match the task to the certificate. A course certificate should list the remediable tasks the assistant completed.^[4] Delegate those; do not assume the rest.
2. Be in the building. Every formally trained task is direct or indirect supervision, which means a dentist on the premises. Only a short list of on-the-job tasks may be done under general supervision.
3. Remember who answers for it. Delegating to a person not qualified by training, experience or licensure is a disciplinary ground against the dentist.^[6] Our guide for employers, Does your assistant need EFDA, radiography, or both?, covers the paperwork worth keeping.

Keeping current

Chapter 64B5-16 is a living document. The Board amended the assistant rule in 2026 after nearly two decades without change, and it has more amendments in development.^[7] We review this page when the rule changes and update it in place, with the review date shown at the top. For training questions, ask Atticus or contact FIDA; for a ruling on a specific situation, contact the Florida Board of Dentistry.