Do Dental CE Hours Expire?

Expiration of Dental CE Hours/Credits

One of the common questions we receive at Dental Didactics CE concerns whether the dental continuing education credits you earn ever "expire." There are actually two real issues here. 

1) Over what period of time do the individual state dental boards recognize your courses for license renewal?

2) How long do independent dental academies and associations allow you to accumulate hours towards their certifications?

State Dental Boards Set CE Standards

Each independent state dental board has a specific licensing period for all dental professionals. This is typically 2 or 3 years. All CE hours completed within that licensing period are accepted and "current"; counting towards license renewal. Hours completed prior to the licensing period (in other words, completed during the previous licensing period) will not be counted towards license renewal. That would equate with course hours "expiring." Any dental continuing education hours earned after your due date for dental license renewal would only count towards your next license renewal period.

Independent dental associations and academies (such as the Academy of General Dentistry) allow members to accumulate hours over time to reach certain levels of mastership and qualify for certification. They allow course hours to remain current and "unexpired" over time as members achieve various levels of mastership. Each organization maintains it own standards and dental professionals should inquire from each specific organization how long their dental CE hours remain acceptable for recognition.

All 50 states and most independent associations accept Dental Didactics CE courses for CE credit for license renewal and organization recognition.