The American Association of Dental Boards is one step closer to activating its interstate dental compact now that its first state has enacted legislation to join.
Louisiana recently passed a bill to enter the AADB’s Interstate Dental & Dental Hygiene Licensure Compact, which aims to streamline dental licensing, alleviate workforce shortages and improve access to oral healthcare.
The AADB’s compact is one of two at play in the industry, but there is a key difference between them. Apart from the Council of State Governments’ compact, the AADB’s compact prohibits regulations that override state law, requires the transfer of disciplinary actions and mandates hand skills exams.
While legislation to join the compact has been introduced in several states this year, the AADB is still in need of four other states to enact legislation before it can officially activate its compact.
Kimber Cobb, the executive director of the AADB, and Arthur Hickham, Jr., DDS, the executive director of the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry, recently spoke with Becker’s to discuss the compact.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How will this compact support Louisiana’s dental workforce?
Dr. Arthur Hickham: Once we’re at five states, then it’ll be a lot easier for dentists to move from Louisiana to the other states within the compact. Theoretically, it would also make it easier for dentists to move from other compact states into Louisiana, but it’s already very easy to do that, so I think the main impact will be mobility for Louisiana dentists.
Q: What was the process like of getting this legislation passed in Louisiana?
AH: I go to the Louisiana Dental Association board meetings just to keep them abreast of what’s going on, so I started informing them from the very beginning of what was coming down the pike. When it came time for us to decide to move, they were already on board with the AADB compact, and it was basically just getting the Louisiana Dental Association to move it.
Q: What are some of the challenges that come up during the legislative process?
Kimber Cobb: Depending on how involved the legislative process is in any given state, that’s number one, and learning that … One of the issues we run into with legislators is they don’t like two different compacts. They like a uniform bill that can be put forward to benefit the profession. So that, and some of the opposing testimony, has definitely been a challenge, but we represent the regulators and the profession of dentistry, so to have the standards modified to a point that it endangers the public, is a real concern. Getting that message across in light of the dueling compacts has also been a challenge as well.
Q: Are there any misconceptions about your compact that you would like to address or clarify?
KC: There are several areas of misinformation. One is the presumption that we’ve set a fee. That hasn’t happened yet at all. Another would be that our compact creates a monopoly, and that is absolutely not the case. All pathways that exist in current licensure are still feasible and remain in place despite the compact. This is just a way to ensure practitioners with a clean record who want expedited portability have that in their repertoire, as far as licensure goes.
Q: How close are you to being able to activate the compact?
KC: The legislative process is never easy. [The compact has been] introduced in 11 states this year. And while Louisiana was the only one that, with the timing of the legislative session, ended up on the books, we are still very active in three states that have extended legislative sessions. Even though most states are on a legislative break, we are anticipating the potential of another state or two, and then obviously plan to introduce [more bills] strategically again in 2026.
