Guides to the routes: DDS/DMD, CAAPID, ADEA PASS
Written from the published rules of ADEA, the national board and the state boards. Where a figure changes cycle to cycle, these guides say so instead of quoting a number that will be wrong next year. New guides are added regularly and every one carries its own review date.
How U.S. dental licensure actually works
There is no national dental licence in the United States. Each state board sets its own rules, but they are built from the same four components — and knowing which one your state treats differently saves a year.
Read the guideThe INBDE, from an international applicant's chair
The Integrated National Board Dental Examination replaced NBDE Parts I and II with a single, clinically integrated exam. For dentists trained under a discipline-by-discipline curriculum, the format is the hard part, not the content.
Read the guideA month-by-month CAAPID timeline
Almost every failed CAAPID cycle is a calendar problem rather than a credentials problem. This is the sequence that leaves slack in the right places, expressed relative to the earliest deadline on your program list.
Read the guideADEA PASS, explained for residency applicants
ADEA PASS is the centralized application for advanced dental education — residencies and certificate programs in specialties from orthodontics to AEGD and GPR. It is a different system from CAAPID with a different rhythm, and applicants who assume the two behave alike lose weeks.
Read the guideThe CAAPID application, start to finish
CAAPID is the shared application most U.S. Advanced Standing programs use. It is not a form you fill in an evening — the credential evaluation and board exams behind it take months, and the parts applicants underestimate are always the same ones.
Read the guideDDS vs DMD — the honest answer
The single most common question from applicants is whether a DMD is worth less than a DDS, or the reverse. It is not. State boards treat the two identically, and the difference is a matter of institutional history.
Read the guideLooking for your state?
Licensure is set state by state. Each state has its own guide covering the licensing body, the four components every board asks for, and which Advanced Standing programs sit there.
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