Dentist Licensure Requirements in Illinois

The ADA's compilation lists ADEX, administered as CDCA-WREB-CITA, together with CRDTS and SRTA, as the clinical examinations Illinois accepts for licensure.

Section 1220.120 requires that the exam be administered and passed in its entirety, including the restorative, periodontal, prosthodontic and endodontic portions, with retake requirements set by the testing entity and scores submitted directly to the Division by the reporting entity.

The Division accepts only examinations completed within the 5 years before the application is submitted, if the applicant has never been licensed in another jurisdiction.

Section 9 requires every applicant to be at least 21 years old and of good moral character, and to hold a dental degree from a Department-approved U.S. or Canadian school requiring at least 60 semester hours of pre-dental collegiate credit and 4 academic years of CODA-accredited dental education; graduates of foreign dental schools instead need a minimum of 2 academic years of general dental clinical training and a DDS or DMD from an approved U.S. or Canadian school, or a Department-approved equivalent program.

Every applicant must also pass the integrated National Board Dental Examination administered by the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations and successfully complete an exam from a regional testing service.

Illinois Administrative Code Section 1220.100 sets the application's supporting documentation, including certification of pre-dental education and graduation, proof of the National Board exam, and, for foreign graduates, certification of the required clinical training hours (2,850 clock hours over 2 years full-time, or 4 years part-time at a minimum 700 hours per year).

Section 13.2 separately lets an applicant who has passed the licensure exam and filed a complete application work as a 'license-pending general dentist' under a licensed dentist's delegation for up to 6 months while the license is finalized.

Under Section 19, a dentist, dental specialist or dental hygienist lawfully licensed in another state, territory or the military service, with standards equal to or substantially equivalent to Illinois's, who has practiced lawfully for at least 2 years immediately before applying, may be granted an Illinois license upon a certificate of licensure and good standing from the other jurisdiction's board and payment of the required fee.

Applicants have 3 years from the date of application to complete the process, after which the application is denied, the fee is forfeited, and the applicant must reapply under the requirements then in effect.

Illinois Administrative Code Section 1220.410 (Endorsement) sets a separate route requiring at least 3 of the last 5 years of lawful practice in another jurisdiction whose requirements are at least equal to Illinois's, supported by certification of licensure and disciplinary history, National Board Dental Examination scores, and, for foreign-trained applicants, the same clinical-training documentation used for original licensure.

Section 19.1 lets the Secretary temporarily authorize an applicant displaced by a natural disaster or catastrophic event in another jurisdiction to practice under a licensed dentist's supervision while the Illinois application is pending.

Illinois recognizes eight dental specialties — endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral and maxillofacial radiology, and dental anesthesiology — and issues a specialty license under Section 11(b) to a dentist who has met the Division's specialty requirements at the time of application; a dentist may not hold out as a specialist without that license.

Illinois Administrative Code Section 1220.310 sets the training minimums: generally at least 2 academic years in a Division-approved specialty program, but oral and maxillofacial surgery requires a 4-year (48-month) program with at least 30 months of clinical training and 4 months in anesthesiology, dental anesthesiology requires a 3-year (36-month) CODA-accredited program, and periodontics (for training completed after July 1, 1994) requires 3 consecutive academic years with at least 30 months of instruction.

The Act also authorizes temporary training licenses for specialty or residency trainees and faculty limited licenses for full-time dental school faculty, both issued without examination at the Department's discretion.

Advertising rules under Section 45 and Administrative Code Section 1220.421 bar a general dentist from implying specialist status — using terms like 'Specialist' or naming a recognized specialty — unless licensed in that specialty, and require a disclaimer when specialty-sounding language is used without that license.

Illinois dental licenses renew every 3 years, expiring September 30, and require 48 hours of continuing education relevant to patient treatment and care, completed within the 36-month prerenewal period; the first renewal after initial licensure is exempt, and a specialty license needs no separate CE beyond the underlying dental license's 48 hours.

Every renewal also requires proof of current Basic Life Support certification, up to 4 hours of which may count toward the CE total.

No more than 50% of the required hours may come from correspondence or individual-study courses, no more than 50% from teaching approved CE courses, and no more than 2 hours from presenting volunteer community oral health education; CE earned toward another state's requirements may be applied to Illinois's.

Renewal applicants certify compliance by affidavit rather than submitting a course list, though the Division may audit up to 10% of licensees per cycle and may waive the requirement for good cause such as military service, documented illness, or temporary hardship.