The Michigan Board of Dentistry and the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs have stopped allowing implicit bias training CE hours to count toward the mandatory 60 CE hours required for relicensure of dentists and the 36 CE hours required for registered dental hygienists and registered dental assistants.

This change took place on Oct. 2, 2023, with little notice to the MDA, to licensees, or on the LARA website. Needless to say, this is very distressing. The MDA currently is attempting to work with the Board of Dentistry and LARA to address this problem.

Until this situation is resolved, the MDA recommends that you make sure you have enough CE hours to meet the required 60 CE hours (or 36 for RDHs and RDAs) needed, WITHOUT counting any implicit bias training CE hours you’ve taken.

This change by the state has led to many questions for which the MDA does not yet know the answers. For example, during the period from March 23, 2023, until Oct. 2, 2023, implicit bias CE hours were counted toward the 60 hours required for relicensure. It is not known if those who received implicit bias training during that period can still count those credits toward the relicensure requirement after the Oct. 2 change.

The MDA’s goal is to restore the rule so that all implicit bias training hours can be counted toward the 60-hour requirement for dentists and the 36-hour requirement for RDHs and RDAs.

The MDA will keep you updated as more information is received.