North Dakota Administrative Code
Title 20 - State Board of Dental Examiners
Article 20-04 - Dental Hygienists
Chapter 20-04-01 - Duties
Section 20-04-01-08 - Continuing dental education for dental hygienists

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 must be accepted by the board without limit.

3. The minimum number of hours required within a two-year cycle is sixteen. Of these hours, a dental hygienist may earn no more than eight 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 webinars or classroom style learning that allows for realtime 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 will not be 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 dental hygienists must hold a current cardiopulmonary resuscitation certificate.

6. A dental hygienist who maintains a license on inactive status is not subject to continuing education requirements.

7. The board may audit the continuing education credits of a dental hygienist. 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 listed. Failure to comply with the audit is grounds for nonrenewal of or disciplinary action against the license.