Legal status of dentistry and licensure

The lack of a national standard for dental education and lingering proprietary interests in the 1920s formed part of the context for development of licensure statues by individual states. In this report, Gies called for high standards on state boards and urged the National Association of Dental Examiners (now the AADE) to develop uniform statutes and examination practices. Significant progress has been made in the past seven decades (and especially recently) through regional examining agencies and in increasing the representation of membership on boards. The challenge posed by Gies to increase reciprocity has been refocused on credentialing, accreditation of specialists passed from state boards to the specialty groups, and uniform statues have proven elusive.