A former dental assistant at the office where a 2-year-old was given a root canal that left her unconscious for 12 hours will have to perform 150 hours of community service but has the opportunity to avoid conviction if she stays out of trouble for four years.

Nicole Dudoit, 29, pleaded no contest in state court in July to dispensing pain and sedative drugs to the 2-year-old girl without a written prescription or a license to do so at the office of Kailua dentist Dr. Lilly Geyer.

Geyer is the dentist charged with manslaughter in the death of 3-year-old Finley Boyle, who stopped breathing during a root canal at the Kailua office just two weeks after the incident with the 2-year-old.

Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario granted Dudoit’s request Friday for a deferral of her no-contest pleas. He had previously dismissed an assault charge against Dudoit.

The state attorney general had charged Dudoit with assaulting the 2-year-old by placing the girl at substantial risk of death. The child’s mother had taken her to Geyer’s Island Dentistry for Children in November 2013 for a baby root canal. The procedure lasted an hour, but the drugs that Dudoit administered kept the girl unconscious for 12 hours.

Del Rosario said he dismissed the assault charge because there is no report that the girl suffered any lasting effects from the 12 hours she was unconscious.

“The court can consider only injuries actually caused, not what could have happened,” he said.

Still, an Oahu grand jury charged Geyer in September with assault. The grand jury also charged Geyer with manslaughter in Boyle’s death. Geyer’s trial is scheduled for next month.

Dudoit’s lawyer, Todd Eddins, told Del Rosario that Dudoit had been working for Geyer for just 10 months when the 2-year-old had her baby root canal. He said it was another assistant, who had been working for Geyer longer than Dudoit, who mixed the drugs.

Kathleen Cacal agreed to be charged in April with one count of dispensing a controlled substance without a written prescription or license, and her case is still pending.

According to a report from the probation office that Del Rosario read in court, Dudoit administered the drugs to the 2-year-old girl before Geyer, who was running late, was in the office. Geyer performed the root canal after she arrived. The probation office was unable to determine whether Geyer instructed Dudoit to administer the drugs.

Dudoit told Del Rosario that she should have used better judgment, and hoped that her experience would better educate other dental assistants.