California Dental License Renewal: Fees, CE, and BreEZe Filing

To complete a California dental license renewal, you pay the Dental Board of California $680 every two years by your birthday, submit the renewal through the BreEZe online portal, and attest that you have finished 50 units of continuing education and hold a current in-person Basic Life Support certification. Practicing after your expiration date, even by a day, is treated as practicing without a license.

When Your License Expires

Your license runs on a two-year cycle and expires at midnight on your birthday in the second year of the term, not the last day of your birth month.¹ You can begin the renewal up to 90 days before that date through BreEZe.²

The moment the license expires, the legal right to practice ends with it. Clinical work performed after expiration is unlicensed practice, a criminal offense in California.³ There is a 30-day window after expiration to renew without a delinquency fee, but you still cannot see patients during it.

Renewal Fees

The active dentist renewal fee is $680, which includes an annual $15 CURES fee built into the total. Renew more than 30 days late and a $325 delinquency fee is added on top.³

Two fee breaks exist. A dentist who has practiced in California for at least 20 years, has reached federal Social Security retirement age, and provides services free of charge or for nominal fees can apply for a reduced renewal fee under Business and Professions Code Section 1716.1.⁴ The delinquency amount at the reduced tier is $162.³ A dentist unable to practice because of a disability can also apply for a waiver of 50 percent of the renewal fee, though the waiver holder cannot practice again until the remaining balance is paid.⁵

Continuing Education

Active dentists must complete 50 CE units during each two-year cycle. Courses must come from a provider registered with the DBC or approved through the ADA’s CERP or the AGD’s PACE program. Keep every course completion certificate for three full renewal periods. The Board audits CE randomly each month, and missing documentation is treated the same as missing coursework.⁶

Mandatory Core Courses

Six of the 50 units are fixed. Each of the three subjects below must be a two-unit course taken through a Board-approved registered provider:⁶

Infection control, covering current infection prevention standards.
The California Dental Practice Act, covering state laws and regulations governing dental practice.
Prescribing Schedule II opioids, covering the responsibilities and requirements attached to those prescriptions.

The remaining 44 units are elective but must still come from an approved provider. Dentists who qualify for the reduced retirement fee and practice only on an uncompensated basis have a lower threshold of 30 CE units per cycle, which still must include the three mandatory courses.³

Format and Daily Caps

No more than half of your CE (25 units for most dentists) can come from non-live formats like self-study, correspondence, video courses, or recorded material.⁷ Interactive formats like live webinars, live video conferencing, and live workshop demonstrations count as live instruction and do not count toward that cap.⁸

You can apply a maximum of eight CE units per day. A 12-hour weekend marathon course gives you credit for eight hours on any single day, not twelve.⁶

Basic Life Support Certification

Every renewal requires a current BLS certification. Completing an approved BLS course earns up to four CE units toward the 50-unit total.⁶

The course must be offered by the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, or a program approved by ASHI, CERP, or PACE. Fully online BLS courses do not qualify. The Board requires a live, in-person skills practice session, a hands-on skills test, and a written exam.⁸ This is one of the more common problems at renewal time. Dentists who completed an online-only BLS course find out during the attestation that it does not count.

Fingerprinting

If the Department of Justice has no record of prior fingerprints for the Dental Board, you must submit them when renewing in active status. This affects licensees who were licensed before the Board required fingerprints at initial licensure, and anyone whose fingerprint records no longer exist in the DOJ system.⁹

Inside California, use Live Scan at any authorized location. The Live Scan site charges its own fee, but the Board takes no additional processing fee. Outside California, submit two ink-on-card fingerprint sets with a $49 non-refundable processing fee payable to the Board.⁹ Renewing in inactive status or actively serving in the military overseas exempts you from the fingerprinting requirement.

MATE Act Attestation for DEA Prescribers

This one sits on the federal side rather than the Dental Board, but it affects any dentist who prescribes controlled substances. All DEA-registered practitioners must complete a one-time eight-hour training on treating and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders under the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act, which took effect on June 27, 2023.¹⁰

You satisfy it by attesting on DEA Form 224 or 224a that you completed the training. Graduating from an accredited dental school within the past five years with a curriculum that included at least eight hours of substance use disorder training also counts. The DEA recommends keeping training certificates but does not require you to submit them.¹⁰ Once attested, it will not appear on future DEA renewals.

Submitting the Renewal Through BreEZe

All renewals are submitted online through the Department of Consumer Affairs’ BreEZe portal at www.BreEZe.ca.gov. The Board does not accept renewals by mail.³

During the online process you pay the fee and attest that you have completed 50 CE units, hold current BLS certification, and have not been subject to any disciplinary actions or criminal convictions since your last renewal. Two mandatory surveys must also be completed: the HCAI Health Workforce Survey and the Dental Workforce Survey, both required under Business and Professions Code Section 1715.5.³

Your license status updates online immediately once everything checks out. A new physical pocket or wall certificate typically arrives by mail within two to three weeks, but the instant online update lets you keep practicing without interruption.

Inactive Status

Stepping away from clinical practice? You can switch to inactive status at renewal. An inactive license still requires the renewal fee, but you are exempt from CE requirements for as long as it stays inactive.² You cannot treat patients or offer dental services while inactive.

To reactivate, complete all the CE that would have been due during the renewal period and certify completion through BreEZe.² Permits such as sedation or general anesthesia permits cannot be placed on inactive status, so letting the underlying license go inactive may affect those as well.

Late Renewal and the Five-Year Cliff

A lapsed license can be renewed at any point within five years of expiration by paying the renewal fee, any accrued delinquency fees, and completing all CE requirements.¹¹ You cannot practice during any part of that lapse, whether it lasted 30 days or four years.

After five years without renewal, the license is permanently cancelled. It cannot be renewed, restored, or reinstated. From there, the only path back is a brand-new license: going through one of the available licensing pathways, meeting all current requirements as a first-time applicant, and paying first-time application fees plus any delinquency fees that accrued before cancellation.¹² Even if you are not currently practicing, keeping the license in inactive status is almost always the better call.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code Business and Professions Code 1715
2
Dental Board of California. License Update and Maintenance
3
Dental Board of California. Renewal Information
4
Dental Board of California. Application for Reduced Dental License Renewal Fee
5
Dental Board of California. Disabled Dentist Application for Waiver of 50 Percent of License Renewal Fee
6
Dental Board of California. Continuing Education Requirements for Renewal of a License or Permit
7
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 16 Section 1017 – Continuing Education Units Required for Renewal of License or Permit
8
Dental Board of California. Continuing Education Requirements for Renewal of License or Permit
9
Dental Board of California. Fingerprint Requirement for License Renewal
10
Drug Enforcement Administration. Opioid Use Disorder – MATE Act Q and A
11
California Legislative Information. California Code Business and Professions Code 1718
12
Dental Board of California. Issuance of New License If Failed to Renew Within Five Years