National Board Dental Examination NBDE

For Applicants trained outside the US their dental degree must be granted by accredited institutions outside the United States.

For registration please visit the official website of ADA National Dental Association

Part 1

Candidates may take the Part 1 of the NBDE. in their second year of Dental School Part 1 is a multiple-choice comprehensive exam broken into four areas.

Part 11 •    Part 11 is conducted over two days.
•    The first day is 7 hours with an optional lunch break.
•    The first day is broken into two 3.5 hours segments with 200 questions each.
•    The second day is 3.5  hours covering 100 case problems.

Part I

• Anatomic Sciences
• Biochemistry-Physiology
• Microbiology-Physiology
• Dental Anatomy and Occlusion


Part II

• Operative Dentistry
•  Pharmacology
• Prosthodontics
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Pain Control
• Orthodontics/Pediatric Dentistry
• Endodontics
• Oral Diagnosis (Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology
• Periodontics
• Patient Management

Part 1

Duration 3 hours 30 minutes

• Anatomic Sciences - : 100 Questions
• Gross Anatomy - 50 Questions
• Oral Histology - 16 Questions
• Developmental Biology - 11 Questions
• Histology 23 Questions


Part 2 
Duration 2 days

First day 
Duration:   7 hours divided into 2 segments at 3.5 hours each

• Endodontics - 30 Questions
• Operative Dentistry - 45 Questions
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Pain Control - 43 Questions
• Oral Diagnosis 44 Questions
• Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry - 58 Questions
• Periodontics - 45 Questions
• Pharmacology - 34 Questions
• Prosthodontics - 45 Questions


Second Day  
Duration:   3.5 hours - 100 Questions

Patient Management including  Behavioral Science, Dental Public Health and Occupational Safety

This is a multiple choice exam. Here are tips and information in increasing your score on multiple choice questions.

Having difficulty covering all the material? Mnemonics can help memorizing and remembering. Here's how >>>

Tips for Taking Oral Exams