Can Dental Assistants Place Fillings in Florida?

Yes, dental assistants can place fillings in Florida, but only after completing a Board-approved restorative functions training program and working under the direct supervision of a licensed dentist. The authority comes from Rule 64B5-16.0051 of the Florida Administrative Code, which lets a certified assistant place, pack, and contour amalgam and composite restorations and fit and contour stainless-steel crowns after the dentist has prepared the tooth.¹ Working outside those boundaries is a criminal matter for both the assistant and the employing dentist, so the specifics matter.

What a Certified Assistant Can and Cannot Do

The restorative functions certification covers a defined set of tasks. A certified assistant may place, pack, and contour amalgam and composite restorations in a tooth the dentist has already prepared, and may fit and contour stainless-steel crowns. The work has to be done with a slow-speed handpiece and hand instruments only.¹

Permanently cementing a stainless-steel crown is not within the certified assistant’s scope. Neither is diagnosis or treatment planning: deciding that a tooth needs a filling, choosing the material, and preparing the tooth remain the dentist’s responsibilities under Section 466.024 of the Florida Statutes.² The assistant’s role begins after the preparation is done.

Assistants who have not completed the restorative functions program have a narrower list. With formal expanded-duty training they may place or remove temporary restorations under direct supervision, and apply cavity liners, varnishes, or bases under indirect supervision.³ Placing an actual permanent filling without the restorative functions certification is not allowed, no matter how much on-the-job experience the assistant has.

Who Qualifies for the Training Program

Before you can enroll in the restorative functions course, you have to meet every item on the Board’s eligibility list:

Be at least 18 years old with a high school diploma or equivalency certificate.
Hold a current Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers certificate.
Have graduated from a dental assisting program accredited by a dental accrediting entity recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, or have completed formal expanded-duties training under Rule 64B5-16.002.
Have at least 2,400 hours of documented clinical work experience in a dental office or as a dental assisting educator, earned within the 24 months before enrollment.
Have a delegating dentist who agrees to supervise and evaluate part of the clinical requirements.

The delegating dentist carries obligations of their own. That dentist has to complete a two-hour online training on the laws and rules governing restorative functions, as well as calibration of clinical procedures, before the assistant begins the program.¹ Without that step, the chain of authority breaks and the assistant cannot practice the function in that office.

The clinical experience requirement is strict about the window. Hours earned more than 24 months before you enroll do not count, which means an assistant returning after an extended break may need to rebuild experience before applying.

How Supervision Works During a Restorative Procedure

Every restorative function performed by a certified assistant has to happen under direct supervision. The dentist diagnoses the condition, authorizes the procedure, stays on the premises for the entire procedure, and checks the finished restoration before the patient is dismissed.⁴ Indirect supervision is not enough. General supervision is not enough. The dentist being on call from across town does not meet the standard.

There is also a staffing cap. A single dentist cannot supervise more than four dental hygienists and dental assistants combined who are simultaneously performing restorative functions.¹ High-volume practices need to schedule around that limit.

Charting the Procedure

Documentation is part of the rule, not an afterthought. The patient’s chart has to show the initials of the dental assistant who placed the restoration. The dentist, in turn, has to note that the final restoration was verified and record the outcome of that verification.¹ A chart that is missing either entry gives a Board investigator a clean paper trail to question whether the work was properly supervised.

Failing to keep adequate dental records is itself grounds for disciplinary action against the dentist under Section 466.028.⁵

What Happens if an Uncertified Assistant Places a Filling

Placing a filling without the restorative functions certification is practicing outside the assistant’s scope, and Florida law responds on two tracks.

Criminal Exposure

Section 466.026 of the Florida Statutes makes it a third-degree felony for a dentist to knowingly employ someone to perform tasks outside the scope allowed by law, and a third-degree felony to practice dentistry without an active license.⁶ Third-degree felonies in Florida carry up to five years in prison.⁷ Both the assistant performing the work and the dentist authorizing it can be charged.

Administrative Penalties

The Board of Dentistry can also discipline the dentist’s license separately from any criminal case. Delegating tasks to unauthorized individuals is grounds for discipline under Section 466.028,⁵ and Rule 64B5-13.005 sets the penalty ranges. A first offense involving fraud or misrepresentation starts at a $500 fine with two years of probation. A second offense jumps to a $10,000 fine and a one-year license suspension, and any violation involving fraud or false representation triggers a mandatory $10,000 fine per count.⁸

Keeping the Certification Active

The BLS certification you needed to enroll has to stay current throughout your career. The Florida Board of Dentistry ties certification renewal to continuing education, and the Board directs practitioners to confirm their profession-specific CE requirements through the licensing and renewals portal.⁹ If CE records are incomplete at renewal time, the system blocks the renewal until the missing hours are entered. A lapsed CE record means you cannot renew your expanded-functions certification, and until you catch up you cannot legally place fillings.

For a dentist running a practice, the practical rule is simple: do not let an assistant place a restoration unless you have personally verified their restorative functions certification, their current BLS card, and their CE status. For an assistant, do not pick up the instrument until all three are in order. The felony statute does not forgive confusion about paperwork.

1
Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code R. 64B5-16.0051 – Delegation of Remediable Intraoral Restorative Functions to Dental Assistants
2
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Code 466.024 – Dental Hygienists; Dental Assistants; Scope of Practice
3
Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code R. 64B5-16.005 – Remediable Tasks Delegable to Dental Assistants
4
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Code 466.003 – Definitions
5
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Code 466.028 – Grounds for Disciplinary Action; Action by the Board
6
Florida Senate. Florida Code 466.026 – Prohibitions; Penalties
7
Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.082 – Penalties; Applicability of Sentencing Structures; Notification Requirements
8
Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code 64B5-13.005 – Disciplinary Guidelines
9
Florida Board of Dentistry. Florida Board of Dentistry – Continuing Education