Dentist Licensure Requirements in Delaware

Section 1121 requires anyone practicing dentistry or dental hygiene in Delaware, or holding themselves out as qualified to do so, to be licensed under Chapter 11.

Section 1122(a) sets the core qualifications for a dentist applicant: a dental degree from a school accredited by the ADA's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA); at least two years of undergraduate study completed before matriculating into dental school; one of the residency routes described above; a passing score on the Delaware jurisprudence exam and the National Board of Dental Examiners' examinations; and a passing score on the Delaware practical examination under Section 1123.

Section 1122(c) adds conditions common to every applicant, including current CPR certification, no history of administrative penalties or disciplinary consent agreements, no drug- or alcohol-related impairment that would limit safe practice, no disqualifying criminal conviction (subject to a Board waiver process, except for a felony sexual offense), fingerprinting with a state and federal criminal background check, and a sworn statement of physical and mental capability to practice.

Section 1123 and Delaware Administrative Code 1100 § 10.0 govern the practical examination itself: it is prepared and administered by the Board, validated by a dental school faculty member who is not licensed in Delaware, and may be attempted no more than three times without Board-approved mitigating circumstances.

Administrative Code § 4.4 separately requires that, for a specialty residency shorter than four years to substitute for the general-practice residency, the program meet CODA's Standard 2.4 general-practice-residency criteria and include rotations of at least 70 hours each in anesthesia and medicine.

Under Section 1124, the Board grants a license to an applicant who presents proof of current licensure in good standing in another state, the District of Columbia or a U.S. territory and who has maintained that license in good standing while satisfying the same conduct, capability and background conditions required of every applicant.

For a dentist specifically, the applicant must also hold a CODA-accredited dental degree, submit proof of three years of active dental practice in another jurisdiction, and satisfy the degree, pre-dental coursework, jurisprudence-exam, National Board exam and Delaware practical-exam requirements described above, along with proof of current CPR certification.

Delaware Administrative Code 1100 § 4.5 confirms that a dentist applying for licensure by reciprocity with at least three years of active dental practice elsewhere is not required to provide evidence of a general practice or specialty residency; active practice is defined as an average of at least 1,000 hours of direct patient care per year, evidenced by W-2s, 1099s, tax returns, or written verification from the dental practice administrator.

An applicant licensed under this section must also remain academically current, through continuing education or otherwise, as the Board determines.

The ADA document repeats the Administrative Code §§ 4.1–4.4 education and residency requirements under this heading: a dentist applicant must hold a doctoral dental degree from a CODA-accredited U.S. dental college, or a doctoral degree from a dental college plus a post-doctoral degree or certificate from a CODA-approved specialty program in oral and maxillofacial surgery, periodontics, pediatric dentistry, endodontics, orthodontics, or prosthodontics.

It restates the same general-practice-residency and specialty-residency substitution rules and the 70-hour anesthesia and medicine rotation requirement for a shorter specialty residency described above under General Licensure Requirements — it does not repeat the § 4.5 reciprocity residency waiver, which the source states only under License by Credential/Endorsement Requirements.

Delaware licenses renew biennially.

Under Section 1126, a licensee who misses the renewal date has up to one year to reactivate the license before being treated as a new applicant, a lapse of more than five years without active practice elsewhere in that time requires reexamination or another formal competency assessment, and a licensee may request inactive status and later reenter practice after notifying the Board and completing the required continuing education.

Delaware Administrative Code 1100 § 6.3 sets the dentist continuing-education requirement at 50 hours of continuing professional education (CPE) every two years, including at least 2 hours in infection control, plus a current course in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with hands-on clinical participation every two years — online courses do not satisfy the CPR requirement.

Up to 30 of the 50 hours may come from self-study (a maximum of 10 hours without testing, plus up to 20 more with testing and a certificate of completion), narrower caps apply to specific categories under § 6.6 (for example, up to 10 hours per year for teaching, up to 10 hours per two-year period for presenting a CE course, and up to 10 hours per two-year period for pro bono charitable care, credited at one CE hour per hour of service), and a dentist licensed within the last two years follows a prorated schedule under § 6.7.

Each biennium, the Division of Professional Regulation randomly selects a percentage of renewed licensees, determined by the Board, for audit, and the Board may impose discipline, including monetary penalties up to $1,000 and suspension or revocation, for unjustified noncompliance.