The DENTPIN is the unique number used by US dental education and testing systems. You register at ADA.org/DENTPIN. The JCNDE rule is blunt: if the name on your application does not exactly match the IDs you bring to the test centre, you will not be allowed to test, and both the appointment and the application fee are forfeited.

If something has to change, such as a marriage name, request the correction through your DENTPIN account with supporting documents at least ten business days before your test date.

Everyone educated at a school not accredited by CODA must have their degree confirmed by Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE). If you only need the exam, the General report is enough. If you also plan to apply to US dental schools, ECE notes that the Course-by-Course report is the one most schools require and the ADA accepts it too.

ECE does not publish a turnaround time on its instruction pages and it needs documents from your university, so start early. Final-year students at a non-CODA school also need their university to send a Certification of Eligibility Form with the university seal and the dean’s or registrar’s signature.

You apply through the Examination Program website once you have a DENTPIN. Applications are processed Monday to Friday during US business hours, and you then receive an eligibility email from the Department of Testing Services.

If you do not test inside the six months, the fee is forfeited. You can buy one 45-day extension for $150, but only if you have no appointment currently scheduled. The exam fee includes results to three licensing jurisdictions and to your CODA program, but not to CAAPID, which is requested separately in Step 9.

You schedule, reschedule and cancel only through the testing vendor’s website, and a change must be made by the business day before the test and at least 24 hours ahead. The reschedule fee is $50 with 30 or more business days of notice, $70 with 5 to 29, and $150 with 1 to 4. A no-show forfeits the full fee.

Your primary ID must be government-issued with your photo, name and signature. A passport works and is the only ID allowed to be in a language other than English. Digital or paper copies are not accepted.

The JCNDE aims to report within four weeks of your test and says that in most cases results arrive within three. You see your result by signing in to your DENTPIN account. A pass is reported as a pass, and a fail comes with a scaled score.

Plan for the possibility of a retest rather than hoping to avoid it. Our guide to scoring and the 2025 retest rule change covers exactly what happens next.

All CAAPID programs have a TOEFL requirement and some set minimums by section. CAAPID accepts official TOEFL iBT and TOEFL iBT Home Edition scores directly from ETS, and you self-report your score and Test Registration ID in the application. The score can arrive after you submit, but once attached it cannot be removed.

Programs differ. Penn lists a recommended iBT score of 95 and only counts scores from a recent cut-off date, while Louisville prefers 100 and requires the score to be unexpired when you submit. If your name or date of birth differ between ETS and CAAPID, for example with a hyphen or apostrophe, the score will not match.

CAAPID needs an electronic course-by-course evaluation from ECE or from World Education Services (WES). ECE’s own CAAPID instructions say to create an ECE account with the same email you used for CAAPID, add your schools in the Colleges Attended section, then click the order button inside CAAPID. A copy ordered before the cycle opens will not appear in your account, so do not assume your earlier INBDE report covers this.

Official transcripts go from your schools directly to CAAPID. Request them at least 10 to 12 weeks before your deadline and clear any account holds at your old institutions first. Once they arrive, posting to your application takes five business days.

The personal statement goes to every program and cannot be edited after you submit. Evaluators submit directly, you cannot complete an evaluation yourself, and the choice to waive your right to view an evaluation cannot be changed once it is set.

Start these in the quiet months. Our guides on the personal statement, letters of recommendation and CV are linked at the end of this page.

Enter your DENTPIN in the Other Information section and your date of birth in Biographic Information, or your official scores will not match your application. Then click Request INBDE Results in CAAPID, sign in with your DENTPIN, choose ADEA CAAPID as the recipient and pay. Results reach CAAPID within five business days. The JCNDE guide lists a $55 fee for a results report to a recipient you did not choose at application, so confirm the amount at checkout.

Your status moves from In Progress to Received to Completed. Undelivered means an error was found and the application came back to you for correction. ADEA states that refunds are typically not given for any reason, so check before you pay.

There is no single national interview calendar. Penn invites highly competitive candidates by email and holds interviews on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Louisville interviews from about June to August and sometimes into December. In both cases accepted students start in January of the year after the cycle.

Prepare before the invitation arrives, because invitations can come with short notice. Our interview preparation guide is linked below.