Free Courses
23 self-paced courses, 131 lessons, no signup and no paywall. Written for the people who actually run the office.
Not sure which one? Answer one question, what you do for a living, and start there
Every course
23 of them, 131 lessons in total. Start anywhere. Every lesson you finish counts toward the certifications.
Dental Equipment Fundamentals
Every major piece of equipment in a dental office: what it does, how it fails, and what good condition looks like.
- The Operatory, Piece by Piece
- Air, Vacuum, and the Utility Room
- How Instruments Flow Through Sterilization
- Imaging Equipment Basics
- Condition, Wear, and Common Failure Points
- What Good Condition Actually Looks Like
Sterilization and Compliance Basics
The instrument processing chain, monitoring and logs, waterlines, OSHA basics, and being inspection ready.
- The Instrument Processing Chain
- Monitoring, Logs, and Failed Spore Tests
- Waterlines, Surfaces, and PPE
- OSHA Basics for the Dental Office
- Being Inspection Ready
Buying Equipment for a New Practice
Budget, new versus used strategy, sourcing, inspection, negotiation, and opening day.
- Building the Equipment Budget
- A New vs. Used Strategy by Category
- Sourcing: Dealers, Liquidators, and Private Sellers
- Inspection and Negotiation
- Delivery, Install, and Opening Day
Reselling Equipment: A Practice Owner's Guide
What sells, how to price it, how to list it, how to get paid safely, and how removal day works.
- What Actually Sells and What Does Not
- Pricing Used Equipment Honestly
- Preparing, Photographing, and Listing
- Screening Buyers and Getting Paid Safely
- Removal, Freight, and Handoff
Front Office Fundamentals
The first call through recall: scheduling, verification, checkout, collections, and hard conversations.
- The First Call
- Scheduling Without Holes
- Insurance Verification and Estimates
- Checkout and Collecting at the Desk
- Recall and Reactivation
- Difficult Conversations at the Front Desk
Dental Insurance and Billing 101
How plans work, fee schedules, coding, claims, denials and appeals, and running A/R.
- How Dental Plans Actually Work
- Fee Schedules, UCR, and Write-Offs
- Coding Basics and Documentation
- Claims, Attachments, and Clean Submissions
- Denials, Appeals, and Narratives
- A/R, Statements, and Collections
Practice Startup 101
From deciding whether a startup fits you through demographics, financing, buildout, systems, and the first hundred days.
- Is a Startup Right for You?
- Demographics and Site Selection
- Financing and the Startup Budget
- Buildout and Timeline
- Systems to Have Before You Open
- The First Hundred Days
Dental Marketing Fundamentals
Who your practice is for, the Google basics, website conversion, reviews, paid ads without waste, and measuring what works.
- Deciding Who Your Practice Is For
- The Google Basics That Move the Needle
- Website and Conversion
- Reviews and Referrals
- Paid Ads Without Waste
- Measuring What Works
Equipment Maintenance and Care
Keeping the machines alive: compressors, vacuum, sterilizers, handpieces, chairs, sensors, and the log that proves you did it.
- The Maintenance Mindset and the Log That Proves It
- Caring for the Compressor and Vacuum
- Sterilizer Care and Water Quality
- Handpiece Care, Where Practices Lose the Most Money
- Chairs, Delivery Units, and the Operatory
- Imaging Equipment and Sensor Care
- Building the Maintenance Calendar
Dental Terminology and Charting
Tooth numbering, surfaces and directions, the anatomy behind the vocabulary, reading a chart, procedure and specialty terms, and charting cleanly in the software.
- How Teeth Are Named and Numbered
- Surfaces, Directions, and How to Read a Restoration
- The Anatomy Behind the Words
- Reading a Dental Chart
- Procedure Vocabulary and Who Does What
- Putting It Together in the Software
HIPAA and Patient Privacy for Dental Practices
What HIPAA covers in a dental office, the Security Rule in practice, business associates, patient rights and requests, and being ready for a breach.
- What HIPAA Actually Covers in a Dental Office
- The Security Rule in a Real Office
- Business Associates and Vendors
- Patient Rights and How to Handle Requests
- Breaches, Training, and Staying Ready
Dental Radiography: Equipment, Safety, and Compliance
How the image happens, sensors and plates, technique and retakes, panoramic and cone beam, radiation safety, and the registration and records a state expects.
- How the Image Actually Happens
- Sensors, Phosphor Plates, and What Replaced Film
- Intraoral Technique and Why Retakes Happen
- Panoramic and Cone Beam
- Radiation Safety and ALARA
- Registration, Inspection, and Records
Hiring and Keeping a Dental Team
Defining the role, writing a posting that works, screening and interviewing, onboarding the first ninety days, retention, and what to do when it is not working.
- What You Are Actually Hiring For
- The Posting, and Where Candidates Actually Come From
- Screening and the Working Interview
- Making the Offer and the First Ninety Days
- Keeping the Ones You Want to Keep
- When It Is Not Working
OSHA and Workplace Safety for Dental Practices
What OSHA reaches in a dental office: the bloodborne pathogens program, hazard communication, PPE and controls, exposure incidents and records, and being ready when an inspector walks in.
- What OSHA Actually Requires of a Dental Office
- The Bloodborne Pathogens Program
- Hazard Communication and the Chemicals in Your Building
- PPE, Engineering Controls and Work Practice Controls
- Exposure Incidents, Training and the Records
- Being Ready for an Inspection
Dental Inventory and Supply Management
Where the supply budget actually goes: par levels and ordering, vendors and what a price really is, receiving and expiry, and the cost per procedure that tells you where the waste is.
- What Supplies Actually Cost a Practice
- Par Levels and an Ordering System That Survives Vacations
- Vendors, Reps, Buying Groups and What a Price Really Is
- Receiving, Storage, Rotation and Expiry
- Cost Per Procedure and Finding the Waste
Insurance Credentialing and Fee Schedules
Getting credentialed and staying that way: what a contract actually decides, the application and CAQH, reading a fee schedule, negotiating or dropping a plan, and keeping providers current.
- What Credentialing Actually Decides
- The Application, CAQH, and Why It Stalls
- Reading a Fee Schedule and What a Write-Off Really Costs
- Negotiating a Fee Schedule, and When to Drop a Plan
- Maintaining Credentials, Re-Credentialing and Adding Providers
Understanding Restorative Dentistry
What restorative dentistry actually covers, so the rest of the team can follow it: direct and indirect work, the materials and machines behind them, the lab relationship, occlusion explained properly, and how it all gets scheduled and described.
- What Restorative Dentistry Actually Covers
- Direct Restorations, Start to Finish
- Crowns, Onlays and Indirect Work
- The Lab, the Case, and What Goes Wrong
- Occlusion, Explained for the Whole Team
- Scheduling It, Explaining It, Documenting It
Understanding Implants, Surgery and Specialty Care
Implants, surgery, endodontics, periodontics, orthodontics and removable work, explained for the people around the chair: the components, the setups, the referral chain, and what the team does before and after.
- The Specialties, and When a Case Leaves the Building
- Implants as a System of Parts
- The Surgical Setup
- Endodontics and Periodontics for the Team
- Orthodontics, Dentures and Removable Work
- Before and After a Surgical Appointment
Chairside Assisting: The Craft Around the Chair
The craft of working chairside: the instruments and the tray, isolation and moisture control, room turnover and the sterilization handoff, the materials you handle all day, and the four-handed rhythm.
- What a Dental Assistant Actually Does All Day
- Knowing the Instruments and Building the Tray
- Isolation, Suction and Moisture Control
- Room Turnover, Barriers and the Sterilization Handoff
- Materials at Chairside: Mixing, Timing and Handling
- Anticipation, Transfer and the Four-Handed Rhythm
Understanding Hygiene and Preventive Care
The hygiene department as a working part of the practice: the appointment start to finish, the perio chart explained properly, what prophy and SRP and maintenance actually are, the preventive toolkit, and recall.
- What the Hygiene Department Actually Is
- A Hygiene Appointment, Start to Finish
- Reading the Perio Chart Without Guessing
- Prophy, Scaling and Root Planing, and Perio Maintenance
- The Preventive Toolkit: Fluoride, Sealants and the Rest
- Recall: The System That Keeps the Column Full
Practice Management: Running the Day
Running the practice once it exists: the schedule as a designed object, the huddle, the numbers that mean something, case acceptance as a system, written protocol, and managing people day to day.
- The Schedule Is the Practice
- The Morning Huddle and the Rhythm of the Day
- The Numbers That Actually Tell You Something
- Case Acceptance as a System, Not a Sales Pitch
- Written Systems and the Office Manual Nobody Reads
- Managing People When You Are Also Working the Schedule
Emergency Readiness in the Dental Office
Readiness as a system rather than a cabinet: the written plan, roles assigned to positions, the equipment and proving it works, drills worth running, and what gets documented afterward.
- Readiness Is a System, Not a Cabinet
- Assigning Roles Before You Need Them
- The Equipment, and Proving It Works
- Drills That Are Worth Running
- Documentation, Reporting and the Review Afterward
The Practice Software and the Patient Record
The five things every practice system really is, the record as a legal document, the ledger and the schedule as data, the bridges that break, and backups, access and migration.
- What Practice Software Actually Is
- The Patient Record and What Belongs In It
- The Ledger and the Schedule as Data
- Bridges, Imaging and the Things Bolted On
- Backups, Access and Changing Systems
Why take one of these
Most dental training splits badly. Clinical education is excellent and covers none of this. Manufacturer training teaches you their machine. Vendor lunch-and-learns are sales calls with sandwiches. Meanwhile the actual questions, what this equipment does, what it costs to keep alive, what breaks first, how the front desk should handle a call, what a fair price looks like, get answered by whoever happens to be standing nearby.
These courses fill that gap. They are written for the person who has to do the thing on Monday: the assistant who inherited the sterilization area, the office manager who just became responsible for a service contract, the new owner staring at an equipment quote, the student who wants to walk into a practice already knowing what the room is made of.
What you actually get
- Lessons you can finish. Ten to fifteen minutes each, in a deliberate order, with a knowledge check at the end so you know whether it stuck.
- Exercises in your own office. Every lesson ends with something to go look at, count, test or write down. Reading about a compressor is not the same as finding yours.
- A certificate when you finish. Free, with your name on it, printable. Honest about being a completion record rather than accredited CE.
- No account and no paywall. Nothing to sign up for. Nothing to cancel.
Who writes this
ChairsideSource comes out of dental equipment liquidation and resale work rather than manufacturer marketing. That is a specific and slightly unglamorous vantage point, and it is the useful one: when you spend your time pulling equipment out of practices that are closing, moving, or upgrading, you see what actually held up, what was maintained and what was not, what a machine is truly worth once the brochure is gone, and which expensive decisions people regret.
That perspective is the whole reason this site exists. It is also why the writing here says when something varies, when an estimate is an estimate, and when the honest answer is to check the manufacturer's instructions or your state's current rules. There is no equipment to sell you here. The marketplace charges no commission in either direction, and nobody pays to be recommended.
What this is not
These are not continuing education credit. ChairsideSource is not accredited by any dental board or professional body, holds no CE provider status, and the certificates carry no CE hours. It is not clinical training and it does not teach dentistry. It is not legal, tax or financial advice. Where a topic is regulated, the courses say so and send you to the primary source rather than guessing on your behalf.
What is left after all that is still worth your time: a clear, practical, honest explanation of the business and equipment side of running a dental practice, free, from someone who has seen the inside of a lot of operatories.