Dental Licensure Modernization Coalition Disbands After Eight Years

Edited by Hygienetown staff

The Coalition for Modernizing Dental Licensure disbanded in September. The group said it had largely met its goals of ending reliance on single-encounter patient examinations and making dental licensure more portable.

According to the coalition’s final report, 49 states and Washington, D.C., now recognize at least one initial dental or dental hygiene licensure pathway that does not require a patient exam. The alternatives are manikin-based assessments and objective structured clinical examinations. The report said these evaluate candidates under more controlled conditions and across a broader range of competencies than a single patient encounter.

The report described the older patient-based model as vulnerable to random error, lacking strong scientific validity, and raising ethical concerns.

The coalition’s work also extended to portability. The Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact activated in spring 2024, when Maine became the seventh member state. It now includes 13 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The ADA, the American Dental Education Association, and the American Student Dental Association launched the coalition in 2018. It followed a report from their joint Task Force on Assessment of Readiness for Practice. The American Dental Hygienists’ Association joined shortly after, and the coalition grew to more than 130 partner organizations. Executive committee chair JoAnn Gurenlian, the ADHA’s appointee, said the coalition showed what the profession can accomplish when it works toward a common purpose.

Work will continue through the ADA, ADEA, and ADHA with state dental and dental hygiene associations. The ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure will keep tracking licensure trends. Remaining priorities include:

• updating the 14 states that still have statutory or regulatory language recognizing procedure-based live-patient exams

• expanding the compact to more states

• continuing to refine clinical assessments

Sources:
ADA News, “Coalition for Modernizing Dental Licensure sunsets after achieving portability goals,” Sept. 30, 2026: adanews.ada.org/2026/september/licensure-coalition-sunsets