A board certified prosthodontist is a prosthodontist who has earned voluntary certification from the American Board of Prosthodontics (ABP) — the credential is a Diplomate designation, it is not a license, and a prosthodontist can practice without it after completing an accredited residency.
The ABP's pathway is mid-transition, effective October 22, 2025: a legacy structure of Sections A through D is giving way to a new Qualifying Examination and Oral Certifying Examination, on different timelines.
Here is what the ABP's own materials say about both pathways — and what isn't published.
What is a board certified prosthodontist?
A board certified prosthodontist is a prosthodontist who has completed dental school and an advanced dental education residency, passed the American Board of Prosthodontics' certification examination, and keeps up the continuing education required to remain certified.
That three-part description is the National Commission on Recognition of Dental Specialties and Certifying Boards' (NCRDSCB) own definition of a board-certified dental specialist, and the NCRDSCB — an agency of the ADA — lists the ABP among its 11 recognized certifying boards, a recognition the Commission's April 2026 annual report dates to 1948.
The ABP's designation for a prosthodontist who finishes the process is Diplomate.
Two neighboring terms are worth separating.
Board eligible means the residency is done and the prosthodontist can sit the ABP examination but hasn't passed it yet.
And the credential is countable: the same April 2026 report tallied 1,081 active prosthodontics diplomates as of December 31, 2025 — a count of board-certified specialists only, not everyone practicing the specialty.
Certification stays voluntary; the next section covers what that means for licensure.
For how certifying boards fit the wider training path, see dental residency & board certification.
Is board certification required to practice as a prosthodontist?
No. Certification from the American Board of Prosthodontics is voluntary, and it is separate from licensure.
A prosthodontist can complete an accredited residency and practice on their general dental license without ever pursuing ABP certification.
Because the American Board of Periodontology and the American Board of Prosthodontics share the same initials, always use the full board name — this article means the prosthodontics board throughout.
The certification pathway is mid-transition
The American Board of Prosthodontics doesn't run one timeless exam structure right now — it's phasing a legacy pathway out for a new one, on two different effective dates.
The legacy pathway is built around a Section A written examination and a Section B patient-presentation oral examination, plus Sections C and D.
The board states that the Section A examination was offered for the final time in 2026, and that it is replaced by a new Qualifying Examination beginning in April 2027.
Separately, effective October 22, 2025, the board introduced an Oral Certifying Examination (OCE) alongside the new Qualifying Examination.
The two effective dates don't align — the OCE is already in effect while the Qualifying Examination doesn't start until April 2027 — so a candidate should check which pathway applies to their own timeline directly with the ABP rather than assume a single combined structure.
The new pathway: Qualifying Examination and Oral Certifying Examination
The board describes the new pathway in two parts:
Qualifying Examination (from April 2027)
A criterion-referenced written assessment, computer-based at regional testing centers: four hours to complete two hundred multiple-choice questions that may include images, diagrams, or short videos. Eligibility extends to third-year postgraduate residents or graduates of an advanced prosthodontic program.Oral Certifying Examination (effective October 22, 2025)
Open-ended questions across three one-hour sessions, with one session taking place each day over three consecutive days. Eligibility requires passing the Qualifying Examination and completing a CODA-accredited prosthodontics program.
The board's own materials don't state whether the OCE can be taken by a candidate certified under the legacy pathway, or only by candidates coming through the new Qualifying Examination — that detail isn't published, so this article doesn't assume it either way.
The legacy pathway, for the record
Per the board's materials: Section A was a written examination, offered for the final time in 2026.
Section B was a patient-presentation oral examination in three parts, each a 20-minute candidate-generated patient treatment presentation followed by a 40-minute oral examination: a removable partial denture plus at least four crowns; a fixed reconstruction of at least fourteen fixed units, at least six of them restoring natural teeth; and a complete denture, overdenture, or obturator in one arch.
The legacy pathway also included Sections C and D.
Neither section's content is detailed in the sourced material for this article, so this article does not describe what either one covers or requires — treat any specific claim about Sections C or D you find elsewhere as unverified.
What the ABP's own materials don't publish
The ABP materials this article draws from describe both pathways' structure and eligibility; they give no pass rate for either the legacy exams or the new ones, no application or examination fee, and no detail on Sections C and D of the legacy structure.
A fee figure does exist in a source this page already cites: the National Commission's April 2026 annual report lists the total fee to become a prosthodontics diplomate as $2,650 as reported for 2025 — and fees change, so confirm the current figure with the board.
What isn't confirmed
Recertification: eight-year certificates
Per the ABP's recertification requirements, a Diplomate certificate from the American Board of Prosthodontics is issued for an eight-year period.
Maintaining it requires at least 240 continuing education hours over that eight-year period and at least one recertification examination, passed with a score of 70% or greater.
Diplomates get a grace period to March 31 of the following year to complete recertification requirements.
For the CODA-accredited residency that comes before any of this, see prosthodontics residency: what CODA requires.
For the full role certification sits on top of, see what a prosthodontist does.
This article is general career information, not clinical, legal, or financial advice. Verify current requirements against the American Board of Prosthodontics directly.