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The National Board of Dental Examiners
T H E N A T IO N A L BOARD OF D EN TAL EXAM INERS By J. V. CONZETT, D.Sc., D.D.S., F.A.C.D., Dubuque, Iowa
E
V E R since its existence as a profes sion, dentistry has labored under the disadvantage of having the pro fessional activities of its members limited to the particular state in which they are licensed to practice. I t has not been possible for a practitioner to move from one state to another w ithout being com pelled to pass the licensing examination of the state in which he wished to practice. T h is procedure became necessary as a m atter of protection because the state dental laws and the qualifications for practice were so varied in the different states. T h e dental colleges required such different entrance, promotion and gradua tion qualifications that it became impera tive for the states w ith high professional ideals to protect themselves from the in flux of practitioners from states and in stitutions having lower standards for practice. I t has long been the desire of the lead ers in the profession to relieve this anomalous condition and bring about a unification or standardization of educa tional and licensing requirements, which would permit the graduate dentist quali fied to practice in one state to practice in any state in the union. T o this end, various methods and suggestions have been considered and some of them put into practice in a limited manner, but none of them have been effective. T h e most noted effort in this direction was that of interstate reciprocity, which failed J o u r. A . D . A ., M a rc h , IQ30
for the reason above stated; namely, be cause all practitioners were not equally qualified, either in cultural or profes sional attainments. Therefore, not all states were w illing to enter into agree ments to admit dental graduates from other states to practice w ithout ex amination. Recognizing the chaotic condition of affairs in dental education, the national organizations entered into an agreement whereby the D ental Educational Council of America was constituted by the ap pointment of five members from each of the parent bodies, the American D ental Association, the N ational D ental Ex aminers Association and the American Association of D ental Schools. T o this council was delegated the task of har monizing professional school entrance re quirements, promotion conditions and graduation qualifications. T his council has been w orking at its appointed task for tw enty or more years, w ith the result th at the educational standards in the colleges of the country are greatly advanced and more nearly equalized in every particular. M any of the weaker schools have been forced to retire from the field of dental education; many others have been strengthened either from w ithin by additional physical and teaching resources, or by a merger w ith other schools. In the meantime, the Educational Council has steadily raised its requirements for Class A schools until, at the present time, the educational
486
C onzett— N ational Board of D ental Examiners requirements in dentistry closely approxi mate those of the medical profession. I t is manifest, then, that the original conditions which demanded that the qualifications to practice dentistry be de termined by the various states are not now present as in former years. Now, every student of dentistry must have had four years of high school preparation and at least one year of collegiate w ork in order to m atriculate in any dental college in the U nited States. H e must have four years of professional training of a speci fied type in the dental school in order to graduate. H e must then pass a state board examination before he can become eligible to practice in any state, and can then practice only in the state the board examination of which he has passed. In view of the advancement of the status of dental education as presented in our colleges, and the further fact that the graduate is carefully viséd by the state boards, it seems to be opportune to formulate some method by which the den tist may present himself to some cen tralized constituted authority, the certifi cation by which w ill enable him to practice his profession in any state in the union. In pursuance of that idea, the American D ental Association, after care ful study of the situation, has invited the N ational Association of D ental Exami ners and the American Association of D ental Schools to nominate five from each body to the American D ental Asso ciation who, w ith five members from the American D ental Association member ship and approved by the House of D ele gates, w ill constitute a national board of dental examiners. Accordingly, the nomi nations were made at the Minneapolis meeting, and the House of Delegates con firmed these nominations and thereby created the N ational Board of D ental Examiners under the auspices of the
487
American D ental Association, to which they are responsible and from which they receive their authority and financial sup port. T h e board, as at present constituted, is as follows: from the N ational Associa tion of D ental Examiners: A. H . Rey nolds, George E. H aigh, M . J . Loeb, H . J. Feltus and O . E. Jackson; from the American Association of D ental Schools : W . H . G . Logan, A. R. M c D owell, Delos L. H ill, A. W . Bryan and Charles R. T u rn e r; from the A m er ican D ental Association : L. Pierce Anthony, A. C. W herry, H . W . Nelson, J . Franklin Cook and J. V. Conzett. In addition to the above-mentioned names, the Surgeons-General of the U nited States Army, Navy and Public H ealth Service have been requested to cooperate w ith the dental organizations in this movement. T hey have generously consented to do so and have appointed as their representatives Robert T . Oliver, from the A rm y; Paul G . W hite, from the Navy, and G. T . Messner from the Public H ealth Service. T he above mentioned men have held several meetings and have regularly or ganized the N ational Board of D ental Examiners pursuant to the instructions of the enabling act passed by the House of Delegates at the meeting of the A m er ican D ental Association convention in M inneapolis in 1928. J. V. Conzett was elected chairman, and A. H . Reynolds, secretary, and they, together w ith D rs. Logan, T u rn e r and Loeb, constitute the executive committee. T he Board is constituted along the lines of the N ational Board of M edical Examiners, whose secretary, M r. E ltwood, has been of inestimable service to the dental board in his advice and as sistance.
488
T he Journal of the American D ental Association
T h e purpose of the Board is to issue a certificate of examination to each suc cessful candidate that w ill readily make available to him the license to practice in any state, by virtue of the high stand ard of the examination. It is the intention of the N ational Board of D ental Examiners to hold its examinations in three parts. T h e first part w ill be known as the junior exami nation, intended to cover only the funda m ental professional subjects, and it is the purpose of the Board to hold the first examination in part one sometime next December. T h e second part, the senior theoretical examinations, w ill be held sometime in the middle or latter part of M ay following the junior examination. All of the examinations w ill be held at the same time, the members of the subsidiary examining board being selected from the state boards of dental examiners of the states near the examination centers. T he first two parts, being theoretical, will be held in various centers, to be se lected in the future, and w ill be held concurrently, so that it w ill be impos sible for any student to obtain advance information from any one who has taken the examination. Supervisory boards w ill be formed to help conduct these examinations from the various state boards of dental ex aminers in the states near the centers in which the examinations w ill be held. Each board will be requested to send a representative, who w ill be a member of the supervisory board at that examina tion. T h is w ill expedite the examinations, and w ill, in addition, place all examina tions under the direction of the various state boards of dental examiners, the N ational Board simply supervising and directing the m anner and methods of examination.
T h e final examination, part three, the practical one, w ill be under the direction of subsidiary boards which will be made up of members of the various state boards. F or example, if an examination is to be held in Chicago, the boards from the surrounding states, Indiana, Wisconsin, M ichigan and Iowa, w ill be requested to send representatives to th a t board, and they w ill constitute the board to conduct the examination. T h e chairman of the board w ill be a member of the N ational Board. In this way, the state boards would have control of the examinations and would be able to pass directly on the qualifications of the candidates for certi fication. T h e questions to be submitted to candi dates for the theoretical examinations w ill be selected from those presented by the heads of departments in our various dental colleges, who w ill be asked to pre sent a list of such questions, together w ith a study of the questions that are being asked by the various state boards. I t is the object of the N ational Board to make the examinations as rigid as those of any state, but to have them fair and comprehensive. I t is to th at end that the assistance of the various heads of depart ments of the different colleges w ill be asked to cooperate in the form ulation of the questions. An examination, to be of the greatest value, should not be made up of “catch questions,” but should com prise questions th at fairly seek to de termine the m ental and technical ability of the candidate. T h e candidate who passes the junior examination ( P a rt 1) w ill be eligible for the senior examination ( P a rt 2 ), and when he passes P a rt 2, he w ill be eligible to take the final practical examination ( P a rt 3 ). N o student who has failed in his college w ork w ill be eligible to take any examination. Every candidate there
C onzett— National Board of D ental Examiners fore will be required to present a certifi cate from his school authorities attesting his eligibility to take part in the examina tion. T h e advantage to the student of the certificate of the N ational Board w ill be the prestige afforded by the possession of the certificate of the national examining authority, w ith the ultim ate advantage of the privilege to practice in every state in which the certificate is recognized. T h e final authority, in th a t respect, will re side in the individual state boards, and they w ill have to pass on the qualifica tions and credentials of the candidate be fore acceptance of the certificate. A t present, there are three or four state boards who have signified their w ill ingness to accept the national board cer tificate and more w ill do so as soon as they are able to obtain permission from their legislatures. T h e laws of some states will have to be modified to enable them to recognize the certificate, but if the state societies and the profession w ant it, they w ill be able to get the desired legislation. T h e medical board has been fifteen years obtaining the cooperation and ap proval of thirty-five states, but as they have blazed the trail, it should be much less difficult for the dental board to gain general approval. T h e fact is that we are simply following their lead, walking in their footsteps and endeavoring to
489
avoid their mistakes ; and, being guided by their successes, we should be able to progress much more rapidly than they have. In this manner, one of the great est handicaps of dentistry will be elimi nated, and we shall be able to advance all the more rapidly. Obstacles are bound to arise owing to the objections that w ill be raised by those having per sonal axes to grind, but, in the end, right and efficiency w ill prevail. I t is the intention of the Board to ask permission of the various schools for a member of the Board to go before the student body and explain to them the desirability of every student’s taking the examination and also to explain to them the method of procedure for those who wish to take the examinations. T h e dentist in practice at the present time will have the same opportunity to pass the examination th at the graduate student possesses, and his preliminary and professional education will be vised ac cording to the educational requirements of his graduation period. T he present status of the practitioner will be given the same consideration that is given it by the state boards at the present time, and at no time will the N ational Board attem pt to assume any superiority over the state boards. T heir ultim ate authority is recognized and it is hoped to work w ith and through them to the solu tion of this problem.
E
V E R since its existence as a profes sion, dentistry has labored under the disadvantage of having the pro fessional activities of its members limited to the particular state in which they are licensed to practice. I t has not been possible for a practitioner to move from one state to another w ithout being com pelled to pass the licensing examination of the state in which he wished to practice. T h is procedure became necessary as a m atter of protection because the state dental laws and the qualifications for practice were so varied in the different states. T h e dental colleges required such different entrance, promotion and gradua tion qualifications that it became impera tive for the states w ith high professional ideals to protect themselves from the in flux of practitioners from states and in stitutions having lower standards for practice. I t has long been the desire of the lead ers in the profession to relieve this anomalous condition and bring about a unification or standardization of educa tional and licensing requirements, which would permit the graduate dentist quali fied to practice in one state to practice in any state in the union. T o this end, various methods and suggestions have been considered and some of them put into practice in a limited manner, but none of them have been effective. T h e most noted effort in this direction was that of interstate reciprocity, which failed J o u r. A . D . A ., M a rc h , IQ30
for the reason above stated; namely, be cause all practitioners were not equally qualified, either in cultural or profes sional attainments. Therefore, not all states were w illing to enter into agree ments to admit dental graduates from other states to practice w ithout ex amination. Recognizing the chaotic condition of affairs in dental education, the national organizations entered into an agreement whereby the D ental Educational Council of America was constituted by the ap pointment of five members from each of the parent bodies, the American D ental Association, the N ational D ental Ex aminers Association and the American Association of D ental Schools. T o this council was delegated the task of har monizing professional school entrance re quirements, promotion conditions and graduation qualifications. T his council has been w orking at its appointed task for tw enty or more years, w ith the result th at the educational standards in the colleges of the country are greatly advanced and more nearly equalized in every particular. M any of the weaker schools have been forced to retire from the field of dental education; many others have been strengthened either from w ithin by additional physical and teaching resources, or by a merger w ith other schools. In the meantime, the Educational Council has steadily raised its requirements for Class A schools until, at the present time, the educational
486
C onzett— N ational Board of D ental Examiners requirements in dentistry closely approxi mate those of the medical profession. I t is manifest, then, that the original conditions which demanded that the qualifications to practice dentistry be de termined by the various states are not now present as in former years. Now, every student of dentistry must have had four years of high school preparation and at least one year of collegiate w ork in order to m atriculate in any dental college in the U nited States. H e must have four years of professional training of a speci fied type in the dental school in order to graduate. H e must then pass a state board examination before he can become eligible to practice in any state, and can then practice only in the state the board examination of which he has passed. In view of the advancement of the status of dental education as presented in our colleges, and the further fact that the graduate is carefully viséd by the state boards, it seems to be opportune to formulate some method by which the den tist may present himself to some cen tralized constituted authority, the certifi cation by which w ill enable him to practice his profession in any state in the union. In pursuance of that idea, the American D ental Association, after care ful study of the situation, has invited the N ational Association of D ental Exami ners and the American Association of D ental Schools to nominate five from each body to the American D ental Asso ciation who, w ith five members from the American D ental Association member ship and approved by the House of D ele gates, w ill constitute a national board of dental examiners. Accordingly, the nomi nations were made at the Minneapolis meeting, and the House of Delegates con firmed these nominations and thereby created the N ational Board of D ental Examiners under the auspices of the
487
American D ental Association, to which they are responsible and from which they receive their authority and financial sup port. T h e board, as at present constituted, is as follows: from the N ational Associa tion of D ental Examiners: A. H . Rey nolds, George E. H aigh, M . J . Loeb, H . J. Feltus and O . E. Jackson; from the American Association of D ental Schools : W . H . G . Logan, A. R. M c D owell, Delos L. H ill, A. W . Bryan and Charles R. T u rn e r; from the A m er ican D ental Association : L. Pierce Anthony, A. C. W herry, H . W . Nelson, J . Franklin Cook and J. V. Conzett. In addition to the above-mentioned names, the Surgeons-General of the U nited States Army, Navy and Public H ealth Service have been requested to cooperate w ith the dental organizations in this movement. T hey have generously consented to do so and have appointed as their representatives Robert T . Oliver, from the A rm y; Paul G . W hite, from the Navy, and G. T . Messner from the Public H ealth Service. T he above mentioned men have held several meetings and have regularly or ganized the N ational Board of D ental Examiners pursuant to the instructions of the enabling act passed by the House of Delegates at the meeting of the A m er ican D ental Association convention in M inneapolis in 1928. J. V. Conzett was elected chairman, and A. H . Reynolds, secretary, and they, together w ith D rs. Logan, T u rn e r and Loeb, constitute the executive committee. T he Board is constituted along the lines of the N ational Board of M edical Examiners, whose secretary, M r. E ltwood, has been of inestimable service to the dental board in his advice and as sistance.
488
T he Journal of the American D ental Association
T h e purpose of the Board is to issue a certificate of examination to each suc cessful candidate that w ill readily make available to him the license to practice in any state, by virtue of the high stand ard of the examination. It is the intention of the N ational Board of D ental Examiners to hold its examinations in three parts. T h e first part w ill be known as the junior exami nation, intended to cover only the funda m ental professional subjects, and it is the purpose of the Board to hold the first examination in part one sometime next December. T h e second part, the senior theoretical examinations, w ill be held sometime in the middle or latter part of M ay following the junior examination. All of the examinations w ill be held at the same time, the members of the subsidiary examining board being selected from the state boards of dental examiners of the states near the examination centers. T he first two parts, being theoretical, will be held in various centers, to be se lected in the future, and w ill be held concurrently, so that it w ill be impos sible for any student to obtain advance information from any one who has taken the examination. Supervisory boards w ill be formed to help conduct these examinations from the various state boards of dental ex aminers in the states near the centers in which the examinations w ill be held. Each board will be requested to send a representative, who w ill be a member of the supervisory board at that examina tion. T h is w ill expedite the examinations, and w ill, in addition, place all examina tions under the direction of the various state boards of dental examiners, the N ational Board simply supervising and directing the m anner and methods of examination.
T h e final examination, part three, the practical one, w ill be under the direction of subsidiary boards which will be made up of members of the various state boards. F or example, if an examination is to be held in Chicago, the boards from the surrounding states, Indiana, Wisconsin, M ichigan and Iowa, w ill be requested to send representatives to th a t board, and they w ill constitute the board to conduct the examination. T h e chairman of the board w ill be a member of the N ational Board. In this way, the state boards would have control of the examinations and would be able to pass directly on the qualifications of the candidates for certi fication. T h e questions to be submitted to candi dates for the theoretical examinations w ill be selected from those presented by the heads of departments in our various dental colleges, who w ill be asked to pre sent a list of such questions, together w ith a study of the questions that are being asked by the various state boards. I t is the object of the N ational Board to make the examinations as rigid as those of any state, but to have them fair and comprehensive. I t is to th at end that the assistance of the various heads of depart ments of the different colleges w ill be asked to cooperate in the form ulation of the questions. An examination, to be of the greatest value, should not be made up of “catch questions,” but should com prise questions th at fairly seek to de termine the m ental and technical ability of the candidate. T h e candidate who passes the junior examination ( P a rt 1) w ill be eligible for the senior examination ( P a rt 2 ), and when he passes P a rt 2, he w ill be eligible to take the final practical examination ( P a rt 3 ). N o student who has failed in his college w ork w ill be eligible to take any examination. Every candidate there
C onzett— National Board of D ental Examiners fore will be required to present a certifi cate from his school authorities attesting his eligibility to take part in the examina tion. T h e advantage to the student of the certificate of the N ational Board w ill be the prestige afforded by the possession of the certificate of the national examining authority, w ith the ultim ate advantage of the privilege to practice in every state in which the certificate is recognized. T h e final authority, in th a t respect, will re side in the individual state boards, and they w ill have to pass on the qualifica tions and credentials of the candidate be fore acceptance of the certificate. A t present, there are three or four state boards who have signified their w ill ingness to accept the national board cer tificate and more w ill do so as soon as they are able to obtain permission from their legislatures. T h e laws of some states will have to be modified to enable them to recognize the certificate, but if the state societies and the profession w ant it, they w ill be able to get the desired legislation. T h e medical board has been fifteen years obtaining the cooperation and ap proval of thirty-five states, but as they have blazed the trail, it should be much less difficult for the dental board to gain general approval. T h e fact is that we are simply following their lead, walking in their footsteps and endeavoring to
489
avoid their mistakes ; and, being guided by their successes, we should be able to progress much more rapidly than they have. In this manner, one of the great est handicaps of dentistry will be elimi nated, and we shall be able to advance all the more rapidly. Obstacles are bound to arise owing to the objections that w ill be raised by those having per sonal axes to grind, but, in the end, right and efficiency w ill prevail. I t is the intention of the Board to ask permission of the various schools for a member of the Board to go before the student body and explain to them the desirability of every student’s taking the examination and also to explain to them the method of procedure for those who wish to take the examinations. T h e dentist in practice at the present time will have the same opportunity to pass the examination th at the graduate student possesses, and his preliminary and professional education will be vised ac cording to the educational requirements of his graduation period. T he present status of the practitioner will be given the same consideration that is given it by the state boards at the present time, and at no time will the N ational Board attem pt to assume any superiority over the state boards. T heir ultim ate authority is recognized and it is hoped to work w ith and through them to the solu tion of this problem.