Vermont Board of Dentistry

Vermont dental licensing is administered by the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR), a division of the Secretary of State's office, on behalf of the Vermont Board of Dental Examiners. Under 26 V.S.A. § 581, the Board consists of 11 members appointed by the Governor: six licensed dentists in active practice who have practiced in Vermont for five years or more, two licensed dental hygienists with at least three years of Vermont practice, one registered dental assistant with at least three years of Vermont practice, and two public members unaffiliated with dentistry. Members are appointed under 3 V.S.A. §§ 129b and 2004 and may not simultaneously hold office in a state or local professional dental, dental therapy, dental hygiene, or dental assisting organization.

Under 26 V.S.A. § 582, the Board's authority includes adopting rules to carry out the dental practice act, setting qualifications for licensure and examinations, setting continuing education standards, and explaining complaint and appeal procedures to applicants, licensees, and the public. OPR's Director, Jennifer B. Colin, oversees day-to-day licensing operations — applications, renewals, and complaint intake — while the Board itself sets professional standards and hears disciplinary matters.

The Vermont Board of Dental Examiners, through OPR, issues the following credential types under 26 V.S.A. Chapter 12 and the Board's Administrative Rules:

• Dentists (D.D.S. / D.M.D.)
• Dental Therapists — mid-level providers who must practice under a collaborative agreement with a supervising dentist
• Dental Hygienists — may add a Local Anesthesia specialty or Nitrous Oxide specialty
• Dental Assistants — issued as a Traditional (non-certified) or Certified (DANB-certified) registration; either may add a Radiography specialty or an Expanded Function (EFDA) specialty

Dentists may also hold a Minimal and Moderate Sedation specialty or a Deep Sedation and General Anesthesia specialty, each requiring documented training, ACLS/PALS certification, and compliance with AAOMS self-inspection standards or board certification through AAOMS or the American Dental Board of Anesthesiology.

Licensure by endorsement for out-of-state applicants

• Equivalency Endorsement — licensed in a U.S. or Canadian jurisdiction with substantially equivalent requirements; applicants licensed more than 2 years must show active practice equivalent to Vermont's renewal standard
• Fast-Track Endorsement (U.S.) — actively licensed in good standing in any U.S. jurisdiction for 3 or more years, regardless of that jurisdiction's requirements
• 5-Year Endorsement (Canada) — licensed in a Canadian jurisdiction for 5+ years, including at least 1,200 hours of practice per year

All Vermont dental applications — by examination, endorsement, or fast-track endorsement — are filed online through OPR's Online Services system. Official documents that cannot be uploaded may be mailed or emailed to SOS.OPRLicensing3@vermont.gov or sent to:

Vermont Office of Professional Regulation
89 Main Street, 3rd Floor
Montpelier, VT 05620

OPR asks applicants to allow 3–5 business days for processing once a complete application is received.

Apply by examination (first-time applicants)

• Hold a D.D.S. or D.M.D. from a CODA-accredited dental college (or an equivalent international credential evaluated as equivalent)
• Pass the National Board Dental Examination (NBDE Parts I & II) or the Integrated NBDE
• Pass a clinical exam — ADEX (via CDCA or CITA), CRDTS, SRTA, a PGY-1 clinical equivalent, or WREB if examined before July 1, 2020
• Complete an Emergency Office Procedures course and a CPR course within the previous 24 months
• Pass the Vermont Statutes and Rules Exam for dentists — Vermont's jurisprudence exam, submitted as part of the online application

Apply by endorsement

For applicants licensed in a substantially equivalent jurisdiction: submit official transcripts directly from your dental school, request an official license verification sent directly from your state(s) of licensure to OPR, complete the Emergency Office Procedures and CPR courses, and pass the Vermont Statutes and Rules Exam. If license verification is the only outstanding item, OPR may issue a 90-day provisional license while it is awaited.

Fast-track endorsement

Available to applicants actively licensed and in good standing in any U.S. jurisdiction for 3 or more years immediately preceding application — the receiving jurisdiction's own requirements do not need to match Vermont's. Requires only a license verification showing 3 years of continuous good standing and the Vermont Statutes and Rules Exam.

Continuing education requirements are set out in Part 10 of the Board's Administrative Rules, effective October 15, 2025, and apply across each fixed 2-year renewal cycle.

CE hours by license type

• Every renewing dentist, dental therapist, and dental hygienist must include a 2-hour minimum Emergency Office Procedures course and a CPR course, completed within the 2-year cycle, inside their total CE hours
• Dental assistants must complete the Emergency Office Procedures course and CPR course each renewal cycle; Certified Dental Assistants and EFDA specialists must also submit current DANB certification
• No more than 2 hours may be counted per renewal for the basic CPR course or the Emergency Office Procedures course specifically, though there is no cap on ACLS/PALS hours
• The Board will not recognize CE focused on marketing, practice management, personal finance, or other non-patient-care topics

CE from AAOM, ADBA, ADA, CODA, DANB, ADHA, ADAA, the Academy of General Dentistry's PACE program, the Vermont Department of Health's Oral Health Program, or any of their certified/accredited constituent entities is pre-approved. Other courses may be submitted for case-by-case Board approval at least 3 months before the renewal deadline. Licensees must retain CE documentation for the previous 2 licensing cycles in case of an OPR compliance audit, and all dentist renewals also require completing a mandatory healthcare workforce census.

Vermont's dental scope of practice is set out in 26 V.S.A. Chapter 12 and Parts 4–9 of the Board's Administrative Rules, effective October 15, 2025.

• Dentists — full diagnosis and treatment of oral conditions; responsible for general supervision of dental hygienists and direct supervision of dental assistants
• Dental Therapists (26 V.S.A. § 613) — may provide oral health instruction, periodontal charting, radiographs, oral evaluation, prophylaxis, topical preventive agents, pulp vitality testing, suture removal, and related services, but only under general supervision within a collaborative agreement with a supervising dentist (§ 614)
• Dental Hygienists (26 V.S.A. § 624) — perform duties for which they are qualified by education or Board-approved CE, generally only in a licensed dentist's or dental therapist's office; a hygienist with a Local Anesthesia specialty may administer local anesthetics under a dentist's direct supervision and prescription
• Public-health hygienists — hygienists with 3+ years of experience may practice in out-of-office settings (schools, nursing homes, clinics, Head Start programs) under a general supervision agreement, and may use the silver modified atraumatic restorative technique (SMART) with Vermont Department of Health training
• Dental Assistants — Traditional or DANB-Certified; scope is set by individual agreement with a supervising dentist or dental therapist based on training and experience. All intraoral tasks require direct supervision, and some tasks are never delegable to a dental assistant regardless of training

Sedation and anesthesia specialties

Dentists who wish to administer sedation beyond local anesthesia must hold a separate Minimal and Moderate Sedation specialty or Deep Sedation and General Anesthesia specialty, each requiring documented training consistent with ADA sedation guidelines, ACLS or PALS certification as appropriate to the patient population, and compliance with AAOMS self-assessment standards or board certification through AAOMS or the American Dental Board of Anesthesiology.

Complaints against Vermont-licensed dental professionals are filed with the Office of Professional Regulation, not the Board directly. OPR is upfront about the limits of its authority: it cannot seek money damages or restitution for a complainant, cannot mediate disputes between patient and provider, and can only pursue unprofessional-conduct allegations against professions actually required to be licensed or registered with OPR.

How to file

Complaints are submitted through OPR's online platform. You may file as a guest, a registered user, or a licensee — no account is required.

File a Complaint Online

To understand what happens after you file, review OPR's complaint lifecycle guidance document. Contested cases are governed by the Office of Professional Regulation's Administrative Rules of Practice and the Vermont Administrative Procedure Act; some cases are resolved through a stipulated agreement rather than a hearing.

Employer mandatory reporting

Under 3 V.S.A. § 128, employers must report certain events involving licensed professionals to OPR. The Employer Mandatory Reporting Form and a separate Drug Diversion Reporting Form are available on OPR's complaints page.

Tracking outcomes

Finalized conduct decisions are posted to the Conduct Decision Search tool, and OPR also publishes Monthly Discipline Reports summarizing recent actions across all regulated professions.

Vermont uses two separate OPR tools to check a dental professional's status and history:

• Find a Professional — OPR's primary license-lookup tool. Search by name (most searches succeed on name alone; add city, state, or zip to narrow results) to see license number and type, issue/effective/expiration dates, current status, and — where applicable — supervision, specialty/endorsement, and disciplinary information. OPR treats this tool as a primary source for verifying license status and expiration.
• Conduct Decision Search — the fuller record of formal discipline: cases heard by the Board or an administrative law officer, whether resolved by contested hearing or stipulated agreement. Search works best by last name or docket number.

For a complete exportable list of every Vermont dental licensee, use the Profession Roster Download option linked from the Find a Professional page. Decisions concluded before the year 2000 are not available online — request them from the OPR Docket Clerk at sos.docketclerk@vermont.gov.

OPR also publishes Monthly Discipline Reports summarizing recent disciplinary actions across every OPR-regulated profession, not only dentistry.