Integrated National Board Dental Examination

Development and validation of the Integrated National Board Dental Examination (INBDE) is being overseen by the Committee for an Integrated Examination (CIE) which is a special committee of the JCNDE.  The decision to create a new examination is part of the JCNDE's strategic plan for the future. This examination will integrate basic, behavioral, and clinical sciences to assess entry level competency in dentistry to assist state boards of dentistry in evaluating candidates for dental licensure. The new integrated licensure examination for dentistry will eventually replace the NBDE Parts I and II.

Members of the Committee see the creation of an integrated examination as a long term project with implementation no sooner than 2017. As the chair of the CIE, Dr. Christensen acknowledged, "It is a challenging but exciting opportunity to develop an assessment instrument reflective of dentistry in the 21st century."

The CIE values and encourages input from all stakeholders and communication methods have been developed to facilitate the process of providing feedback to the Committee. As noted in the March Update from the CIE Chair, the two documents below were made available for review in November 2011 and all stakeholders were encouraged to provide their comments to the Committee. The comment period will end April 30, 2012. If you haven’t already done so, please review and send your feedback to the Committee via email to jcndecie@ada.org. While individual responses are not possible, the committee will consider all comments until April 30, 2012.   

• Model of the Domain of Dentistry  (Draft) (PDF)
• Foundation Knowledge for the General Dentist  (Draft) (PDF)

Another way to stay abreast of information is to read the Updates written by the CIE chair, which provide background information and current updates on the project. 

• March 2012 Update from the CIE Chair (PDF)
• November 2011 Update from the CIE Chair  (PDF)
• February 2011 Update from the CIE Chair  (PDF)
• July 2010 Update from the CIE Chair   (PDF)

Review the Frequently Asked Questions to learn more about the INBDE and check the timeline to monitor progress on INBDE development. Check both periodically for new information that may have developed since your last visit.