Dentist Licensure Requirements in Pennsylvania

The ADA lists three accepted clinical examinations for Pennsylvania: the ADEX examination administered by CDCA-WREB-CITA, CRDTS, and SRTA.

The Board recognizes a passing score for up to 5 years from the date it is reported; after 5 years, the Board accepts the score only if the candidate has since been in postgraduate training or practicing dentistry in another jurisdiction.

Section 122(c) requires a dentist applicant to be at least twenty-one years old, of good moral character, not addicted to alcohol or narcotics, and to hold a degree from an approved dental school; a felony drug-related conviction bars licensure unless at least ten years have passed and the applicant shows rehabilitation.

Board regulation 33.102 requires that degree to come from a CODA-accredited (or provisionally accredited) dental school, with an added-training pathway for graduates of nonaccredited foreign schools.

Regulation 33.103 requires candidates to pass the National Board Dental Examination and a clinical exam administered by NERB, SRTA, WREB, CRDTS, or CITA.

Under 33.104, a new license expires on March 31 of the next odd-numbered year regardless of issue date.

Section 122(f) lets the Board accept and endorse dental licenses issued by another state, territory, or Canada, and accept National Dental Examining Board certification, when that jurisdiction's standards are equal to Pennsylvania's and it reciprocates.

Regulation 33.107 (licensure by criteria approval) grants licensure to a dentist already licensed elsewhere whose credentials meet Pennsylvania's requirements and whose licensing board confirms reciprocity, supported by a letter of good standing.

Regulation 33.107a, added in July 2025, created licensure by endorsement: an applicant needs a current license in good standing from a jurisdiction with substantially equivalent standards, at least 2 of the past 5 years of active practice under that license, no disciplinary grounds, the application fee, professional liability insurance, and 3 hours of child abuse recognition and reporting training.

Regulation 33.107b lets the Board issue a provisional endorsement license, valid up to 1 year, while the endorsement application is completed.

Pennsylvania regulates specialty designation through its advertising rule rather than a separate specialty statute.

A dentist may not hold out as a specialist unless the area is one of eight ADA-recognized specialties the Board has adopted — dental public health, endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, oral pathology, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, and prosthodontics — and the dentist has completed an ADA-accredited specialty training program in it.

A specialist advertising services in another specialty or nonspecialty area must disclose that the specialty status doesn't extend there, and may not imply that general dentists in the practice are specialists.

A general dentist may list a practice area but must disclose "general dentist" status if the advertised term also designates a recognized specialty.

Licenses and certificates renew every two years, for a period beginning April 1 of each odd-numbered year.

A dentist must complete 30 continuing-education credit hours per biennial period, with at least half taken in lecture or clinical presentations and up to half through individual study, instructing, or authorship; one credit hour equals one clock hour of instruction.

Two of the 30 hours must be in Board-approved child abuse recognition and reporting courses, and licensees must maintain current CPR certification.

First-time licensees are exempt for the period in which they passed their exam, and the Board may waive the requirement for illness, emergency, or hardship.