Frequently Asked Questions About CalDOC & CalDOC Dental Assisting Academy

Startup costs for a CalDOC school range from $9,500 for a California Dental Board Approved Certification Center to $26,000 for a CalDOC Dental Assisting Turnkey Academy, to $30,000 for an EFDA I&II Advanced RDA Training Academy. These costs cover the cost of set up, training, customization, regulatory ad compliance work, custom school website, etc., CalDOC earns its revenues when you start enrolling students, not from startup fees. In fact, since CalDOC finances 90% of the startup costs with our in-house financing, we have a vested interest in the success and profitability of every school and certification center in our network. There are no ongoing royalties or franchise fees. 

The average unit volume for the top 25% of territories by gross revenue is over $400,000. However, it’s important to note that profitability depends on a variety of factors, making it difficult to predict sales or profits for a future location. Upon request, a full breakdown of projected financial performance by territory is available within our Discovery Document as part of the ownership process.

Yes. We protect the territory of every CalDOC school owner. Your assigned area is yours exclusively, and no other CalDOC school will be located within a certain radius of your location. This includes certification centers because CalDOC Dental Assisting Academy owners also receive the California Dental Board Approved Provider status.The exception is if an Advanced RDA school wants to launch a location nearby as they represent the existing RDA market who must already have Dental Board certification and want to take the 400+ hour EFDA combined course. They are not perspective entry-level dental assistants without any experience or training which are attracted to the CalDOC Dental Assisting Academies, or those RDA and unregistered DAs just seeking individual certifications such as radiology. 

While we welcome school owners with a background in dental or other education, you do not need to have prior experience in education. With our extensive training and support programs available to owners, we bridge potential gaps by teaching you how to run a successful dental education business. Since we are vested in the success and profitability of each of the three types of schools, we provide each school owner with an extensive support system, on-going consultations, and a dedicated client success manager.

Our next-level training, support staff, and tools are designed to assist school owners at every stage, from the California proprietary school licensure and California Dental Board approval processes to the pre-opening phase to ongoing operations. Beyond our Schoo Owner Certification Training Course, a readily available help desk, and expert Dental Education Business Consultants, our owners have access to a dedicated support ecosystem of industry experts and fellow school oners. 

Absolutely! CalDOC is proud to support our veterans by offering 5% off the initial entry fee for those who qualify.

The CalDOC story began in Arlington, Texas in 2004. The company was started by offering partnerships with large university CE departments and gre to over 40 university locations nationwide. In 2008, it started offering partnerships to medial and dental professionals and the business boomed. In December 2024, CalDOC saw the demand and need for dental practice-owned schools. This opportunity became even stronger with the changing laws for dental assistants in California starting in 2025. This, plus the tough school licensing laws gave rise to CalDOC since our California dental education expertise is unique and very strong, and no one was specializing in building a brand of not only state licensed, but dental board of California approved programs. We purchase the intellectual property, premium curriculums which our team modified to meet California standards, and exclusive rights to market strictly to dental practices and partner with dental societies strictly in California. We also broadened the scope of state and board approved courses that can be offered a stand-alone or as part of a CalDOC Dental Assisting Academy. Our goals is 300 practice-based campus locations in the next three years. And with over 150 interested dentist leads per month already streaming in, we may reach that goal sooner than later.

We stay competitive with various points of differentiation, especially being the only turnkey dental education company that is California-specific and has a system for getting programs state and dental board-approved. Our team of compliance officers are very experienced and knowledgeable in navigating the challenging and work-intense BPPE and Dental Board application processes so that school owners don't have to do much work to be an approved college. We developed school systems, and cutting-edge educational technology and multiple product offerings (not just dental assisting!). With CalDOC™, an adaptive platform used to develop and deliver personalized lesson plans that adjust to a student’s needs in real-time, certified tutors and more, to proudly become the leading dental assisting and dental board certification education California business model in the near future. No one else but CalDOC is offering a turnkey California-specific dental education business model.

Fill out our contact form and we will be in touch with you to discuss our Dentist Owner discovery process.

The initial entry fee for a single territory is $6,000. CalDOC invests the rest in paying for state licensure and dental board approval work, website development, platform development, etc. The rest is financed, or you may pay in full. See the Investment page for each type of school you may be interested in.

CalDOC offers both single and multi-unit ownership opportunities. However, we strongly suggest that you start and launch your first location and run at least two full classes before expanding to another location (if the territory is available). This will allow you to expand with good experience to own multi-location schools. There are also plenty of internal expansion opportunities, such as adding different training programs (dental front desk receptionist, orthodontic assisting, etc.). Check out the Ideal Candidate page to learn more.

Yes! CalDOC offers easy entry with only $6,000 for a CalDOC Dental Assisting Academy to $10,000 down for a CalDOC Advanced RDA EF I and II combined Academy. Our financing is available for selected candidates through our lending platform, with monthly payments as low as $556. Interest rates are 8% to 12% based on credit. Your return on investment is with the very first class!

Licensed Dentists and Dental Hygienists are our best candidates, though we will consider RDAEF I and II candidates with the experience and financial qualifications to launch their school.