Clinical Dental Assistants are Crucial Bedrock Team Members in the Academic Clinical Dental Milieu during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 Pandemic forced immediate changes in how dental academicians must teach dental student doctors’ hands-on acquisition of Dental Auxiliary Utilization (DAU) principles. The Clinical Dental Assistants’ (CDAs) presence was reduced drastically in their clinical access during patient care in the distal part of the Spring Semester 2020 and the early months of the Fall Semester of 2020. The substantive and necessary limitations for safety in the academic setting and societal dental health care needs have reduced student doctors’ opportunities to utilize clinical dental assistants (CDAs) for DAU. CDAs’ value in an academic dental care milieu is paramount to student doctors’ successful transition from the preclinical to clinical and ultimately transition to private clinical practices.