US Dental License for Foreign Trained Dentists

The Ultimate Guide to US Dental License for
Foreign Trained Dentists

This website is intended to serve as an informational guide to US dental license for foreign trained dentists and is geared toward those foreign trained dentists who wish to practice dentistry in USA. Here you will find information about various states requirements for dental licensure, NBDE, WREB and other clinical exams, international and advanced standing programs, etc.

I made and continue to make every effort to explain several things related to obtaining license to practice dentistry in the United States for foreign trained dentists, this information should be useful to dentists who received their dental degrees from countries other than the US and want to be able to work as dentists in the US.

It's important to always remember that although I'm spending a lot of time and effort compiling all of this, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of all of the information listed here, all the time. It's always prudent to confirm this information and data with license authorities (state dental boards) in the state(s) you are considering to work in as they should have the most updated information. License requirements keep changing all the time making it even more important to get the most up-to-date information from the source directly.

The same disclaimer above applies to information about different clinical examinations and schools admission information, you should always contact them directly for the most up-to-date information. This site is merely an informational guide to help you find the right direction!

There is no cost to you to view the information on this website, unlike others who charge for similar content, you can view everything here free, if you like what you see and want to help keep the site up and running, all I ask you to do is to support the advertising revenue by visiting the Marketplace frequently, and doing some of your shopping there, if you find something that you like or find something that you can use or already use anyway. Alternatively, you can donate directly using the paypal button below, your support is always welcome!

I will keep adding more information, and useful features, time permitting, so bookmark this website and stay tuned!

Step-By-Step

The process of obtaining a license to practice dentistry in the US for international graduates or foreign trained dentists can be simply summarized in few steps (these steps represent an over-simplification, but should be useful as a basis, you will discover that there are alternate routes that can work sometimes, for some states):

Find out specific licensure requirements for the state or states you are considering to practice dentistry in, you can use this website to find most of that information, but you have to always go back to the specific state dental board for the most up-to-date information.

Take at least part I of the National Board Dental Examination (NBDE), you may elect to take part II too as some schools require that as part of their application process, but as you may be aware, there are big changes happening to the format of this exam, read more about it in the NBDE section of this website

Apply to and get accepted in a two-year program at an accredited US dental school. Generally speaking you should select programs that grant a degree not a certificate as most dental state boards require a degree (DDS or DMD), I will try to go through most if not all the programs available out there and compare them.

Take a clinical license exam or apply to a post-grad program (depends on specific state).

Apply for license