NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3244C
SPONSOR: Woerner TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to requirements for
licensure as a dentist
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to provide a near-term boost to the pool of
dentists practicing in underserved rural and partially-rural areas while
also providing a viable pathway to licensure for qualified dentists from
other jurisdictions who seek to work in New York in the field of public
health dentistry.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one: adds new subdivision 2-a to section 6605 of the education
law to authorize the department to issue a limited permit to eligible
dentists licensed in another jurisdiction who participate as general
practice dental preceptees under the supervision and training of an
eligible NYS-licensed dentist practicing in a federally qualified health
center or look-alike health center located in a rural or partially rural
designated federal dental health professions shortage area; amends
subdivision 4 to provide for renewal of a limited permit to practice
dentistry for individuals practicing as a general practice dental
preceptee in a federally qualified health center or look-alike health
center; and adds new subdivision 6 to provide for a pathway to licensure
for a dentist that practices for at least seven years in accordance with
section 6605 of the education law and provides two years of credit
towards the seven-year requirement for each full year a preceptee has
successfully completed an approved general practice residency, up to a
maximum of four years of credit based on successfully completing multi-
ple years in any such residency program.
§2: amends subdivision two of section 6604 of the education law to
expand the "education" standard to include a dentist licensed in another
jurisdiction who complies with criteria set forth in subdivision 2-a of
section 6605 of the education law; amends subdivision three to expand
the "experience" standard to include satisfactory completion of at least
seven years of practice as a general practice dental preceptee pursuant
to subdivision 2-a of section 6605 of the education law; and amends
subdivision six of section 6604 to create parity with physicians and
dentists by permitting the Board of Regents to issue a limited waiver of
citizenship requirements for continued licensure of a dentist who holds
an H-lb visa, an 0-1 visa, or an equivalent or successor visa.
§3: adds a new subdivision 8 to section 6604-b of the education law to
provide for a pathway to licensure for a dentist who practices as a
full-time faculty member with a focus in general dentistry for at least
seven years in accordance with section 6604-b.
§4: establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA), New York State currently has 165 dental Health Practitioner
Shortage Areas (HPSAs), including 121 designated HPSA facilities and 44
designated HPSA population groups (mostly Medicaid eligible popula-
tions).4 As a result, NYS currently meets only 16.15% of the documented
need, leading HRSA to estimate that New York needs an additional 588
dentists.2 Despite these challenges, current Department of Education
regulations require all dentists who have graduated dental school to
complete a one-year graduate residency program before they can become
licensed in New York. This requirement applies to both new and experi-
enced dentists, meaning that even dentists with years of practice expe-
rience in another jurisdiction must currently complete a graduate resi-
dency program before qualifying to practice here.
New York's residency mandate, which is an outlier among other states,
represents yet another barrier to attracting dentists to practice in
high need areas in New York State. In fact, despite annually graduating
among the highest number of dentists in the country, New York continues
to struggle to meet the needs of low-income, rural and developmentally
disabled patients. In addition to the residency mandate, other barriers
include a net annual out-migration of New York dentists,3 a decline in
CODA*-accredited dental residency programs4 (which have traditionally
served as a reliable resource for services to Medicaid recipients), too
few dentists practicing in rural and high need areas,5 the exorbitant
costs of attending dental school6 and establishing a dental practice,
perennially insufficient Medicaid reimbursement rates, and a wave of
dentist retirements in the wake of the pandemic.
This bill offers an immediate boost to access to quality services by
offering qualified dentists the option - in lieu of a residency program
- to join the full-time faculty of a dental school or complete a general
practice dental preceptorship in a federally qualified health center or
look-alike/community health center in a rural or partially-rural dental
HPSA as a means to become licensed in New York State. By doing so, New
York will become better able to attract qualified dentists to serve low
income and vulnerable populations while still maintaining current quali-
ty of care standards.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.3244B of 2025 - Referred to Higher Education
S.3966A of 2025 - PASSED SENATE
A.8363 of 2024 - Referred to Higher Education
S.9216 of 2024 - Referred to Higher Education
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become 'a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
on or before such effective date.
*CODA is the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental
Association.
1 Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of
Health & Human Services. Health Workforce Shortage Areas,
https://data.hrsa.gov/ topics/health-workforce/shortage-areas. Data as
of 5/18/2026.
2 Bureau of Health Workforce, Health Resources and Services Adminis-
tration, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Designated Health
Professional Shortage Areas Statistics, Second Quarter of Fiscal Year
2026 Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary. As of March 31, 2026.
3 Health Policy Institute, American Dental Association. U.S. Dentist
Migration Dashboard. https://www.ada.org/resources/research/ health-
policy-institute/ dentist-workforce/dentist-migration-across-statelines.
Accessed online on 5/18/2026.
4 Health Policy Institute, American Dental Association. Trends in
Advanced Education in General Practice Residency Programs in the U.S.,
December 2021. See www.ADA.org/HPI.
5 Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of
Health & Human Services. HPSA Designations. HPSA Find. See
https://data.hrsa.gov/ tools/shortage-area/hpsa-find.
6 Whereas the average medical school graduate in 2025 owes $217,000, the
average dental student in 2025 owes $297,800. See
https://educationdata.org/ average-medical-school-debt and
https://educationdata.org/ averagedental-school-debt. Accessed on
5/18/2026.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3244--C
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 27, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WOERNER, ANGELINO, MAGNARELLI, DeSTEFANO, LUPAR-
DO, SIMON, PAULIN, LUNSFORD, SEAWRIGHT, GLICK, BICHOTTE HERMELYN,
RAGA, ROMERO, STECK, BAILEY, BUTTENSCHON, McDONALD, MEEKS, GRAY --
read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education -- commit-
tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
mitted to said committee -- again reported from said committee with
amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee -- recommitted to the Committee on Higher Education in
accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requirements for
licensure as a dentist
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 6605 of the education law, as
2 amended by chapter 57 of the laws of 1999, is amended and two new subdi-
3 visions 2-a and 6 are added to read as follows:
4 2-a. (a) On recommendation of the board, the department may issue a
5 limited permit to a foreign trained dentist to be employed as a general
6 practice dental preceptee in a federally qualified health center or
7 look-alike health center located in a rural or partially-rural desig-
8 nated federal dental health professions shortage area to practice
9 dentistry as defined in this article while under the supervision and
10 training of a licensed preceptor dentist, provided that such practice
11 shall be limited to the premises of such federally qualified health
12 center or look-alike health center and such other premises as may be
13 used by such centers. No such permit shall be issued or renewed unless
14 such dentist has a bona fide offer of a position in a federally quali-
15 fied health center or look-alike health center.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06285-10-6
A. 3244--C 2
1 (b) As used in this subdivision, the following terms shall have the
2 following meanings:
3 (i) "Foreign trained dentist" shall mean an individual who:
4 (1) has graduated with a degree, diploma or certificate from a foreign
5 dental school which is recognized by the appropriate civil authorities
6 in the jurisdiction in which such school is located as acceptable for
7 entry into practice in such jurisdiction and such school is not accred-
8 ited by an organization accepted by the department as a reliable author-
9 ity, such as the commission on dental accreditation, for the purposes of
10 accrediting such programs;
11 (2) is licensed to practice dentistry in the jurisdiction in which the
12 school from which such individual graduated is located;
13 (3) has successfully completed a nationally-recognized competency
14 examination satisfactory to the commissioner;
15 (4) passes an examination demonstrating English proficiency satisfac-
16 tory to the commissioner; and
17 (5) obtains validation of their dental degree, diploma or certificate
18 for national equivalency by a credential evaluation service satisfactory
19 to the commissioner.
20 (ii) "Licensed preceptor dentist" shall mean a dentist licensed in
21 this state who has at least five years of general practice dental expe-
22 rience. No licensed preceptor dentist shall supervise more than two
23 general practice dental preceptees at one time.
24 (iii) "Look-alike health center" shall mean a health center that meets
25 all federal requirements for a federally qualified health center but
26 does not receive baseline operational funding through a section 330
27 grant pursuant to section 330 of the federal public health service act,
28 42 U.S.C. § 256b.
29 4. A limited permit under this section shall be valid for one year or
30 until ten days after notification of denial of an application for
31 license. A limited permit may be renewed for one year, except if the
32 applicant is serving in a residency program in a hospital or school of
33 dentistry in this state or as a general practice dental preceptee in a
34 federally qualified health center or look-alike health center in accord-
35 ance with subdivision two-a of this section. A limited permit may be
36 renewed annually for the duration of such residency program or general
37 practice dental preceptee program. The fee for each limited permit and
38 for each renewal shall be one hundred five dollars.
39 6. A foreign trained dentist who successfully completes seven years of
40 practice in accordance with the provisions of subdivision two-a of this
41 section shall be deemed eligible to apply for licensure as a dentist in
42 this state. For purposes of this section, such a dentist shall be cred-
43 ited with two years of the seven-year practice requirement for each full
44 year successfully completed in an approved general practice residency
45 program, provided that such dentist may not be credited with more than
46 four years of the seven-year practice requirement based upon successful-
47 ly completing multiple years in any such residency program.
48 § 2. Subdivisions 2, 3 and 6 of section 6604 of the education law,
49 subdivision 2 as added by chapter 987 of the laws of 1971, subdivision 3
50 as amended by chapter 613 of the laws of 2022 and subdivision 6 as
51 amended by chapter 669 of the laws of 2022, are amended to read as
52 follows:
53 (2) Education: have received an education, including a doctoral degree
54 in dentistry, in accordance with the commissioner's regulations, or has
55 complied with clauses one and two of of subparagraph (i) of paragraph
56 (b) of subdivision two-a of section sixty-six hundred five of this arti-
A. 3244--C 3
1 cle as a pre-condition for participation in a general practice dental
2 preceptee program;
3 (3) Experience: have experience satisfactory to the board and in
4 accordance with the commissioner's regulations, provided that such expe-
5 rience shall consist of (i) satisfactory completion of a postdoctoral
6 general practice or specialty dental residency program, of at least one
7 year's duration, in a hospital or dental facility accredited for teach-
8 ing purposes by a national accrediting body approved by the department,
9 (ii) satisfactory completion of at least seven years practicing as a
10 general practice dental preceptee in accordance with subdivision two-a
11 of section sixty-six hundred five of this article, or (iii) satisfactory
12 completion of at least seven years practicing as a full-time faculty
13 member with a focus in general dentistry in accordance with section
14 sixty-six hundred four-b of this article, provided, further that any
15 such residency program, general practice dental preceptee program, or
16 faculty employment shall include a formal outcome assessment evaluation
17 of the resident's or dentist's competence to practice dentistry accepta-
18 ble to the department;
19 (6) Citizenship or immigration status: be a United States citizen or a
20 noncitizen lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United
21 States; provided, however, that the board of regents may grant a three
22 year waiver for a noncitizen to practice in an area which has been
23 designated a federal dental health professions shortage area, except
24 that the board of regents may grant an additional extension not to
25 exceed six years to a noncitizen to enable [him or her] such noncitizen
26 to secure citizenship or permanent resident status, provided such status
27 is being actively pursued; and provided further that the board of
28 regents may grant an additional three-year waiver, and at its expira-
29 tion, an extension for a period not to exceed six additional years, for
30 the holder of an H-1b visa, an O-1 visa, or an equivalent or successor
31 visa thereto;
32 § 3. Section 6604-b of the education law is amended by adding a new
33 subdivision 8 to read as follows:
34 8. The holder of a restricted dental faculty license who successfully
35 completes seven years of employment as a full-time faculty member with a
36 focus in general dentistry in accordance with this section shall be
37 deemed in compliance with subdivision two-a of section sixty-six hundred
38 five of this article and shall be eligible to apply for licensure as a
39 dentist in this state.
40 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
41 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
42 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
43 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
44 on or before such effective date.
