Any person over 18 years of age is eligible to take an examination before the board upon making application therefor and meeting all of the following requirements:

(a) Paying the fee for applicants for examination provided by this chapter.

(b) Furnishing satisfactory evidence of having graduated from a dental college approved by the board or by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association and presenting satisfactory evidence of having completed at dental school or schools the full number of academic years of undergraduate courses required for graduation. For purposes of this article, “dental college approved by the board” or “approved dental school” include a foreign dental school accredited by a body that has a reciprocal accreditation agreement with any commission or accreditation organization whose findings are accepted by the board.

(c) Furnishing the satisfactory evidence of financial responsibility or liability insurance for injuries sustained or claimed to be sustained by a dental patient in the course of the examination as a result of the applicant’s actions.

(d) If the applicant has been issued a degree of doctor of dental medicine or doctor of dental surgery by a foreign dental school, the applicant shall furnish all of the following documentary evidence to the board:

(1) That the applicant has completed, in a dental school or schools approved by the board pursuant to Section 1636.4, a resident course of professional instruction in dentistry for the full number of academic years of undergraduate courses required for graduation.

(2) Subsequent thereto, the applicant has been issued by the dental school a dental diploma or a dental degree, as evidence of the successful completion of the course of dental instruction required for graduation.

(e) Any applicant who has been issued a dental diploma from a foreign dental school that has not, at the time of the applicant’s graduation from the school, been approved by the board pursuant to Section 1636.4 shall not be eligible for examination until the applicant has successfully completed a minimum of two academic years of education at a dental college approved by the board pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 1024) of Chapter 2 of Division 10 of Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations and has been issued a degree of doctor of dental medicine or doctor of dental surgery or its equivalent. This subdivision shall not apply to applicants who have successfully completed the requirements of Section 1636 as it read before it was repealed on January 1, 2004, on or before December 31, 2003, or who have successfully completed the requirements of Section 1628.2 on or before December 31, 2008. An applicant who has successfully completed the requirements of Section 1636 as it read before it was repealed on January 1, 2004, on or before December 31, 2003, or who has successfully completed the requirements of Section 1628.2 on or before December 31, 2008, shall be eligible to take the examination required by Section 1632, subject to the limitations set forth in subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 1633.

(f) Subdivisions (d) and (e) do not apply to a person who has been issued a degree of doctor of dental medicine or doctor of dental surgery by a foreign dental school accredited by a body that has a reciprocal accreditation agreement with any commission or accreditation organization whose findings are accepted by the board.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 865, Sec. 28. (AB 1519) Effective January 1, 2020.)