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RDAEF Program Graduates Its Largest Cohort to Date
May 16, 2019
Dr. Arthur Dugoni addresses the crowd at the RDAEF graduation ceremony.
Group photo of the 2019 RDAEF cohort.
The Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry's Division of Continuing Dental Education celebrated the graduation of the eighth cohort of students in the Registered Dental Assistant in Extended Functions (RDAEF) program on Sunday, May 5, 2019. It was the biggest class to date with 27 students completing the nine-month certificate program.
More than 160 family members and friends came to celebrate this special occasion with the graduates. Dean Emeritus Dr. Arthur A. Dugoni was the guest speaker, and program faculty members were on hand to present certificates to the newest graduates.
"Our recent RDAEF graduating class was the largest and most diverse class ever," said Dr. Molly Newlon, program director. "They represented a variety of dental settings from private practice to community health which contributed to the depth of the class experience. We were fortunate to add additional exceptional faculty to our class, including Dr. Leslie McGarvey and three of our former graduates, Leana Miller, Maggie Rodriques and Denny Pham. The students worked diligently over 44 days to perfect their dental skills and it was a joy to be a part of their professional growth these past nine months."
The RDAEF program trains and prepares currently licensed RDAs for the Dental Board of California exam for extended functions, teaching them how to perform a number of advanced dental care tasks including performing oral health evaluations, placing direct restorations and more.
RDAEFs are trained to complete many restorative procedures which were previously only done by dentists. Although the dentist will continue to oversee treatment and will complete all surgical procedures on the teeth, the RDAEF is trained to properly complete many complex tasks - such as the filling of restorations - which can free up the dentist to see more patients and to deliver more care. RDAEFs are especially useful in large clinic or rural settings which often have a lack of dentists available to treat the underserved.
The RDAEF program is currently accepting applications for its 9th cohort, which begins Aug. 10, 2019. The application deadline is July 1, 2019.
Contact: Office of Marketing and Communications, 415.929.6434, pr@pacific.edu
Categories: 2019
Contact: Office of Marketing and Communications, 415.929.6434, pr@pacific.edu
