Pennsylvania State Board of Dentistry

Pennsylvania dentist CE requirements

The published continuing-education requirements for a Pennsylvania dental license, laid out clearly so you can see the whole picture before your renewal.

What the board requires

• 30 hrsTotal per biennial cycle.
• 2 hrsChild abuse recognition and reporting, counted within the total.
• 2 hrsPain management / opioid prescribing (Act 124 / ABC-MAP) (if dentists who hold a dea registration or use another entity's dea number to prescribe/dispense controlled substances (exempt if neither applies)), counted within the total.
• Min 15 hrsAt least 50% (15 hrs) must be live lecture or clinical presentation (floor).
• Up to 15 hrsMaximum 50% (15 hrs) via individual study, serving as instructor, or authoring (ceiling).
• RequiredCurrent infant, child and adult CPR certification (hands-on; separate from and additive to the 30 CE hours, cannot be counted toward CE) (does not count toward CE hours).

Common questions

Source: Pennsylvania State Board of Dentistry (https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=%2Fsecure%2Fpacode%2Fdata%2F049%2Fchapter33%2FsubchapFtoc.html). Primary authority: 49 Pa. Code Chapter 33 (State Board of Dentistry), Subchapter F (Continuing Dental Education, §§ 33.401-33.404) plus § 33.105 (biennial renewal / CPR). Both extractors found:true, both cite the primary Pennsylvania Code via pacodeandbulletin.gov, both agree on the core spine: 24-month biennial cycle (renewal effective April 1 of odd-numbered years; current period Apr 1 2025 - Mar 31 2027), 30 total hours for DENTISTS, child abuse 2 hrs within, format floor 15 hrs live lecture/clinical, format ceiling 15 hrs individual study/teaching/authoring, no excluded formats, CPR as an additive non-CE credential, carryover 0. 'Individual study' mapped to both self_instruction and online_selfstudy since the code does not distinguish online from other self-study. Ethics/jurisprudence ('laws and regulations') and infection control are ACCEPTABLE subjects under § 33.402 but carry NO mandated dentist hour count, so they are not listed as required topics. Nonclinical subjects (billing, office management, practice building, insurance reimbursement, communication) are non-creditable (§ 33.402(b)). Hygienists (20 hrs) and EFDAs (10 hrs) are out of scope. FLAGGED because of two numeric/boolean disagreements (opioid oneTime; providerStrict) and a secondary-only source on the opioid topic. Best-agreed values assembled above; nothing verified - Brian signs off. EXTRACTION FLAGS (why this is not yet verified): - OPIOID oneTime DISAGREEMENT: Extractor A set oneTime=false (recurs each biennium); Extractor B set oneTime=true (once per renewal period). Board text 'This two-hour requirement needs to be completed only once per renewal period' indicates a per-period recurrence, not a one-time-ever training. Assembled as oneTime=false pending Brian's confirmation. - providerStrict DISAGREEMENT: Extractor A=false (ADA CERP and AGD PACE are auto-accepted under § 33.403 without board petition); Extractor B=true (§ 33.403 is a closed enumerated sponsor list). Assembled as false because CERP/PACE are named on the approved list, but this is contested and needs human sign-off. - OPIOID SOURCE DISCREPANCY / SECONDARY SOURCE: Extractor A cited a SECONDARY source for the opioid requirement (padental.org, PA Dental Association) and noted the primary DOS PDF 'did not render as text'; Extractor B cited a primary board DOS notice PDF. The underlying authority is Act 124 of 2016 / ABC-MAP § 9.1(a)(2), NOT the Pa. Code CE subchapter. Verify the primary DOS notice renders and confirm the verbatim text before sign-off. - OPIOID CONDITIONAL TRIGGER: topic applies only to dentists holding a DEA registration or using another entity's DEA number. Neither extractor supplied a machine triggerFlag; reconciler assigned 'hasDeaRegistration'. Confirm flag naming. - INITIAL-LICENSE VARIANT (not modeled): both extractors note initial-license applicants must complete 4 opioid hours (2 pain/addiction + 2 prescribing/dispensing) once, versus the 2-hour renewal requirement modeled here. Out of scope for renewal spine but flagged for completeness. - CARRYOVER is an absence-of-provision finding (no rollover clause in Subchapter F), not an explicit '0 hours' statement in the code. These are the published requirements as we read them, not legal or board advice, and CEChart does not certify compliance. Confirm your requirements with Pennsylvania State Board of Dentistry before you rely on them.