DBC Continuing Education Requirements – CA Only

We often get questions from our clients about dental licensees’ continuing education (CE) requirements for license renewal by the Dental Board of California (DBC). Read on for the DBC’s requirements, which can be found in Sections 1015-1017 of Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations.

Frequency and Number of Units

Each dental practitioner must obtain, from a DBC-approved registered CE provider, a specific number of CE units during each renewal period, every 2 years. Up to half of CE units may be acquired through home study programs, or correspondence courses.

• Dentists need 50 units per renewal cycle. 
• All licensed dental auxiliaries must complete 25 units, except for registered dental hygienists in alternative practice (RDHAPs). 
• RDHAPs must take 35 units. 

Mandatory Courses

The DBC requires all dental licensees to take two mandatory continuing education courses – Infection Control and California Dental Practice Act, as well as maintain current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification, every two years. Any DBC-registered CE provider wishing to provide the mandatory courses to California dental licensees must obtain specific approval to give the two mandatory courses. 

It is the licensee’s responsibility to verify whether a required course has proper approval from the DBC by searching the California Department of Consumer Affairs License Search. 

Course Content

All licensees must complete a minimum of 80% of required units for license renewal in core subjects, and no more than 20% of CE unitsin approved non-core subjects. Core subjects include clinical and scientific topics as well as courses mandated by the DBC, the State of California, or the federal government, while non-core dental courses include a broader scope of topics, such as risk management, employment matters, and dental practice flow. Licensees holding specialized permits such as general anesthesia and/or conscious sedation permits have additional CE obligations for license/permit renewal.

For our OSHA Reviewsubscribers…our DBC-registered CE provider permit (RP 2964), which includes DBC approval for our mandatory courses in Infection Control and Dental Practice Act, can be viewed here. Licensees are allowed to obtain up to half of their CE for license renewal through our correspondence program.