3.3 Continuing Education: Hour Requirements, Subject Areas & How Credit Is Earned

Continuing Education Hours and Credit

The core numbers

Rule 64B5-12.013(1), F.A.C.: during each licensure biennium renewal period, dentists shall complete a minimum of 30 hours of continuing education and dental hygienists shall complete a minimum of 24 hours.

The statutes behind the rule add context worth knowing:

• Section 466.0135(1), F.S. — each licensed dentist must complete biennially not less than 30 hours of continuing professional education in dental subjects, with a minimum of 2 hours on the safe and effective prescribing of controlled substances. That two-hour requirement is written into the statute for every dentist; it is not conditioned on holding a DEA registration.
• Section 466.014, F.S. — the Board must require each licensed hygienist to complete at least 24 hours but not more than 36 hours biennially. The statute sets both a floor and a ceiling on what the Board may demand.

How a "credit hour" is measured — s. 466.0135(1)(d)

Continuing education credits shall be earned at the rate of one-half credit hour per 25–30 contact minutes of instruction and one credit hour per 50–60 contact minutes of instruction.

A 45-minute lecture therefore yields half a credit, not a full one. Programs that advertise "1 CE per session" without stating contact minutes cannot be verified against this rule.

Qualifying subject areas — Rule 64B5-12.016(1)

No credit is awarded unless the subject matter falls within one of five categories:

Note category (d): a Florida laws-and-rules course is an eligible subject, and many licensees take one every cycle. It is not, however, a mandatory course in Rule 64B5-12.013 the way the medical-errors, controlled-substance, domestic-violence and HIV/AIDS courses are. Study material listing a compulsory "2-hour Florida dental laws and rules course every third biennium" is describing something the rule does not require.

The practice-management rule and its exception

Rule 64B5-12.016(2) states that, except as expressly allowed, no credit is given for courses that do not directly relate to providing dental care, and names: organisation or design of a dental office, practice development or management, marketing of dental services, investments or financial management, and personnel management.

Rule 64B5-12.016(4) then carves out an exception: "Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, a dentist and a dental hygienist may earn up to three hours of continuing education renewal credit per biennium by completing an approved course in dentistry practice management that meets the criteria set forth in paragraph (c) of subsection 466.0135(1), F.S."

Section 466.0135(1)(c) describes that course as one including principles of ethical practice management and providing instruction in substance abuse, effective communication with patients, time management, and burnout prevention. So the accurate statement of Florida law is: general practice-management and marketing courses earn no credit, but up to three hours of an approved practice-management course meeting the statutory content criteria do.

Rule 64B5-12.016(3): no credit for identical courses taken during the same biennium.

How credit may be earned — Rule 64B5-12.013(6)

Credit is awarded only for experiences specifically appropriate to and directly pertinent to dentistry or dental hygiene, and only through these methods:

• Board-approved continuing education providers (Rules 64B5-12.017 and 64B5-12.0175).
• Courses offered by named bodies: the American or National Dental Associations and their constituent, component and affiliate associations, societies and specialty organisations, or a provider organisation they recognise; the American or National Dental Hygiene Associations and their constituents; the Academy of General Dentistry and its constituents or a provider approved by AGD's National Sponsor Approval Program; a CODA-accredited dental, dental hygiene or dental assisting school; a hospital, college, university or community college accredited by a USDE-approved accrediting agency; the American Red Cross, American Heart Association, and American Cancer Society; an educational program associated with an LCME-accredited medical school; and the American Academy of Dental Hygiene.
• Board-approved individual study under Rule 64B5-12.018.
• Examination standardisation exercises for Florida's dental or dental hygiene examinations: a maximum of 6 credits per biennium for the dental hygiene exercise, 8 credits for the dental clinical exercise, and 11 credits per biennium for participating in both.
• Board-approved pro bono programs under Rule 64B5-12.0185 providing substantial services to the indigent, dentally underserved populations, or persons in areas of critical need: a maximum of 6 hours per biennium, calculated at 1 credit per 1 hour of patient services.
• Serving as an expert witness in the review of disciplinary cases: a maximum of 11 hours for completing five disciplinary cases in a biennium, or a maximum of 4 hours for completing two cases.
• Teaching a course at a CODA-accredited (or other nationally recognised accredited) dental, dental hygiene or dental assisting school: an adjunct or part-time faculty member may receive 3 continuing education hours per semester or quarter, on documentation from the teaching institution.
• Attending a Board of Dentistry meeting at which disciplinary cases are considered: up to 4 hours per renewal cycle, hour for hour, provided the licensee checks in with staff before the disciplinary proceedings begin. Credit may not be earned when the licensee attends as a party to a disciplinary action.
• Serving as an anesthesia inspection consultant: 2 hours of credit each biennium.

Individual study — Rule 64B5-12.018

Credit requires an application for approval on a Board form with supporting documentation, and is available only for:

• (a) Initial presentation of qualifying material at, or at a formal course given in conjunction with, a professional conference or meeting — two hours of credit per 50-minute segment;
• (b) Publication of an article or book in a journal or medium that selects material through editorial review, in an amount determined by the Board; and
• (c) Presentation of a lecture as part of a course at an accredited dental, dental hygiene or dental assisting school, or as part of a formal Board-approved program under Rule 64B5-16.002 — two hours of credit per 50 minutes of actual lecture time, to a maximum of 15 hours per biennium.

Who is excused — Rule 64B5-12.0135

• All licensees: no continuing education is required during the biennium in which they receive initial licensure.
• Dentists only: excused during any biennium in which they are enrolled full-time in a post-graduate specialty training or residency program at a CODA-accredited dental school, or are serving as full-time faculty members at a CODA-accredited dental, dental hygiene or dental assisting school.

Section 466.0135(4) and s. 466.014 also give the Board authority to excuse licensees, as a group or individually, from all or part of the requirements in the event of an unusual circumstance, emergency, or special hardship.