Last week I took the RDA practical exam at UCSF. This is a step towards me becoming a registered dental assistant. So what happens after application? I waited for almost 1 and 1/2 month before I got my practical and written exam instructions in the mail. In the instruction paper, it’ll tell the date, place and type/nature of the exam.

Basically the exam consisted of making a temporary crown on typodont #8 and a temporary filling on 19MO or 31 MOD. The candidate has 1 1/2 hours to finish the exam. I didn’t attend a practical exam review since I have strong background in Dentistry and my work allows me a little bit of practice. But I did rent kits I needed for the exam. Although I can borrow some things from the office, I decided not to risk having missing or incorrect items. Dental Board of California has a list of RDA rental kit companies. I got mine from Dental Education Associates for 100USD. The kit rental averages at 125USD.

The exam location for northern California is at UCSF Dental Building. It was easy to find the building to my relief. My test was scheduled at 2pm and I arrived 20 minutes prior. I still needed to get my rental kit and familiarize myself with the items inside the kit. The rental place is at 2nd floor and the exam room is at 4th floor. It’s best if you arrive 45 minutes before the exam to get your bearing and relax for a few minutes.

When I got my rental kit, I immediately made a putty impression of typodont #8 which was advised by the renters. This actually saved me time because all I needed to do during the exam was make the temporary out of it. At 2pm I went up together with the other examinees and register for the exam. The registration process needed us to present a valid ID that matches our name with the name in the instruction letter. That done I went in the room and was surprised that there are many examinees already seated. I was #80 and I think there were 100 of us who took the exam.

Cellphones were not allowed but small purses are ok. I was toting a big purse with camera and a phone hoping to tour the city after the exam. I decided to leave it with the rental kit company who were ok about it. I didn’t find anything missing when I returned for it.

Before we get to the business, the proctor introduced herself and the other staff members which we can ask for questions or help if we encounter problem during the exam. We mounted our articulator on the bench model and it is important to mount it in such a way you’ll have the proper height for working on it. 15 minutes past 2pm, we started the exam. We took out the untouched typodont #8 and screwed in the prepared #8, which was provided by the examiner. It is strictly prohibited to remove the prepared tooth and work on it separate from the bench mount. Although I saw my neighbor who did that and the proctor just reprimanded her to screw it back.

I initially wanted to finish quickly and go but the rules were we can’t go out even if we finish early. We were told to stay put on our seat. So I took my time making my temporary. I made a satisfactory temporary crown on the first try. I used a gun system acrylic which was provided in the kit. The tooth had wide shoulder margins so it was easy to make the crown without any break in the margins. Before cementing it with IRM, I checked for proximal contact, occlusion, and incisal level. To polish it, I just apply a little bit of vaseline and polish it with the finest grit of finishing disc. I didn’t take the time to find out if the kit had provided a better polishing tools. So it was polish to the best of my ability. I cemented the crown in place with a small amount of IRM and cleared the excess cement from the margins. It was difficult cleaning the excess cement without water (there’s no water in the room) and just relying on alcohol.

For the temporary filling on #19MO, I used a matrix band with wedge. I packed in a very thick mix of IRM. It’s important to have a thick mix because the IRM is very sticky and doesn’t pack well and doesn’t set fast. A thick mix is one that can be rolled into a small pellet/ball. Boy did I waste that IRM powder the kit provided. So I condensed the IRM into the cavity. To pack it easier, dip the condenser on an unmixed IRM powder when packing the IRM – this way the IRM won’t stick to the instrument. IRM sets about 5 minutes or so. I carved a decent anatomy on the tooth and removed the matrix band and wedge when the material has set. I removed any flash or excess IRM on the proximal with the hollenback. I checked for occlusion and remove high spots with a cleoid carver. I check for contact on the proximal with a floss and thank God there’s contact because if there’s not, I need to redo it…which is hard without a drilling bur provided in the kit.

I was able to finish few minutes before the time was up. I was able to put back all my instruments in the kit and clean up my space before the bell dinged. After the exam, the proctor had us all go down through the stairs (no elevators allowed) to 3rd floor to wait for the other proctors to finish their scoring. The grading took about 25-30minutes. The scoring system is a pass or fail. After the proctor checked the exam, we were told to go up again through the stairs and clean up our area. We were handed out orange passes to be able to leave the room. After that I returned to 2nd floor to hand back the kit to the company and grab my things to go home.

It was indicated in the instruction letter that the exam will take 5 hours (process, exam, checking and clean up). However we were done in under 3 hours. We finished at approximately 430pm. I thought I would have energy to tour SFO but I lost interest after the exam. The exam result will be mailed 6 weeks after. It is a pass or fail. If one needs to retake the exam, another application and fee need to be sent out. I’m feeling confident but with a little bit of worry that I did well in the exam. I knew my work was satisfactory. Well I’m going to leave it up to the Lord. So in the meantime I am going to prepare myself for the written exam.

I’m writing this blog with the purpose of helping other candidates on what to expect on the exam. Feel free to ask me any questions.

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1. California RDA written exam
2. How to apply for RDA in California
3. Philippine Dental Board Exam