Dentist Licensure Requirements in Louisiana

The ADA lists the American Board of Dental Examiners (ADEX) examination as the only acceptable clinical licensure exam for Louisiana, regardless of testing agency.

As of August 10, 2015, the only regional testing agencies administering ADEX are CITA and CDCA (formerly NERB).

Applicants must successfully complete all portions of ADEX — DSE, endodontics, prosthodontics, restorative and periodontics — within the three years immediately before applying for a dental license.

Section 761 requires every applicant to be a U.S. citizen or hold valid legal authority to work in the United States, to present satisfactory evidence of graduation from a board-approved dental college, to submit a photograph and character references, to pass the written examination of the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations, and to hold a current CPR certification from the American Heart Association, American Red Cross or an equivalent course.

Administrative Code Section 103 requires satisfactory evidence of graduation from a CODA-accredited dental school; an applicant who did not attend an accredited school must instead complete a CODA-approved post-graduate program of at least two complete, consecutive years in general dentistry, or two consecutive years at the same institution for a specialty — a requirement the board may waive if it meets with the applicant and determines the applicant is otherwise qualified.

An applicant who satisfies the education requirement through such a post-graduate program is then restricted to practicing only in the field of that training.

Chapter 17 sets the examination procedure: an applicant must be at least 18, of good moral character, a CODA-accredited graduate, and have passed the National Board of Dental Examiners exam; initial licensure additionally requires a written jurisprudence and ethics exam and a board-approved clinical exam, with scores valid for five years.

Accepted clinical exams are those given before January 1, 2012 by CITA, CRDTS, NERB, SRTA or WREB; those given after January 1, 2012 by CITA; and the ADEX exam.

A candidate who has failed a clinical licensing exam three times (excluding failures before the final year of dental school) is barred from licensure unless they have practiced five years unrestricted and discipline-free in another state, or completed a one-year accredited post-doctoral program after the last failure, in either case subject to board review.

Section 768 states that no applicant who meets the board's credentialing criteria shall be denied a license based on credentials, but the statute expressly prohibits licensure by reciprocity.

Section 306 sets the requirements: a nonrestricted dental license in another state; passing the board's jurisprudence exam on the Louisiana Dental Practice Act; and either 1,000 hours per year of full-time practice for the three years before applying, three years of full-time dental teaching, a two-year general-dentistry residency completed within 180 days of applying, or a residency in a board-recognized dental specialty completed within 180 days of applying.

The applicant must also have passed an initial clinical licensure exam that included a hand-skills assessment, must not have failed a clinical exam three or more times (subject to the same exceptions as Section 1709), and must clear conditions covering good standing, no pending criminal charges or unresolved complaints, DEA and state narcotics registration, continuing-education compliance in other licensed states, and professional-liability history.

Section 308 lets the board issue a license without further examination — except as required by Section 761 — to an applicant who meets Section 306, or who is a CODA-accredited DDS/DMD graduate already licensed to practice dentistry in another state, has completed either a specialty graduate training program or an ADA-recognized general-dentistry residency, and is currently licensed to practice medicine in Louisiana.

The board recognizes a dental specialty only for a post-doctoral program of at least two full-time years accredited by a U.S. Department of Education-recognized agency; dentists who announced an ADA-approved specialty before the rule's 1998 promulgation are grandfathered in.

A dentist seeking specialty recognition must document that training, limit practice to the indicated specialty, and be evaluated by the board before returning to general practice.

Section 301 requires specialists to disclose their specialty more prominently than any service advertised, requires non-specialists to disclose "General Dentistry" or "Family Dentistry" the same way, and bars misleading advertising, including claims that laser treatment is painless or heals faster than other procedures.

Each renewal period requires 30 hours of continuing education: 20 hours of personally attended clinical courses on the delivery of dental services, and 10 hours of clinical courses that may be completed in person, online or by correspondence (online and correspondence courses require passing a written exam).

Three of those 30 hours must be a one-time opioid management course covering drug diversion, best-practice prescribing of controlled substances, or treatment for addiction, unless the dentist certifies they have not prescribed, administered or dispensed a controlled substance during the period.

Exemptions from the general CE requirement apply to full-time postgraduate trainees, first-time renewals, and retired volunteer license holders working fewer than 250 hours a year — but the opioid management course and the CPR course remain in force for every exempt category, and a retired volunteer who holds a sedation permit must still meet the sedation-permit CE as well.

CE completed late must be finished by August of the following year and does not count toward the next period, and a second violation may be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank.

Specific activities carry their own credit: a CPR course counts for 3 hours, ACLS certification for up to 16 hours (3 for recertification), PALS for up to 14 hours (6 for recertification), sedation-permit renewal requires an in-person adult sedation course of 6 hours (12 if pediatric-certified) that counts toward the 20 clinical hours, exam-calibration training for up to 20 hours, and pro bono care for up to 6 hours per two-year renewal period.

Records must be kept for three calendar years after the course.