Every internationally trained dentist hits this decision early, usually with bad information. The two agencies are not interchangeable: one of them is the only agency the exam board accepts, and the cheaper report of the two does not get you into a dental school application. Here is the decision, the real fees, and the ordering trap that costs people a whole cycle.
The short answer for most internationally trained dentists
Order the ECE Course by Course report. It satisfies the exam board and the dental schools, so you pay once instead of twice.
The reason is simple once you see both requirements side by side. For the INBDE, candidates educated at a school not accredited by CODA must have the degree confirmed through Educational Credential Evaluators, so ECE is the agency, not a choice. For ADEA CAAPID, coursework completed outside the US must be evaluated by either World Education Services or ECE, and by nobody else, and the evaluation has to be course by course.
ECE itself sets this out on its ADA page: the US General Report at $110 if you are only applying for the exam, and the US Course by Course Report at $199 if you are also applying to a US dental school, which dental schools require and which the ADA and JCNDE also accept. One report, both uses.
Which applies to you?
Pick the line closest to your situation and get the specific answer.
The $110 report is enough, with one caveat
If the exam is genuinely all you are doing this year, ECE suggests its US General Report at $110 for exam-only applicants. It confirms the degree, which is what the JCNDE needs from a non-CODA graduate.
The caveat is that almost nobody stops at the exam. The moment a dental school application enters the picture you need the Course by Course report instead, and you will have paid twice. If there is any chance you apply this cycle or next, pay the $199 once.
This is the standard route, and the cheapest overall
The Course by Course report is what dental schools require, and the ADA and JCNDE accept it too. One order, both purposes, and it is $89 more than the exam-only report rather than a second full fee.
Order the exam copy when you are applying for the INBDE. Order the CAAPID copy from inside your CAAPID account once the cycle opens, not before. That sequencing is where most of the pain on this page comes from.
Check whether it is course by course first
CAAPID accepts WES or ECE, so an existing WES report can cover the application side, provided it is a course by course evaluation with letter grades and with each course classified as undergraduate, graduate or professional level. A document by document report will not do.
It will not cover the INBDE. The JCNDE route for a non-CODA graduate runs through ECE, so you will be ordering ECE as well. At that point compare the cost of adding the ECE report against simply using ECE for both.
Ask ECE before you order anything new
Ordering a second, unrelated report is the expensive way to fix this. ECE handles upgrades and additional report copies from an existing file, so contact them, say that you now need a course by course report for ADEA CAAPID, and ask what it costs from your existing application.
Do this early. Anything involving re-issuing documents takes weeks, and your target programmes have deadlines that fall long before the CAAPID cycle closes.
It decides whether you need an evaluation at all
The requirement applies to candidates educated at schools not accredited by CODA, or by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada. If you trained outside the US or Canada, assume it applies to you and plan for the evaluation.
If you trained at a CODA accredited programme, you are not in this process at all. If you are genuinely unsure, confirm with the JCNDE before you spend anything, because the answer also changes your INBDE application route.
WES and ECE, compared on what actually matters
| Question | ECE | WES |
|---|---|---|
| Accepted for the INBDE by the JCNDE | Yes. Non-CODA graduates have the degree confirmed through ECE | Not the route the JCNDE sets for the INBDE |
| Accepted by ADEA CAAPID | Yes | Yes. CAAPID accepts WES or ECE, and no other agency |
| Report CAAPID requires | Course by Course, $199 | Course by Course, with letter grades and course level stated |
| Cheaper report that exists | US General Report, $110, exam only | Document by document, which CAAPID will not accept |
| How the report reaches CAAPID | Ordered from inside your CAAPID account, once the cycle is open | You request that WES sends it directly to ADEA CAAPID |
| Link to your DENTPIN | You need a DENTPIN before ECE sends the report to the ADA or JCNDE, and the name must match it exactly | Not part of the INBDE route |
If you have not registered your DENTPIN yet, do that first: our DENTPIN guide covers registering, retrieving and fixing it, and the name on it has to match the name on your evaluation report.
What each one costs
Published fees at our last check on 6 October 2026. Both agencies change fees, so confirm on their own sites before you pay.
| Report | Fee | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| ECE US General Report | $110 | Confirms the degree. ECE suggests it if you are only applying for the exam. |
| ECE US Course by Course Report | $199 | What dental schools require, and the ADA and JCNDE accept it too. The one most applicants need. |
| WES Document by Document, Basic | $118 | Not accepted for CAAPID, which requires a course by course evaluation. |
| WES Course by Course, Basic | $186 | Acceptable to CAAPID. Does not serve the INBDE route. |
| WES Course by Course, ICAP | $239 | The same evaluation with the credentials stored for future use. |
| WES Basic to ICAP upgrade | $53 | Only while the evaluation is still in progress. |
When to order, and in what order
ADEA tells applicants to work backwards from their earliest programme deadline. These are the fixed points in that plan.
The whole sequence, with the exam dates and the programme deadlines around it, is in our INBDE and CAAPID timeline.
The mistakes that cost money or a cycle
Ordering the CAAPID copy before the cycle opensECE states that a copy ordered before the ADEA CAAPID cycle opens will not appear in your account, and a new one has to be ordered when it does. You pay again and you wait again.
Buying the General report to save $89It covers the exam, not a dental school application. If you apply to any programme, you need the course by course report, and the saving turns into a second fee.
Using an evaluation agency that is neither WES nor ECECAAPID accepts those two and no others. A report from any other agency is money spent on a document the service will not read.
A name that does not match your DENTPINECE requires the name on the evaluation report to match the DENTPIN exactly. A middle name on one and not the other is enough to stall the report at the ADA.
Assuming any WES report will doCAAPID requires a course by course evaluation with letter grades and the course level stated. A document by document report does not meet that, however much it cost.
Starting the evaluation after the portal opensThe portal opening is when you should be ready to submit, not when you start gathering documents. University transcripts are the slow step and nobody can speed them up for you.
Your credential evaluation checklist
Tap each item as you clear it.
Frequently asked questions
WES or ECE: which one do I actually need?
Does CAAPID accept any other evaluation agency?
How much does a credential evaluation cost?
Can I order the ECE report now, before the cycle opens?
Do I need a DENTPIN before the evaluation?
How long does the evaluation take?
I already paid for the wrong report. What now?
Master the CAAPID Application
The evaluation is one document in an application with a dozen moving parts, most of which depend on other people. Our CAAPID programme runs the whole cycle with you: personal statement with multi-round faculty feedback, a US-format CV, a school list built around your profile, and interview preparation booked separately when you need it.
The steps either side of this one
Not sure which report you need?
Tell us where you trained, which exams you are sitting and when you plan to apply. Our Admin Team with Dr. T and Dr. Kaur will contact you over WhatsApp and tell you exactly which report to order, and when.
Last reviewed 6 October 2026 against ECE’s ADA and ADEA CAAPID instruction pages, the ADEA CAAPID application requirements and applicant help centre, WES’s published US evaluation fees and the ADA’s DENTPIN page. Fees and rules are set by those organisations and change without notice, so confirm anything that affects a payment or a deadline on their own sites. The Study Boards is not affiliated with ECE, WES, ADEA, the ADA or the JCNDE.