Dental Assisting

The Dental Assisting, C1 program at Houston City College use a selective admissions process and requires an additional application beyond applying. Enrollment is limited, and not all qualified applicants may be offered placement. Please review the admission dates below carefully to ensure you complete all required steps by the required deadlines.

On average, approximately 50 - 80 students apply for admission each application period. Of these, only 30 are accepted for the fall cohort and 12 are accepted for both the spring and summer cohorts.

When the number of eligible applications exceeds program seat availability, selective criteria are used to determine which applicants are offered admission. Selective criteria are awarded based on the following:

• 75% may be awarded based on the health program academic criteria.
  (grades earned from pre-entry form, required and recommended courses and general education requirements)
• 25% may be awarded based on the interview process.
• All application requirements must be satisfied by the close of the application window.

Student Success Course: N/A

Prerequisite Courses:  N/A

Academic criteria listed below are not required for the Dental Assisting Certificate l program admission application, but are HIGHLY ENCOURAGED to be taken in advance to receive additional points on your application score:

Cumulative GPA:  College GPA of 2.0 or higher recommended.

Academic Courses: Completion of the below courses with a minimum grade of ‘C’ or higher upon application submission.

• Spring 2026 & Summer 2026: HPRS 1201 – Introduction to Health Professions. This course can be substituted with the EDUC 1300 Student Success course or college-level courses with a minimum of 12 credits, or as approved by the Program Director.
  Note:  Fall 2026: HPRS 1304 - Basic Health Profession Skills, No substitution is allowed. Please note that, starting Fall 2026, HPRS 1304 will be the academic course in the program curriculum.
  
• ENGL 1301 - English Composition I

The program in Dental Assisting is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation [and has been granted the accreditation status of “approval without reporting requirements”]. The Commission is a specialized accrediting body recognized by the United States Department of Education. The Commission on Dental Accreditation can be contacted at 312-440-4653 or at 211 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611. The Commission’s on Dental Accreditation.

Students will be able to:

• Application of four-handed dentistry concepts.
• Systematically collect diagnostic patient data.
• Manage infection and hazard control protocol consistent with published professional guidelines.
• Perform dental office business procedures.

The Dental Assisting program graduates licensures/certifications are issued by the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners.

There is no national standardization for dental assistants when moving from one state to another, due to different requirements for dental assistants in every state.

To locate this information, access resources such as The Dental Assisting National Board, Inc. (DANB.) DANB’s State-Specific Information page, which is a compilation of state-specific dental assisting information. You will be able to find out which DANB exams are recognized in any given state, the requirements to perform specific dental assisting functions there, contact information for the state dental board, and more. DANB’s website also lists the dental assistant titles recognized in each state.

Please note, every attempt is made to ensure the above information is accurate and up to date; however, some information is subject to change.

If you have any questions or encounter problems contacting the appropriate licensing board, please contact the Program Director at 713-718-7351.

2023-2024 Third-Party Licensure/Certification Exam Results 

Occupational licensure and/or certification pass rates reported by academic calendar year (Sept. 1–Aug. 31). Results for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 academic years are provided for comparison.