Dentist Licensure Requirements in New Mexico

The ADA lists the ADEX examination, administered by CDCA-WREB-CITA, together with CRDTS and SRTA, as the clinical examinations New Mexico accepts.

An applicant must also pass a board-approved clinical examination that includes hands-on periodontal and restorative procedures; the results of that clinical examination are valid in New Mexico for a period not to exceed five years.

Section 61-5A-12(A) requires a degree from a CODA-accredited dental school and a passing score on the written examination of the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations.

Subsection (B) adds a New Mexico laws-and-rules test and a practical or clinical examination, naming CRDTS, the northeast regional board of dental examiners (NERB), SRTA and WREB (or any other board-approved comparable exam) as acceptable clinical examinations.

Administrative rule 16.5.6.8 restates the same national-board and clinical-exam requirements and adds a jurisprudence exam with a minimum score of seventy-five percent, plus a background-status report from a board-designated background service.

Under 16.5.6.12, an initial dental license issued this way is valid for a period not to exceed three years.

Under Section 61-5A-12(C), the board may issue a general license by credentials, without a practical or clinical examination, to a dentist licensed by clinical examination in another state or territory whose license, and every other dental license that dentist holds, has been active and in good standing for five years — with no board action or pending proceeding in that period, and no disqualifying findings from a national-practitioner-data-bank or public-records review.

Subsection (D) offers a second credentials pathway, requiring the New Mexico laws-and-rules exam and fees, for an applicant who has either served three years in the uniform military or public health dental service immediately before applying, or is duly licensed by examination in another state or territory.

Rule 16.5.8.8 layers on additional prerequisites for the general-practice credentials path: a CODA-accredited dental degree, 60 hours of approved continuing education in the preceding 36 months, a passed national board examination, a jurisprudence exam score of at least seventy-five percent, and a current active license in good standing (defined by 16.5.8.7 as at least three consecutive years of active licensure and a minimum of five years of dental licensure overall) or the three-year uniform-service alternative.

Section 61-5A-12(E) lets the board issue a specialty license by examination to an applicant who has passed the board's clinical and written specialty exam and holds a CODA-accredited postgraduate degree or certificate in an ADA-recognized specialty; subsection (F) offers the same specialty license by credentials, without a practical or clinical exam, to an applicant who is already licensed by clinical examination elsewhere and has been in good standing on every dental license for five years.

Rules 16.5.6.9 and 16.5.8.9 list the recognized specialty areas — dental public health, endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics/dento-facial orthopedics, oral pathology, pediatric dentistry, periodontology, prosthodontics, and other ADA-approved specialties — and require the national board exam, a specialty clinical exam (or diplomate status where no specialty exam exists), and a jurisprudence exam score of at least seventy-five percent.

A specialty license limits the licensee to practicing only in that specialty area, and rule 16.5.1.29(D) lets the board discipline a dentist for advertising or holding out as a specialist without that license or the underlying CODA-accredited postgraduate training.

Section 61-5A-16 sets a triennial renewal cycle: licensees pay a triennial renewal fee and submit a renewal application with proof of continuing education or continued competency, with late fees and eventual suspension or revocation for missing the July 1 deadline and its grace periods.

The ADA's compilation prints this statute with the note "(Repealed effective July 1, 2024.)" directly under its heading, so confirm the current renewal cycle with the board.

Rule 16.5.1.15 sets the mechanics for approved continuing education: one credit hour per hour of contact instruction, capped at eight hours in a single day; approved providers include recognized dental and medical professional associations, accredited institutions, government dental services, hospitals and clinics, and board-approved study clubs; approved methods include live meetings, live virtual webinars, and self-study (capped at 30 hours per triennial period and requiring a post-instruction exam).

Additional credit-earning activities are capped per triennial period — presenting (8 hours), regional-board clinical-examiner training (24 hours), volunteering for the board (10 hours), approved charitable events (8 hours), academic teaching (10 hours) — while graduate or postgraduate coursework earns 10 hours per semester credit hour, and passing the board's open-book jurisprudence exam (once a year, 75% or higher, for a $25 fee) earns three hours of credit.

Courses on income, billing or marketing are capped at eight hours per triennial period; courses on money management, personal finances or non-dental subjects don't count at all, and CE completed as part of a disciplinary order doesn't count toward the requirement.