How to Verify a Dental License in California Before You Hire
The two California boards, the state lookup, the permits you verify separately, and the certificates to keep on file.
In California you verify every dental hire before they treat a patient: dentists, registered dental assistants and sedation permits through the DCA License Search under the Dental Board of California, hygienists through the Dental Hygiene Board of California, and basic dental assistants through course certificates rather than a license.
Here is what each check covers and what to keep on file.
Rules vary by state and change
This guide explains federal rules and the state rules it names, as of the date above.
Employment law and dental-practice rules differ by state and are revised often, so confirm current requirements with your state dental board, labor agency or employment counsel before you act on them.
It is general information, not legal advice.
Who licenses dental professionals in California
California splits dental licensing between two boards, and the split decides where you verify each hire.
The Dental Board of California licenses, monitors and disciplines dentists, registered dental assistants (RDAs) and registered dental assistants in extended functions (RDAEFs).
It also issues the permits that sit alongside a license: dental anesthesia and sedation permits, plus orthodontic assistant and dental sedation assistant permits.
Hygienists answer to a different regulator.
The Dental Hygiene Board of California — not the Dental Board — licenses registered dental hygienists (RDH), hygienists in alternative practice (RDHAP) and hygienists in extended functions (RDHEF).
Both boards' credentials run through the same state portal, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) License Search — but under different boards in the dropdown.
New to the process?
Start with how to verify a dental license for the general workflow, then use the California specifics below:
| Credential you are hiring for | Where California verifies it |
|---|---|
| Dentist license | DCA License Search, under the Dental Board of California |
| RDA, RDAEF, orthodontic assistant, dental sedation assistant | DCA License Search, under the Dental Board of California |
| Anesthesia and sedation permits | DCA License Search, as separate records from the dentist license |
| RDH, RDHAP, RDHEF | DCA License Search, under the Dental Hygiene Board of California |
| Basic dental assistant | No license record — verify infection control and radiation safety certificates |
Looking up a dentist's license
The Dental Board of California sends its license verification to the DCA License Search.
Pick the board and license type deliberately — dentist records sit under the Dental Board of California.
Each record shows whether the license is current, expired, or has been subject to disciplinary action such as suspension or revocation.
Read the status line, not just the name match: an expired license is not a clear dentist.
Separate the license from the permits.
Sedation credentials are their own records in the same search — among them the General Anesthesia Permit, Moderate Sedation Permit, Pediatric Minimal Sedation Permit and Oral Conscious Sedation Certificate.
If you are hiring an associate who will perform sedation, pull the permit record itself; in the search it is a separate credential from the dentist license.
Verification is also a different question from licensure.
What it takes to earn a California dental license is covered in our guide to dentist licensure requirements in California; this page is about confirming the credentials a candidate already holds.
Hygienist licenses and permits
Hygienists are searched in the same DCA License Search, but under the Dental Hygiene Board of California: the RDH, RDHAP and RDHEF license types are listed under that board, not the Dental Board of California.
Look under the wrong board and a credentialed candidate looks empty.
The Dental Hygiene Board's license-status key adds detail a plain status line does not.
It flags whether a licensee may perform soft tissue curettage (S), local anesthesia (L), nitrous oxide-oxygen (N) and interim therapeutic restorations (ITR — RDHs only), and it explains the numeric status codes, such as 20 for renewed/current and 45 for delinquent.
If your schedule counts on a hygienist delivering local anesthesia or nitrous, confirm the matching flag is on the record rather than assuming it comes with the license.
What each hygienist credential takes to earn is on our guide to dental hygienist requirements in California.
Dental assistant registrations, certificates and permits
Registered assistants verify like dentists do: RDAs and RDAEFs are licensed by the Dental Board of California and appear in the DCA License Search, alongside orthodontic assistant and dental sedation assistant permit holders.
The basic dental assistant is the exception.
Under Business and Professions Code § 1750(a), a dental assistant is unlicensed and performs basic supportive dental procedures under a licensed dentist's supervision — so an unlicensed assistant will not appear in the license search at all.
What you verify instead are two course requirements:
- Infection control. The employer must ensure the assistant has completed an infection control course or exam before performing basic supportive dental procedures involving potential exposure to blood, saliva or other potentially infectious materials (§ 1750(c)).
- Radiation safety. An assistant must complete a Dental Board-approved radiation safety course before performing radiographic procedures, and the original or a copy of the current, valid certificate must be publicly displayed at the treatment facility where the assistant works. Separately, Business and Professions Code § 1656 requires anyone working in a dentist's office who operates dental radiographic equipment to have passed a board-approved radiation safety course, or the board's radiation safety exam before 1985.
For an unregistered assistant, the certificates are the verification.
The full scope picture is in our guide to dental assistant requirements in California.
Discipline history and other states
The same lookup doubles as your discipline check.
DCA records that have public record or disciplinary actions are marked with an icon.
When the icon appears, open the record and read the action before you decide.
Board discipline also travels beyond the state search.
State dental boards must report to the National Practitioner Data Bank any action based on professional competence or conduct that revokes, suspends or restricts a dentist's license, censures, reprimands or places a dentist on probation, or accepts a license surrender.
Querying the NPDB is limited to eligible entities — apart from hospitals, that takes providing health care and running a formal peer review process — so the practical route is asking the candidate for a self-query, which practitioners may share with whomever they choose.
Our guide to NPDB queries covers who can query and how.
Licenses in other states are verified with each issuing state's board — our research found no single national dental license lookup.
And run the rest of your screening alongside the license check, OIG exclusion checks included: someone excluded by HHS-OIG can receive no payment from federal health care programs for the items or services they furnish, order or prescribe, and those programs include state programs such as Medicaid and CHIP.
Documenting the check
Save what you saw.
Screenshot or print each search result on the day you run it — the current/expired status and any discipline icon it shows — and file it with the hire's paperwork.
A dated copy of what the board showed is much easier to produce later than a recollection.
For assistants, California puts a record-keeping duty on the practice: under Business and Professions Code § 1750(d), the employer must maintain evidence, for the length of the assistant's employment, that the assistant has met and maintained all required certifications.
Keep that evidence where the statute puts it — at the supervising dentist's treatment facility — and re-check it when the certifications expire.
Verification is not one-and-done.
Re-run each lookup around a renewal, and again before someone takes on a duty that needs a different permit or flag.
When screening is clear, the contract stage brings its own legal questions — our guide to non-competes in California covers what a practice there can and cannot put in one.
Before the first patient
- Screenshot every DCA License Search result you rely on, with the date visible, and file it with the hire's paperwork.
- Open any record carrying the public-record/discipline icon and read the underlying action before you decide.
- Verify sedation and anesthesia permits as their own records — in the search they are separate credentials from the dentist license.
- For hygienists, check the S, L, N and ITR flags your schedule relies on, plus the status code.
- Collect proof of each assistant's infection control course or exam before they perform basic supportive dental procedures involving potential exposure to blood, saliva or other potentially infectious materials, and the radiation safety certificate before any x-rays.
- Display the radiation safety certificate at the treatment facility where the assistant works.
- Calendar every license, permit and certificate you rely on, and re-run each search at renewal.
Questions employers ask
Does California have one license search for dentists and hygienists?
Yes — both boards are searchable through the same state DCA License Search, but their license types sit under different boards in the dropdown.
Dentists, RDAs, RDAEFs, orthodontic assistants, dental sedation assistants and sedation permits are grouped under the Dental Board of California.
RDH, RDHAP and RDHEF licenses are grouped under the Dental Hygiene Board of California.
Pick the right board before you search, or a fully credentialed candidate can look like they hold nothing.
Where do I check a California dentist's malpractice history?
Start with the National Practitioner Data Bank.
The DCA License Search shows whether a license is current, expired or has been subject to disciplinary action such as suspension or revocation; NPDB reports include medical malpractice payments, adverse licensure or privileges actions, and health-care-related judgments and convictions.
Practices that do not meet the NPDB's eligibility test cannot query it directly; the practical route is asking the candidate to run a self-query and share the result, which practitioners may share with whomever they choose.
What if a California license shows as expired or delinquent?
Treat it as a stop sign until you have confirmed the credential is current again.
Ask the candidate for proof of renewal, then re-run the search yourself rather than accepting a screenshot from them.
On the Dental Hygiene Board's status key, 45 means delinquent and 20 means renewed and current, so a hygienist record can tell you precisely where it stands.
Do I need to re-verify licenses after the person is hired?
Yes.
Every license record reflects whether the credential is current or expired, so calendar the renewal and re-run the search around it.
For dental assistants the duty is explicit: California requires the employer to keep evidence, for the length of employment, that the assistant has met and maintained all required certifications — the infection control and radiation safety certificates among them — so keep that evidence current as the certifications renew.
A periodic sweep of every license, permit and certificate you rely on keeps it manageable.
Sources
- Dental Board of California — licenses, permits and discipline overview (retrieved October 7, 2026)
- DCA License Search — Dental Board of California / Dental Hygiene Board license records (retrieved October 7, 2026)
- DCA License Search — FAQ (public record/disciplinary actions icon) (retrieved October 7, 2026)
- Dental Hygiene Board of California — license status key (retrieved October 7, 2026)
- California Business and Professions Code § 1750 — dental assistants (retrieved October 7, 2026)
- California Business and Professions Code § 1656 — dental radiographic equipment (retrieved October 7, 2026)
- 45 CFR 60.8 — NPDB reporting by state licensing boards (eCFR) (retrieved October 7, 2026)
- 45 CFR 60.3 — NPDB definitions; Board of Medical Examiners includes boards of dentistry (eCFR) (retrieved October 6, 2026)
- NPDB — Self-Query Basics (retrieved October 6, 2026)
- HHS-OIG — Exclusions overview (payment ban) (retrieved October 6, 2026)
- 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7 — federal and state health care program definitions (retrieved October 7, 2026)
More hiring resources
Hiring in California?
Post your associate, hygienist and assistant roles on DentistryHires, and spend the time you saved on verification and credentials.