Here's how to become a dentist in the U.S.: earn a bachelor's degree with science prerequisites, take the Dental Admission Test (DAT), complete four years of dental school for a DDS or DMD, pass the national board exam (the INBDE), and get a state dental license.
That takes roughly eight years after high school, and specialties add a residency on top.
Below is each step, when to take it, and what it involves.
The short answer: what it takes to become a dentist
The route into dentistry is well defined but demanding.
You finish a bachelor's degree with the required science courses, take the DAT, earn a DDS or DMD from a school accredited by CODA, pass the INBDE, and obtain a license from your state's dental board.
Starting as an associate is the common first job: among graduating seniors in ADEA's 2025 survey who planned to enter private practice, 77% expected to start as associates.
There's no shortcut around dental school and licensure, and the national steps are the same for everyone — the state license is where the paths diverge — so knowing them early lets you line up prerequisites, shadowing, and the DAT at the right time.
This is the domestic path.
If you already hold a dental degree from outside the U.S., see how to become a dentist in the U.S. as a foreign-trained dentist instead.
Stripped of the sequencing, the requirements are these — the BLS's summary is that dentists need a DDS or DMD from an accredited program plus written and clinical exams to be licensed in the state where they work, and each state's dental board sets the final list.
- A bachelor's degree with science prerequisites — most dental programs require applicants to have at least a bachelor's degree and certain science courses (BLS).
- The entrance exam (the DAT) — BLS says dental schools weigh the admission exam with your GPA, interviews, and recommendations.
- A DDS or DMD from a CODA-accredited school — four years, same degree under two names.
- The INBDE, the national written board exam.
- A clinical licensure exam, where your state accepts one — New York requires a residency year instead for initial licensure, Delaware adds a residency year to its own practical exam, and Minnesota, California, and Washington let an approved residency stand in (see the licensure section below).
- Any state-specific requirements, such as a jurisprudence exam on that state's dental law.
- A state dental license, renewed on your state's cycle (continuing-education rules vary by state — our licensure pages list each one).
- The working qualities BLS lists for dentists: communication, attention to detail, dexterity, leadership, organization, patience, and problem-solving.
Licensure requirements vary by state
The step-by-step path, from college to license
Seven steps take you from undergraduate student to licensed dentist.
The first four happen in college; the last three happen in and just after dental school.
Earn a bachelor's degree with prerequisites
Most dental programs require applicants to have at least a bachelor's degree and certain science courses, such as biology or chemistry (BLS) — each school publishes its own prerequisite list, so take your course plan from the schools you're targeting.Build clinical and service experience
Shadow dentists, volunteer, and take on activities that show you can work with people and with your hands. BLS says schools weigh the entrance exam next to your GPA, interviews, and recommendations — shadowing and service are the evidence you bring to the rest of the file.Take the Dental Admission Test (DAT)
The DAT is the entrance exam U.S. dental-school applicants sit. Take it after your core science courses and early enough that a score is in hand when applications open — timing and prep are covered below.Apply through ADEA AADSAS
Applications run through AADSAS, the American Dental Education Association's centralized application service, followed by school-specific secondary applications and interviews.Complete dental school (four years)
A program accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) awards a DDS or DMD — the same degree under two names. How each school sequences the four years is school-specific; our dental school guide covers the structure.Pass the INBDE
The Integrated National Board Dental Examination is the national written board exam — the written piece of state licensure. Our guide to the INBDE explains the exam in full.Get your state dental license
Apply to the dental board in the state where you'll practice. Licensure typically requires the INBDE plus a clinical licensure exam and a state jurisprudence exam — see the licensure section below. With the license in hand, you can practice as a general dentist; the career-path section below covers what the first job looks like.
General dentists can start practicing once they're licensed; specializing comes after dental school and is covered further down.
The eight-year path to a dental career, year by year
The standard path is four years of college followed by four years of dental school.
Here's roughly what each stage holds if you apply to dental school during college and enroll right after graduating; if you take time off in between, the application steps shift later but the order stays the same.
| Stage | What you're doing |
|---|---|
| College, years 1–2 | Start the science prerequisites, meet your college's health professions advisor, join a pre-dental club if there is one, and begin shadowing |
| College, year 3 | Finish the core science courses, keep building shadowing and volunteer experience, line up letter writers, and prepare for the DAT |
| Summer before senior year | Take the DAT if you haven't yet, write your personal statement, and submit your AADSAS application early in the cycle |
| College, year 4 | Complete secondary applications and interviews, and finish your bachelor's degree |
| Dental school, years 1–2 | The first half of the four-year dental program — coursework and labs dominate the calendar |
| Dental school, years 3–4 | The second half of the program: prepare for the INBDE, submit license applications and, if you're specializing, residency applications |
| After graduation | Clinical exam and state license, then practice as a general dentist or start an optional or specialty residency |
That's the calendar version.
Our how long it takes to become a dentist guide breaks the same timeline down stage by stage, including the extra years a specialty residency adds.
Before you apply: undergraduate courses, shadowing, and experience
Most dental programs require a bachelor's degree and certain science courses, such as biology or chemistry — BLS's summary names the courses, not a major, so you complete whatever courses each school lists.
What schools want to see beyond your transcript is evidence that you understand the profession and have the hands and the people skills for it.
A few things make the undergraduate years count:
- A health professions advisor: if your college or university has a pre-health advisor, meet them early. They track prerequisites and can tell you whether your school writes a committee letter for dental applicants.
- Pre-dental clubs and programs: a pre-dental society or summer enrichment program is a practical way to meet dental students, hear from admissions staff, and find shadowing contacts.
- Job shadowing: observing in a dental office — ideally a general practice and at least one specialist — shows you understand the day-to-day work and gives you material for your essay and interviews. It's also the cheapest way to find out whether you want this career at all.
- Volunteering and leadership: community service, especially in health settings, and leadership in campus organizations round out the file. Sustained involvement in a few activities says more than a long list.
- Manual dexterity: dentistry is precise, hands-on work. Hobbies that train fine motor control, such as drawing, sculpting, model building, or playing an instrument, are worth mentioning as evidence of the fine motor control the work takes.
Some universities also offer combined BS/DDS or BS/DMD programs that link undergraduate study to a dental-school seat.
Terms, admission requirements, and length vary by program, so read each one closely; they suit students who are sure about dentistry early.
Preparing for and taking the DAT
The Dental Admission Test (DAT) is the entrance exam U.S. dental-school applicants usually take; it's administered by the American Dental Association (ADA).
BLS's summary of how schools use it is simple: they weigh the entrance exam next to your GPA, interviews, and recommendations.
The exam's current content outline, scoring, fees, and rules live on the ADA's own DAT pages — start there rather than with secondhand summaries.
When to take it.
Sit it after your core science courses and early enough that a score is in hand when your application cycle opens.
For students applying straight from college, planning for junior year or the summer after it keeps that window comfortable.
Taking it before the coursework means learning the material twice.
How to prepare.
Build a study plan backward from your test date, and start with the ADA's official DAT guide and practice materials so you're preparing for what the exam currently covers.
Use timed practice to find your weak areas before you register, and check the ADA's current scheduling and retake rules before you book a first attempt you aren't ready for.
For a closer look at how the DAT fits into admissions, see dental school: length, cost, and the DAT.
Applying to dental school: AADSAS, letters, essays, and interviews
Applications run through AADSAS, the centralized application service operated by the American Dental Education Association (ADEA).
You submit one application and designate the dental schools you want it sent to.
Schools then send their own secondary applications and invite applicants to interview.
Where a school reviews applications on a rolling basis, applying early in the cycle helps — check each school's process.
Letters of evaluation.
Ask people who have seen your work up close — faculty who taught your science courses, supervisors from volunteering or research, and a dentist who knows your shadowing.
Each school sets its own letter requirements, so check them before you ask anyone to write.
The personal statement.
Your essay should explain why you want to be a dentist, using specifics from shadowing, service, and your own experience rather than general statements about helping people.
Interviews.
Formats vary by school and may be in person or online.
Be ready to talk through your motivation, what you learned from shadowing, a challenge you've handled, and why that school.
Interview day is also your chance to ask how early students start seeing patients and how much clinical experience they get.
What admissions committees weigh.
BLS names your GPA, the entrance exam, interviews, and recommendations among what schools weigh; beyond that list, each school defines its own criteria, so read what each program publishes.
On the odds: the sources behind this guide publish no acceptance rate, so we won't quote one — treat any precise percentage you're handed as an estimate.
What's documented is the applicant pool: ADA's Health Policy Institute data show applicants to U.S. dental schools hit 13,742 in 2024, the highest since 2007, up 11.5% from 2023.
For an honest stage-by-stage look at where the difficulty actually sits — acceptance, boards, and licensing — see how hard it is to become a dentist.
Choosing a school.
Apply to programs accredited by CODA.
State licensure rules are built around accredited education — Alabama and Arkansas, for example, require graduation from a dental school accredited by CODA to license a dentist.
Our list of dental schools by state shows the accredited programs near you; beyond accreditation, what's worth weighing is cost, location, and how each school sequences its curriculum.
Inside dental school: curriculum and cost
Dental school is four years at nearly every U.S. school.
How those four years are sequenced is school-specific — how early you're in labs, when you start treating patients under supervision, and which disciplines rotate when — so ask each program you're considering how it structures the curriculum.
Our dental school guide walks through the four years in detail.
Cost differs enormously between schools and by residency status, and it covers far more than tuition.
Debt is the documented norm: 82% of respondents to ADEA's 2025 senior survey graduated with education debt, and among those graduating with debt the surveyed average was $297,800 (up 2% from 2021, not adjusted for inflation).
We don't quote a cost average — pull the current cost of attendance from each school you're considering.
Getting licensed: the INBDE, clinical exam, and state dental license
A dental degree doesn't let you practice on its own.
Each state licenses dentists through its own dental board, and the common pattern has three pieces:
- The INBDE, the national written board exam (our INBDE guide covers what it tests and when students take it).
- A clinical licensure exam — a hands-on assessment of clinical skills. Which exams a state accepts varies; see state clinical licensure exams and reciprocity.
- State requirements, such as a jurisprudence exam on that state's dental law.
Residency rules are where the states diverge.
New York requires a postdoctoral general practice or specialty residency of at least one year for initial licensure, and Delaware similarly requires a year as a dental intern in an approved residency plus its own practical exam.
In Minnesota, California, and Washington, a residency is an alternative route rather than a mandate: Minnesota waives the clinical exam for graduates of a CODA-accredited school who passed the national board exams and completed a one-year GPR or AEGD after January 1, 2004, California offers "licensure by residency" after 12 months of an approved program, and in Washington a qualifying year of accredited residency can substitute for the clinical exam.
Check your own state early using our dentist licensure requirements by state, and confirm the details with that state's dental board.
If you'll prescribe controlled substances, DEA registration comes after the state license.
Keeping your license.
Learning how to be a dentist doesn't end with the license.
Licenses must be renewed, and renewal carries a continuing-education (CE) requirement in the states summarized on our licensure pages.
The hours and cycle vary: New York requires 60 hours per three-year registration period, while Connecticut requires 25 contact hours in the preceding 24 months with annual renewal.
Each state's licensure page lists its CE rule.
How to become a general dentist
Becoming a general dentist is the direct outcome of the path above — there is no separate general-dentistry track to choose and no extra exam to sit.
A DDS or DMD is a general dentistry degree, and once your state board issues your license you can practice: BLS notes that general dentists need no training beyond dental school, and where a state's licensure route asks for more, that state's rule governs.
Among the states our licensure research covers, New York and Delaware require a residency year for an initial license — Delaware adding its own practical exam — and in Minnesota, California, and Washington a residency year can stand in for the clinical exam.
Those five are the states we've checked, not the full list: any other state can add its own requirements, so confirm yours with its dental board.
Every path still runs through the national steps in the list at the top of this page — what varies is what each state adds on top.
For what comes after the license, our guide to how new dentists find their first associate job covers finding and evaluating that first role.
Specializing: GPR, AEGD, and dental specialty residencies
General dentists can practice as soon as they're licensed — no residency is required unless a state's licensure route adds one.
If you want more training, there are two kinds of postgraduate program.
GPR and AEGD.
A general practice residency (GPR) or an advanced education in general dentistry (AEGD) program is optional training beyond dental school that deepens general-dentistry skills; neither makes you a specialist.
Continuing straight into training isn't unusual: in ADEA's 2025 senior survey, 37% of seniors planned to continue their education immediately after graduation, and the GPR was both the most frequently applied program and the top first-choice selection.
Browse GPR and AEGD programs by state.
Specialty residency.
To become a specialist, you complete a CODA-accredited residency in one of the 12 specialties recognized by the National Commission on Recognition of Dental Specialties and Certifying Boards: dental anesthesiology, dental public health, endodontics, oral and maxillofacial pathology, oral and maxillofacial radiology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, oral medicine, orofacial pain, orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, and prosthodontics.
For a rough calendar, BLS describes specialty training as usually a two- to four-year residency, with oral and maxillofacial surgery programs typically four to six years and some awarding a joint medical degree.
CODA sets a minimum length for each residency rather than a typical one:
| Specialty | CODA minimum length |
|---|---|
| Endodontics | 24 months of full-time study |
| Orthodontics | 24 months and 3,700 scheduled hours |
| Pediatric dentistry | 24 months of full-time formal training |
| Periodontics | Three consecutive academic years, with at least 30 months of instruction |
| Prosthodontics | 34 months (45 with integrated maxillofacial training) |
| Oral and maxillofacial surgery | Four years of full-time study, including at least 120 weeks of clinical OMS |
Source: CODA Accreditation Standards for each specialty. These are accreditation minimums, not typical program lengths; actual lengths vary by program.
Admission to the popular specialties is competitive, and our guide compares Match counts specialty by specialty — see which dental specialty is hardest to match into.
After residency, specialists can pursue board certification from their field's certifying board.
For the full picture, read dental residency and board certification, the 12 dental specialties explained, and the specialist paths to becoming an oral and maxillofacial surgeon or a prosthodontist.
What dentists do and where they work
Dentists diagnose and treat problems of the teeth, gums, and mouth.
BLS's duty list runs from removing decay and filling cavities, repairing or removing damaged teeth, and placing sealants to administering anesthetics, prescribing antibiotics or other medications, examining x-rays, and making models and measurements for dental appliances such as dentures.
Our dentist career guide covers the day-to-day work and core duties in depth.
Starting as an associate dentist in a private practice or a dental support organization (DSO) is the common first job — among ADEA's 2025 survey seniors planning to enter private practice, 77% expected to start as associates — and ownership is the other side of the career: ADA data show 73% of dentists were practice owners in 2023, down from 85% in 2005.
DSO vs. private practice covers that fork.
Beyond private practice, the settings show up in federal data: the Bureau of Prisons advertises frequent dentist openings across its medical centers and institutions, uniformed services employ Dental Corps officers, and the Indian Health Service repays up to $50,000 in loans for an initial two-year commitment at facilities serving American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
General and pediatric dentists who serve at approved sites in shortage areas can qualify for NHSC loan repayment.
Pay and outlook.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median wage of $170,950 a year for general dentists (OEWS, SOC 29-1021, May 2025), and BLS projects general dentist employment to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, from 141,900 to 150,000 jobs, with 4,800 openings for all dentists projected each year on average over the decade.
The dentist salary guide has the full breakdown.
When you're licensed and ready, browse dentist jobs.
This article is general information, not legal or medical advice. Education, admission, and licensure requirements vary by school and state and change over time — confirm current requirements with each school, the ADA, ADEA, and the dental board of the state where you plan to practice.