Florida Board of Dentistry

The Florida Board of Dentistry is a regulatory board housed within the Florida Department of Health's Division of Medical Quality Assurance (MQA), which provides the licensing infrastructure — application processing, renewals, and public search tools — that the Board relies on. The Board is the state's licensing and disciplinary authority for dentists, dental hygienists, and dental laboratories under Chapter 466, Florida Statutes.

The Board consists of 11 members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate: seven must be licensed dentists actively engaged in clinical practice, two must be actively practicing dental hygienists, and two must be consumer members employed in a field unrelated to dentistry. Members serve four-year terms and, under Section 466.004(1), Florida Statutes, may serve no more than a total of 10 years; a member may continue serving past the end of a term until replaced or reappointed.

The Board meets four times a year for full Board meetings, which cover disciplinary cases, licensure approvals, correspondence items, committee reports, and policy discussion items. General Board Business meetings begin at 7:30 a.m. ET on a Friday; anesthesia, rules, and other committee meetings are scheduled as needed throughout the year. The Board's regulatory functions are funded entirely by fees paid by its own licensees, and its full-time professional staff is based in Tallahassee.

The Department of Health is expanding e-licensing across health professions, including dentistry, to speed up licensure and verification. An AI virtual assistant called ELI is available on floridasdentistry.gov to answer common licensing and renewal questions.

The Florida Board of Dentistry, through the Department of Health's MQA division, licenses and regulates dental professionals in three primary categories at floridasdentistry.gov:

• Dentists — the standard general dental practice license.
• Dental Hygienists — a separate licensure track with its own exams, CE, and renewal requirements.
• Dental Laboratories — licensed and inspected as a distinct entity category from individual practitioners.

The Board also issues a range of permits and specialty credentials, including General Anesthesia, Moderate Sedation, and Pediatric Moderate Sedation permits for dentists; local anesthesia certification for dental hygienists; dental radiographer licenses; residency/intern permits; teaching permits; limited licenses (compensated and volunteer, including a Health Access Dentist category); dental temporary certificates; non-profit corporation permits; expanded duties programs; and dental expert witness certificates.

Applications for all license and permit types are submitted through floridasdentistry.gov/licensing, and renewals through floridasdentistry.gov/renewals. Applicants for initial licensure must complete a mandatory Livescan fingerprint-based background screening as part of the Department's Cleared to Care initiative, which added new background screening requirements effective July 1, 2025 (see flhealthsource.gov/background-screening).

Florida dental license applications are submitted online through floridasdentistry.gov/licensing, with application status trackable afterward through the MQA licensee portal at mqa-vo.doh.state.fl.us. Florida passed House Bill 975 in the 2024 legislative session, which requires dentists and dental hygienists to complete electronic (Livescan) fingerprinting as part of licensure; an application cannot be approved until this and all other criteria are met.

Licensure by examination

Applicants must be graduates of a CODA-accredited dental (or dental hygiene) program and pass the required examinations:

• Dentists: the National Board Dental Examination (Parts I and II), the ADEX Dental Licensing Examination, and the Florida Laws and Rules Examination. ADEX scores from a jurisdiction other than Florida are accepted only if the exam was completed on or after October 2, 2011.
• Dental Hygienists: the Dental Hygiene National Board Examination, the ADEX Dental Hygiene Licensing Examination, and the Florida Laws and Rules Examination. ADEX scores are valid if taken on or after June 1, 2010.

The Florida Laws and Rules Examination is administered by the Commission on Dental Competency Assessments (CDCA); register and view candidate manuals at adextesting.org. National Board scores must be mailed to the Board office directly from the American Dental Association.

Initial licensure fees

*The licensure fee is half the biennial fee for applicants who apply in the second year of the biennium (a prorated $152.50 for dentists or $37.50 for hygienists). All initial licenses expire February 28 of the next even-numbered year.

License by MOBILE Endorsement

Under Section 456.0145, Florida Statutes, an out-of-state dentist or dental hygienist may qualify for a Florida license through the MOBILE Endorsement pathway without retaking Florida's examinations, if the applicant:

• Holds an active, unencumbered license in another state, the District of Columbia, or a U.S. territory in a profession with a similar scope of practice;
• Has passed a national licensure examination or holds a national certification recognized by the Board (or the Board determines the applicant's licensing jurisdiction has substantially similar education, examination, and experience requirements);
• Has actively practiced the profession at least two years during the four years immediately before applying;
• Has never been reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank (unless the report was successfully appealed or removed, or resulted from conduct that would not violate Florida law);
• Is not the subject of a pending disciplinary proceeding in any licensing jurisdiction or with the U.S. Department of Defense; and
• Has had no disciplinary action in the five years immediately preceding the application.

MOBILE Endorsement fees are $305.00 for dentists and $80.00 for dental hygienists. Once all requirements are met, Section 456.0145(2)(e) requires the license to be issued within 7 days.

Florida requires continuing education (CE) as a condition of biennial license renewal for dentists and dental hygienists under Section 466.0135, Florida Statutes, and Rule 64B5-12, Florida Administrative Code. The Department now reviews a licensee's CE records in the electronic CE Broker tracking system automatically at the time of renewal; incomplete records prompt the licensee to report outstanding hours before the renewal can be completed. A free Basic CE Broker account covers the Department's reporting requirements; a paid Professional account adds compliance-tracking tools.

CE hours per biennium

Additional subject-matter requirements

• Safe and effective prescribing of controlled substances — 2 hours, required of all dentists at every renewal since July 1, 2019; these hours count toward the 30-hour general total rather than adding to it.
• Domestic violence — 2 hours, due every third biennium, for both dentists and hygienists (in addition to the general-hours total for hygienists).
• HIV/AIDS — 2 hours, required only at a licensee's first renewal after initial licensure. At that first renewal, dentists likewise need only the 2 HIV/AIDS hours plus 2 hours on controlled-substance prescribing, rather than the full general-hours total.
• Current CPR certification — required for both license types and must be a live course (no CE hours are credited for it).

Up to 25% of a hygienist's or public-health volunteer dentist's CE hours — but never the domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, or medical error hours — may be waived for licensees who volunteer services to medically indigent Florida residents or in public schools. Other alternative ways to earn CE per biennium include participating in dental or dental hygiene clinical exercises (up to 8 or 6 hours), pro bono care for indigent Florida residents, serving as an expert witness in disciplinary cases, adjunct faculty service, and attending Board meetings where disciplinary cases are considered (up to 4 hours).

Scope of practice for Florida's dental professions is set out in Chapter 466, Florida Statutes (Dentistry, Dental Hygiene, and Dental Laboratories), and in the Board's rules at Florida Administrative Code Chapter 64B5. The Board regulates three core license categories — dentists, dental hygienists, and dental laboratories — along with the anesthesia, sedation, local anesthesia certification, and expanded-duties credentials described on the licensing page.

Dental hygienists may obtain certification to administer local anesthesia under a dentist's supervision. Dentists may hold General Anesthesia, Moderate Sedation, or Pediatric Moderate Sedation permits, each carrying its own inspection and permitting requirements. Dentists who prescribe Schedule II, III, or IV controlled substances for chronic nonmalignant pain must designate themselves as a controlled substance prescribing practitioner and comply with the requirements of Section 893.03, Florida Statutes, and applicable Board rules.

Complaints against Florida dentists, dental hygienists, and dental laboratories are investigated by the Department of Health's MQA division, which enforces Florida law through administrative action. The Department cannot represent patients in civil disputes over fees or personal-injury compensation — those require a private attorney.

Before filing

If your complaint concerns your own dental records, the Department recommends first sending a certified letter requesting your medical records from the practitioner. If you have not received them within 30 business days, you may file a complaint and attach a copy of the letter and the signed certified-mail receipt as proof of the request.

Filing a complaint

File through the Florida Health Care Complaint Portal at complaint-portal.mqa.flhealthsource.gov. Florida law requires complaints against licensed practitioners to be signed in writing — they cannot be filed by phone. Anonymous complaints are accepted, but a complaint without enough information to investigate may be closed, and anonymous complainants cannot receive status updates. To report someone practicing dentistry without a license, call the unlicensed-activity hotline at 877-HALT-ULA or file at flhealthsource.gov/ula.

What happens next

The complaint is reviewed for a possible violation of the practitioner's practice act. If a violation may have occurred, the case is investigated and referred to Prosecution Services for a probable cause determination. If probable cause is found, the case is referred to the Board for disciplinary action and becomes public 10 days after an administrative complaint is filed. If probable cause is not found, the case is closed and remains confidential. Both the complainant and the practitioner are notified periodically of the case status.

Administrative penalties can include reprimand, fine, practice restriction, mandatory CE, probation, suspension, or revocation; the Department may also offer alternative-to-discipline options such as mediation or a citation.

Florida dental license status and disciplinary history are searched through the Department of Health's MQA Search Services portal at mqa-internet.doh.state.fl.us/MQASearchServices/Home, which offers three separate tools:

• License Verification — confirms current license status for any Florida dentist, dental hygienist, or dental laboratory.
• Practitioner Profile Search — a more detailed record including education, licensure history, and any public actions.
• Discipline & Administrative Actions — a dedicated search for enforcement actions, searchable by practitioner name and profession.

Disciplinary cases become part of the public record 10 days after an administrative complaint is filed against a licensee, once probable cause has been found. Complaints where the Department did not find probable cause remain closed and confidential, and never appear in the public search tools. Consumers can also verify or research newly licensed practitioners through the separate New Licensed Health Care Practitioners search.