Accreditation Standards

The Commission on Dental Accreditation develops and implements accreditation standards that promote and monitor the continuous quality and improvement of dental education programs. These accreditation standards are copyrighted, but they may be downloaded for educational use. Reproduction of Commission documents is permitted by permission only. Please review the Commission’s Policy on Reprints.

Continue reading to view current, revised and proposed accreditation standards relevant to dental education programs.

After CODA meetings, CODA will circulate proposed revisions to various standards to CODA’s communities of interest for comment. Find information on current proposed standards and CODA’s upcoming hearing on the Hearings on Standards/Comments Due page.

Request to Consider Standardized Leave Policy

At its Winter 2026 meeting, CODA considered a request to modify CODA policy to include a standardized leave policy. Each CODA Review Committee reviewed their respective accreditation standards and made reccomendations. View all revisions and votes of the Commission, including details about timing for circulation to communities of interest below.

Standardized Leave Policy (PDF)

Standards related to Diversity and Humanistic Culture

At its Summer 2025 meeting and after review of a July 2025 U.S. Department of Justice memorandum regarding the legality of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies, CODA suspended the enforcement of certain diversity-related accreditation standards and amended certain intent statement and examples of evidence of standards related to diversity of faculty, staff, and students across multiple dental education programs. At this meeting, CODA voted to rescind the standards (and/or parts thereof) that had been suspended in Summer 2025. View details regarding these actions below.

Standards on Diversity (PDF)

Adopted at the Summer 2026 CODA Meeting

July 1, 2028 Implementation Date

Accreditation Standards for Dental Education Programs 

• Redlined 2028 Dental Education Standards (PDF)
• 2028 Dental Education Standards (PDF) 

January 1, 2027 Implementation Date

Revision to Standard 3-2 (program director board certification) for Advanced Dental Education Programs in Dental Anesthesiology

• Redlined Dental Anesthesiology Standard 3-2 (PDF)

July 1, 2027 Implementation Date

Accreditation Standards for Advanced Dental Education Programs in Operative Dentistry, Cariology, and Biomaterials (New)

• Operative Dentistry, Cariology, and Biomaterials Standards (PDF)

Revision to Standard 2-11 (Clinical Sciences) for Advanced Dental Education Programs in Orofacial Pain

• Redlined Orofacial Pain Standard 2-11 (PDF)