Louisiana State Board of Dentistry - Continuing Education

Continuing Education

All renewing licensees must report their completed continuing education no later than December 31.This reporting must be submitted through CE Broker.

The Louisiana State Board of Dentistry accepts proof of licensees' continuing education submitted online through CE Broker. CE Broker will keep a record of your CE attendance and provide you with information indicating your progress in meeting your requirements. This allows you to keep track of your continuing education on an ongoing basis as well as negates the need for random CE audits.

There is no charge to our licensees for the basic account through CE Broker, although there are additional paid account options that may better enable you to keep track of both your requirements and your progress.

For more information and to create your account in CE Broker, please visit CEBroker.com/la/account_options.

All continuing education requirements for license renewal may be found in Chapter 16 of the Board Rules.

Your individual requirements (anesthesia, personally attended, BLS, etc.) have been submitted to CE Broker. Some CE providers report course attendance on your behalf directly to CE Broker; for those CE providers who do not report directly, you will upload images of your own certificates. We suggest you submit your CE course completion certificates on an ongoing basis as you take courses. This will enable you to better track your compliance prior to the end of your license term.

Once you have completed your CE requirements for the current license cycle, you will see a "complete" message in your CE Broker record. Completions are then forwarded to the Board, and licensees who are complete are exempt from any CE audit for that particular license period.

If you believe you have completed all of your requirements but you are not seeing "complete" on your CEB transcript, please read this list of the most common reasons your transcript may not be correct. It is up to the licensee to correct any errors. The Board staff cannot enter your CE into your record for you or correct mistakes for you.

If you are a dentist renewing for the first time, you are also required to upload your one time opioid management CE course; you would have taken this course when you were applying for your initial license. Please upload that certificate in the opioid management section. There is additional information on the one time opioid management CE requirement below.

ONLINE COURSES ACCEPTED AS PERSONALLY ATTENDED

All licensees are required to complete a certain number of hours in person. The Louisiana State Board of Dentistry allows online courses which meet the following requirements to be considered "personally attended."

1. The course must be offered in real time and allow for real time interaction between the online participant and the presenter.

2. There must be multiple attendance checks during the course.

3. There must be a test at the end for the online participants.

If you complete an online course that meets the above requirements, you MUST report those hours to CE Broker as a class or lecture rather than a live broadcast event.

NOTE: If you choose a "live broadcast event" then the course will be considered online, and it will NOT update your personally attended hours. CE Broker cannot adjust your personally attended hours if you report them as a broadcast event. You will then need to delete and then re-enter your course as a class or lecture for it to count.

REQUIRED CPR COURSES
All CPR courses must be entered into the CPR section of CE Broker. If you report BLS, ACLS, or PALS regular, clinical CE, your CE Broker record will NOT be marked as "complete."

All licensees are required to maintiain BLS certification at all times. Approved BLS courses are BLS Provider from the American Heart Association and BLS from the American Red Cross. Other AHA or ARC CPR courses are not accepted. If you believe the BLS course you completed meets the requirements, you should contact the Board office directly to be sure it will be accepted. Courses which are entirely online are never accepted. Approved BLS courses are counted as 3 personally attended clinical hours.

Dentists holding an adult moderate sedation or adult general anesthesia permit must also maintain current ACLS certification. The most common approved course is the American Heart Association ACLS course. If you believe another ACLS course is an approved one, please contact the Board office to be sure it will be accepted. ACLS courses which are completely online are never accepted. Please review Rule 1611 G(1) for the appropriate number of hours you may receive for ACLS. ACLS is not accepted in lieu of BLS.

Dentists holding a pediatric moderate sedation or adult general anesthesia permit must also maintain current PALS certification. The most common approved course is the American Heart Association PALS course. If you believe another PALS course is an approved one, please contact the Board office to be sure it will be accepted. PALS courses which are completely online are never accepted. Please review Rule 1611 G(2) for the appropriate number of hours you may receive for PALS. PALS is not accepted in lieu of BLS.

MANDATORY OPIOID MANAGEMENT
CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENT
DENTISTS ONLY

***The vast majority of dentists have completed this ONE TIME LOUISIANA requirement. This should not be confused with the DEA's opioid management requirement. For additional information on the DEA's requirement, you will need to contact the DEA.***

In order to renew your license starting in 2018 DENTISTS must obtain 3 hours of CE on opioid management. This is a ONE TIME requirement.

In Act 76 of 2017 regular legislative session, the Louisiana Legislature has mandated that every healthcare provider with a license to prescribe controlled dangerous substances be required to complete 3 hours of opioid management CE as part of their regular CE requirements. This is a one-time requirement; in other words, the 3 hours of opioid management need only be taken once in one’s career. Below please find some courses that comply with this requirement. Most of these courses are one hour, so three of them must be taken in order to comply with the requirement.

The Legislature has forbidden the board from renewing the license of any dentist who has failed to take 3 hours of CE on opioid management. Renewals starting at the end of 2018 will be affected by this rule, so starting in 2018 you must receive 3 hours of opioid management CE in order to renew your license.

EXCEPTION TO OPIOID MANAGEMENT CE REQUIREMENT

A dentist may be exempted from this new CE requirement by certifying to the board that the dentist has not prescribed, administered or dispensed a controlled dangerous substance during the entire renewal period. You must complete this affidavit in the presence of a notary and mail it to the Board office prior to the current expiration date of your license. The Board will then verify through the Prescription Monitoring Program that you have not prescribed, dispensed, or administered any controlled substance.

You must complete a new affidavit prior to each license renewal. Exemptions are valid for only the license period for which the Board has your notarized affidavit on file.

If you prescribe controlled dangerous substances in the future you are required to notify the Board, and you will then be required to obtain the 3 hours of opioid management CE.

APPROVED OPIOID MANAGEMENT CE COURSES

The following courses have been approved by the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry to fulfill the mandatory opioid management CE requirement. You must complete a total of 3 hours prior to your first license renewal. These course names have already been reported to CE Broker, so you can upload your completion certificates there.

https://www.dentalcare.com/en-us/ce-courses/ce545 (3 hours)

https://www.dentalcare.com/en-us/professional-education/ce-courses/ce560 (1 hour)

"Use and Abuse of Prescription Medications: Following the Rules and Keeping Out of Trouble" through the Anesthesia Education & Safety Foundation, Inc. (3 hours)

http://www.opioidprescribing.com/dental_landing (1 hour)

https://pcss-o.org/event/reducing-opioid-abuse-by-incorporating-patient-management-strategies-from-psychiatry-and-behavioral-health/ (1 hour)

http://pcss-o.org/event/pain-management-in-dentistry-a-changing-and-challenging-landscape/ (1 hour)

https://www.drugabuse.gov/nidamed/etools/safe-prescribing-pain (1 hour)

https://blxtraining.com/products-page/dental-continuing-education/opioids-in-dental-practice (3 hours)

LICENSEE SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

The Board is committed to protecting the public but does not wish to discourage its licensees from seeking treatment for substance abuse issues or mental health issues. We would like to let our licensees know that seeking that type of treatment does not necessarily cause one to lose a license. Informing the board of this type of treatment may cause the board to request an independent evaluation to make sure that the licensee is safe to practice, but as long as the licensee is safe to practice no action will be taken against a license.