Dental PhD to practice dentistry in US - how to get a dental license

Can you practice dentistry in US by going through a dental PhD program? This is a common question related to your dental education background and dental license. To really understand the full details about the dental license requirements and dental license qualification, we have other videos in this channel, but to give you a short summary about the PhD in dentistry and your ability to practice dentistry in the US, here is what you need to know:

PhD dental programs exist, but there are different types. They could be connected to a dental specialty or a dental residency (known as grad programs, where you usually apply through ADEA PASS application), or even with a DDS DMD program.

However, there are dental PhD degree only, that usually is NOT connected with direct patient care but mostly research.

It is important for you to know that the state dental board is responsible for providing a dental license and a PhD program alone WILL NOT provide you the ability to practice dentistry in the United States.

HOWEVER, the combined dental specialty / PhD programs have a different curriculum and will provide you a dual degree AND have a clinical component to it. Therefore, these type of programs that provide a specialty dental degree AND a PhD would be able to provide you a dental license in certain states. This is due to the specialty part of the program, but not the PhD.

In summary, PhD dental programs alone, even though it is an American Dental Degree, will NOT provide you the ability to practice without restriction in the United States, as a rule of thumb.

As a side note, this additional dental education can be very important for your dental career, as it can open many doors for future jobs in dental schools.

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00:00 Introduction
00:42 Background information
01:23 Understand the pathways to get a dental PhD
01:52 Rules to get an unrestricted dental license
02:45 Consideration #1 for PhD in dentistry
03:34 Consideration #2 for PhD in dentistry