Continued Competency. The American Association of Dental Boards' perspective

Continued competency of professionals can be approached either by expecting participation in processes such as continuing education or by inspecting outcomes demonstrating current capacity to practice. Examples of performance-based approaches to continued competency in dentistry include periodic written examinations, presentation of cases, office visits, and record audits. While these methods appear to offer a more valid determination of current competency, they are costly, time-consuming, and intrusive. The American Association of Dental Boards engaged in a detailed study of approaches to continued competencies beginning about two decades ago and prepared and adopted guidelines for alternative approaches to this process. Implementation of changes is the responsibility of individual state licensing jurisdictions.