(a) The Legislature recognizes the need to ensure that graduates of foreign dental schools who have received an education that is equivalent to that of accredited institutions in the United States and that adequately prepares the students for the practice of dentistry shall be subject to the same licensure requirements as graduates of approved dental schools or colleges. It is the purpose of this section to provide for the evaluation of foreign dental schools and the approval of those foreign dental schools that provide an education that is equivalent to that of similar accredited institutions in the United States and that adequately prepare their students for the practice of dentistry.

(b) Beginning January 1, 2024, a school seeking approval as a foreign dental school shall be required to have successfully completed the international consultative and accreditation process with the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association or a comparable accrediting body approved by the board. Graduates of a foreign dental school whose programs were approved at the time of graduation shall be eligible for licensure pursuant to Section 1628.

(c) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2024.

(Repealed (in Sec. 35) and added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 865, Sec. 36. (AB 1519) Effective January 1, 2020. Section operative January 1, 2024, by its own provisions.)