Dentist screening questions: state license path, DEA and sedation permits, procedure mix and production

Dentist screening questions should confirm four things first: an active license from the dental board in the state where the job is (or a realistic date for one), a DEA registration for that state if the dentist will prescribe controlled substances, any sedation or anesthesia permit the role needs, and the procedures the dentist completes without referring out. Then ask about daily production, the pay model they expect and any non-compete. As of November 2026, dental licensure is still state by state: the Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact has been enacted by 13 states, but its own site says compact privileges are not yet being issued.

This page covers associate dentists, DSO and group roles, community health centers and locum coverage. For the clinical team around the dentist, use dental hygienist screening questions; the interview guide for dental roles covers the loop after the screen for hygienists, assistants and front office staff. Specialists need the same checks plus the residency and board questions below.

Which dentist seat are you filling?

Which license, exams and permits does a dentist need?

The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook says every state requires dentists to be licensed, that most states require a DDS or DMD degree, a written exam and a clinical exam, and that dentists must be licensed in the state in which they work. Specialists usually complete a 2- to 4-year residency, and some states also require a special exam for specialty licensure.

On portability: the Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact says Oklahoma became the 13th state to enact it in May 2026 and that the compact has reached activation status, but compact privileges are not yet being issued; it expects implementation to take 18 to 24 months. Until then, plan on a license in each state. The license verification guide shows how to record what you checked.

Knockout questions

Which procedures does the dentist do, and how many?

Production numbers mean little until you know the procedure mix. Ask what the dentist does personally, roughly how many in a month, and what they refer out. Dentists who do the work give numbers and limits; dentists who are stretching say "everything".

1. "Which root canals do you complete yourself: anteriors, premolars, molars? How many molars a month?"
   • Strong answer: an honest split, with referral criteria such as calcified canals, retreatment or curved roots sent to an endodontist.
   • Red flags: every molar and every retreatment, with no line at all.
2. "What extractions do you do, and where do you draw the line?"
   • Strong answer: surgical extractions with sectioning, third molars selected by position, referral for nerve proximity or medically complex patients.
   • Red flags: no referral criteria, or none done since dental school.
3. "Do you place implants, restore them, or both? How many last year?"
   • Strong answer: separates placement from restoration, gives counts, and says who handles complications.
   • Red flags: a weekend course presented as implant experience.
4. "How do you take crown impressions, and how often does a case come back for a remake?"
   • Strong answer: scanner or conventional technique, how they communicate shade and margins to the lab, an honest remake figure.
   • Red flags: every remake was the lab's fault.
5. "What ages do you treat, and what do you do with a child who will not cooperate?"
   • Strong answer: behavior guidance techniques, parent communication, referral to a pediatric dentist when sedation or a hospital setting is needed.
   • Red flags: no children at all, for a family practice.
6. "Walk me through the last comprehensive treatment plan you presented."
   • Strong answer: diagnosis first, phased options including the conservative one, what the patient chose, and how it was documented.
   • Red flags: talks only about case acceptance.

How do production, pay model and payer mix change the screen?

Ask which pay model the dentist expects (a daily rate, a percentage of production, a percentage of collections, or a mix) and how lab fees are handled, then compare candidates on the same definitions.

An example with invented numbers: a dentist reports $5,000 a day of production in an office where 70 percent of patients are on PPO plans whose fees average 30 percent below the office's full fee. The collectible figure is closer to $3,950 a day. Ask which number they mean before you compare them with a candidate from a fee-for-service office.

Patient safety and compliance questions

How does dentist experience get overstated?

• Course as caseload. Implant, aligner or sedation courses described as routine work.
• Office numbers as personal numbers. Practice production quoted as the dentist's own.
• Scheduled as collected. Gross scheduled production compared with another candidate's net collections.
• Residency scope as current scope. Procedures done under supervision years ago, not since.
• "License pending" that means the application has not been filed.

A 20-minute phone-screen flow

1. Minutes 0 to 3: the setting, schedule, payer mix and start date.
2. Minutes 3 to 7: knockouts; license, DEA, permits, restrictions and non-compete.
3. Minutes 7 to 14: procedure mix and referral lines.
4. Minutes 14 to 20: production definitions, pay model expectation, software and next steps.

Scoring

Legal cautions for dentist screens

Describe the job's physical demands (long procedures, fine motor work, positioning) and ask whether the candidate can meet them, with or without accommodation; do not ask about health, medications or substance use treatment, which the EEOC's pre-employment guidance bars before an offer. Questions about board actions are fine when every candidate gets them. Permit levels, molar counts and production definitions are the details that blur across a week of calls. Interview Signal keeps these knockout questions pinned until you ask them and writes the notes from what each dentist said, with the transcript kept on your own computer.