ADA and American Board of Dental Examiners Advance Dental Licensure Examinations Through New Agreement

CHICAGO, April 14, 2026 — The American Dental Association (ADA) and the American Board of Dental Examiners (ADEX) have finalized an agreement to license the ADA’s Dental Licensure Objective Structured Clinical Examination ( DLOSCE) for incorporation into the  ADEX Dental Examination, marking a significant step forward in modernizing dental licensure and advancing patient safety.

The agreement benefits public health, dental licensure candidates, the dental profession, and licensing boards to help ensure dentists enter the profession with proven competence and uphold the highest standards for patient safety.

The integration of the ADA’s DLOSCE simplifies licensure pathways and supports licensure portability, benefiting candidates seeking to practice in 48 states and other jurisdictions—including Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — that currently accept or require the ADEX Dental Examination.

“This agreement represents an important milestone for the dental profession,” said Dr. Richard Rosato, D.M.D., president of the ADA. “By aligning pathways to licensure and advancing candidate assessment, we are strengthening licensure portability, supporting a more mobile and responsive workforce, and ensuring that patient safety remains paramount. The ADA has long championed solutions that modernize licensure while protecting the public, and this collaboration reflects our commitment to shaping a strong, sustainable future for dentistry in service to public health.”

The ADEX Dental Examination with its DLOSCE component represents a modernized, evidence‑based approach to evaluating clinical competence and readiness for practice. The ADEX Dental Examination will continue to assess candidates’ clinical hand skills alongside their treatment‑planning and decision‑making abilities. Through inclusion of the DLOSCE, the ADEX Dental Examination will benefit from the DLOSCE’s extensive use of images and 3D models that allow candidates to demonstrate their clinical judgment in scenarios that closely mirror real‑world practice.

“ADEX has long served state dental boards to support licensure processes that reflect both public protection and clinical competence,” said Dr. Mark Armstrong, Chair of ADEX. “This agreement continues that work by strengthening alignment across assessment components while preserving the clinical hand-skills evaluation that remains central to licensure in most U.S. jurisdictions.”

The agreement follows extensive collaboration among the ADA, ADEX, the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations (JCNDE), and the ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure (CDEL) that began in 2025. In March 2026, the ADA Board of Trustees and ADEX Board of Directors voted to approve the general terms that led to this joint agreement.

Central to discussions was a shared commitment to ensuring that dental licensure assessments continue to evolve in step with advancements in clinical education, technology, and patient care. Both organizations emphasized the importance of strengthening public protection while also enhancing the portability of dental licensure for candidates navigating an increasingly mobile profession.

ADEX will sunset its DSE OSCE no later than Aug. 1, 2026. Upon sunset of the DSE OSCE, all ADEX Dental Examination administrations will include the DLOSCE.

The DLOSCE will no longer be offered or administered as a standalone examination to new DLOSCE candidates, except in conjunction with the ADEX Dental Examination, after August 1, 2026. All standalone administrations of the DLOSCE will cease after October 9, 2026.