Becoming a pediatric dentist means first becoming a dentist, then completing a residency in pediatric dentistry accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA).
CODA's accreditation standard sets a floor of at least 24 months of full-time formal training — a floor, not a typical length.
After residency, pediatric dentists can pursue board certification from the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry (ABPD).
What CODA's accreditation standard actually requires
Every accredited pediatric dentistry residency answers to the same accreditor: the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), which sets national standards for dental education, including specialty residencies.
For pediatric dentistry, CODA's Accreditation Standards (Standard 4-3) put the length requirement in one sentence: a program "must be a minimum of 24 months of full-time formal training."
That's a floor, not a target.
CODA sets the minimum every accredited program has to meet — it's not the same as a typical program length, and individual programs vary.
The one published reference point this site has is an average: accredited pediatric dentistry programs averaged 24.3 months in 2025-26, per the CODA/ADA HPI survey of advanced dental education — an average across programs, not a length any single program guarantees.
If a specific number beyond "at least 24 months" matters to your decision, confirm it directly with the individual program.
24 months is a floor, not a typical length
What fills the residency
The residency is where the training covered in the pediatric dentist role guide gets built: behavior guidance for young or anxious patients, sedation and hospital dentistry for children who can't be treated in a standard operatory, growth and development, early orthodontic assessment, and care for patients with special health-care needs.
On the sedation side, CODA's standards require residents to keep case records covering nitrous oxide, sedation and operating-room cases, and require a suite for comprehensive care under general anesthesia and/or sedation.
It's the layer a general dentist's training doesn't cover in the same depth — see pediatric dentist vs. general dentist for how that training gap plays out in practice.
This article states only the CODA requirements it has sourced — the 24-month duration floor and the sedation case-record and suite requirements above.
Clinical-hour totals by category and hospital-rotation schedules weren't part of the sourced standard text, so they're not stated here; confirm specifics with the individual program.
Worth noting for comparison: orthodontics pairs its own 24-month CODA floor with an explicit 3,700-scheduled-hour requirement — pediatric dentistry's standard specifies only the duration, with no comparable hours figure attached.
Getting into a residency — and what isn't public about it
Applications happen during or after dental school, and pediatric dentistry's run through the Postdoctoral Dental Matching Program.
For the sourced 2026 numbers — how many applicants, how many positions, and how many matched — see how competitive pediatric dentistry residency is.
For how residency admissions and board certification work across every specialty, see dental residency & board certification rather than having that covered twice.
What this page doesn't state: the program count — the CODA/ADA HPI survey counted 88 accredited pediatric dentistry programs in 2025-26, and how to become a pediatric dentist carries that figure — plus program cost or tuition, and whether residents are paid during training.
Those last two still aren't sourced here; treat any specific figure you find elsewhere on them with caution, and confirm directly with a program.
Board certification after residency
After completing residency, pediatric dentists can pursue certification from the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry (ABPD).
Board certification is voluntary — it isn't required to hold a dental license or to practice as a pediatric dentist — but it's a recognized mark of expertise in the field.
For the exam structure, the fixed annual calendar, and the seven-year window to finish, see ABPD board certification in pediatric dentistry.
This article doesn't state fees or pass rates, because neither was sourced; if board certification is the deciding factor in your training plan, confirm current requirements directly with the ABPD.
Pay after residency
There's still no pediatric-dentistry-specific federal wage figure once residency is behind you.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics groups the role under "Dentists, all other specialists" (SOC 29-1029), whose median is $224,990 per year (OEWS, May 2025) — the catch-all for dental specialties without their own code, not a pediatric-specific number.
See what a pediatric dentist does for that caveat in full, and pediatric dentist jobs to check what current listings are actually paying.
For the ADA Health Policy Institute's survey of pediatric dentists in private practice, see pediatric dentist salary.
This article is general career information, not legal or financial advice. Accreditation standards, board requirements, and program details change over time — confirm current figures directly with CODA, the ABPD, or the individual program.
No BLS figure exists for pediatric dentists specifically