North Dakota Administrative Code
Title 20 - State Board of Dental Examiners
Article 20-02 - Dentists
Chapter 20-02-01 - General Requirements
Section 20-02-01-06 - Continuing dental education for dentists

1. Continuing education activities include publications, seminars, symposiums, lectures, college courses, and online education.

2. The continuing dental education hours accumulate on the basis of one hour of credit for each hour spent in education. Subject matter directly related to clinical dentistry will be accepted by the board without limit.

3. The minimum number of hours required within a two-year cycle for dentists is thirty-two. Of these hours, a dentist may earn no more than sixteen hours from self-study. Self-study is an educational process designed to permit a participant to learn a given subject without involvement of a proctor or without the opportunity to interact in real-time with the proctor. A qualified professional may act as a proctor who oversees a clinical continuing education course which may be used for classroom style continuing education credits. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation courses must provide hands-on training. All other continuing education requirements may be satisfied from online education that allows for real-time interaction between attendees and the proctor. The continuing education must include:

4. Mere registration at a dental convention without specific attendance at continuing education presentations is not creditable toward the continuing dental education requirement. Certificates awarded for continuing education must indicate the name of the continuing education provider, date, and number of hours of continuing education. Certificates obtained from webinar courses must indicate the course was a webinar. For continuing education courses utilizing a proctor, the certificate of attendance must be signed by the proctor.

5. All dentists must hold a current cardiopulmonary resuscitation certificate. General anesthesia, deep sedation, and moderate sedation providers shall maintain current advanced cardiac life support or pediatric advanced life support certification as determined by the age of the patients treated. A dentist who utilizes minimal sedation shall maintain basic life support certification.

6. Effective January 1, 2028, all dentists who administer general anesthesia, deep sedation, and moderate sedation shall successfully complete an approved anesthesia simulation training course and complete anesthesia simulation training successfully every five years thereafter. Proof of completion of this requirement must be submitted to the anesthesia inspector as required in subsection 5 of section 20-02-01-05.

7. The board may audit the continuing education credits of a dentist. Each licensee shall maintain certificates or records of continuing education activities from the previous renewal cycle. Upon receiving notice of an audit from the board, a licensee shall provide satisfactory documentation of attendance at, or participation in the continuing education activities. Failure to comply with the audit is grounds for nonrenewal of or disciplinary action against the license.

8. A dentist who maintains a license on inactive status is not subject to continuing education requirements.