Internationally trained dentists will have a way to qualify for a registered dental hygienist license in California if a CDA-sponsored bill is passed and signed into law this fall.
CDA’s aim with AB 1952, by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), is to help the many dental practices across California fill their open dental hygiene positions with highly skilled and experienced individuals who can provide preventive hygiene services for patients on a quicker timeline.
Despite meeting or exceeding the educational level of domestic hygiene curricula, dentists trained outside the U.S. currently have no pathway into the RDH profession.
“Through a competency-based licensure track, AB 1952 will allow qualified internationally trained dentists to integrate themselves into the California dental team and increase linguistic and culturally diverse care,” said CDA President Robert Hanlon, DMD. “As the state continues to face a growing shortage of hygienists, this bill creates an opportunity to maintain our existing dental licensure standards while addressing the workforce challenges our dental offices continue to face.”
RDH workforce growth not keeping pace with dentist population
California dental practices are experiencing persistent difficulty hiring dental hygienists. While the total number of RDHs has increased modestly in recent years, workforce growth has not kept pace with the growing population of dentists. Even with additional RDH educational programs expected to open, such as one in Southern California that CDA supported, the projected graduate numbers will add only incremental capacity over time.
An innovative way to leverage ITDs’ skills and competency
“Although workforce considerations remain important, this new pathway is an innovative way to leverage internationally trained dentists’ clinical skills and cultural competency to enhance patient care,” Dr. Hanlon added.
California has a substantial pool of internationally trained dentists whose clinical training, experience, and cultural and linguistic competencies remain underutilized. Advanced standing programs in six of California’s seven dental schools allow ITDs to become licensed dentists, but thousands of ITDs apply each year for a small fraction of available seats. With no pathway to RDH licensure, highly trained clinicians are forced to restart their careers or exit the dental field entirely, even as dental practices report ongoing difficulty hiring hygienists across the state.
Ensuring only qualified individuals enter RDH workforce
The Dental Hygiene Board of California would oversee the rigorous new pathway, which is modeled on pathways other states are already using successfully. To ensure that only qualified individuals enter the RDH workforce, AB 1952 requires each applicant to:
- Submit Educational Credential Evaluators validation confirming the academic equivalency of the ITD’s international dental degree.
- Pass the national board and clinical examinations.
- Take 50-plus hours of California-specific coursework and the California law and ethics examination, which is required for all California RDHs and reflects the state’s expansive RDH scope.
AB 1952 is one of CDA’s top legislative priorities for 2026 and one of the topics on CDA’s agenda for upcoming Grassroots Advocacy Days with local dental society staff and dental student representatives. CDA members can watch for updates in the weekly newsletter (Inside California Dentistry) and on CDA’s social media channels.
CDA advocacy to resolve dental workforce shortages is ongoing
AB 1952 continues CDA’s work to create solutions to dental office staffing challenges. Recent past successes include CDA-sponsored SB 1453, which beginning last July established a new preceptorship pathway to RDA licensure that shortened assistants’ on-the-job training.
CDA is also working with the California legislature and dental board to allow the required eight-hour infection control course for unlicensed dental assistants to be provided virtually. Member-dentists can also use CDA’s dental assistant online training curriculum plus other resources to hire, onboard and train dental assistants. Also find more information on CDA’s ongoing workforce training and advocacy efforts.