Choosing a Dental Specialty: Applying to Residency After Dental School

How dental specialty applications work

After you finish dental school and earn your DDS or DMD, you apply to postdoctoral residency programs through the ADEA Postdoctoral Application Support Service (PASS) , a centralized application similar to the ones used in medical school admissions. You submit one application through ADEA PASS and it forwards to every program you select, instead of filling out separate applications for each school.

ADEA PASS is not the same as the Match. Oral and maxillofacial surgery, many general practice residencies, AEGD programs, and some periodontics, prosthodontics, and pediatric dentistry programs participate in a separate matching process run by National Matching Services . Other programs in these same specialties, along with most orthodontics programs, offer admission directly without a match. Check each program's page to confirm which process it uses.

The dental specialties recognized by the ADA

The American Dental Association recognizes 12 specialty areas beyond general dentistry:

• Dental Anesthesiology

• Dental Public Health

• Endodontics

• Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology

• Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology

• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

• Oral Medicine

• Orofacial Pain

• Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics

• Pediatric Dentistry

• Periodontics

• Prosthodontics

Application timeline

ADEA PASS opens in May for applications to programs starting the following summer. The earliest program deadlines land in the first week of July, though most run later into fall and some stay open into February, according to ADEA . Because deadlines vary this widely by specialty and program, start researching your target programs 12 to 18 months before your intended start date.

• Spring of your final dental school year: research programs and confirm which use ADEA PASS, the Match, or direct application.

• May: ADEA PASS opens, submit as early as your materials allow.

• Summer through fall: interviews, in person or virtual depending on the program.

• Winter: Match results release for programs using National Matching Services, or direct offers for non-Match programs.

What your application needs

Programs request dental school transcripts, National Board Dental Examination or INBDE scores, class rank where your school reports it, letters of recommendation from faculty and mentors, and a personal statement describing why you want that specialty. Oral and maxillofacial surgery programs, and some other surgical tracks, also require a CBSE (Comprehensive Basic Science Examination) score.

General practice residency and AEGD as alternatives

Not every graduate who wants more training after dental school pursues one of the 12 specialties. General Practice Residency (GPR) and Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) programs give you a year or more of additional clinical training across multiple disciplines without committing to a single specialty. Both use ADEA PASS, and some GPR programs also use the Match.

Building a competitive application

Specialty programs weigh clinical grades, board scores, letters of recommendation, and research or leadership activities differently by field. Surgical specialties like oral and maxillofacial surgery tend to favor strong basic science grades and CBSE scores, since residents in these programs complete hospital-based medical rotations alongside dental training. Programs like orthodontics and pediatric dentistry often weigh hands-on clinical skill and patient rapport more heavily, and many conduct skills assessments or simulation exercises during interviews.

Start building your application file in your second year of dental school. Ask faculty who taught you in relevant courses or supervised your clinical rotations for letters early, since they need time to write a specific and detailed recommendation instead of a generic one.

Funding your residency

Most postdoctoral dental residents receive a stipend, particularly in hospital-based programs like oral and maxillofacial surgery and GPR, since residents provide patient care as part of their training. University-based specialty programs in fields like orthodontics and prosthodontics sometimes charge tuition instead of paying a stipend, since these programs run more like graduate school than a hospital residency. Confirm which funding model each program you apply to uses, since it changes your finances for the length of your training.

After your residency

Most specialties require you to complete a set number of years in practice or complete case documentation before you sit for board certification through your specialty's certifying board, such as the American Board of Orthodontics or the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Board certification stays optional in most states for practice, but many patients, referring dentists, and some employers look for it.

How to choose a specialty

Base your choice on the clinical work you enjoyed most during dental school rotations, not on income projections alone. Shadow specialists during your third and fourth years, ask about typical patient populations, and compare training length: periodontics, prosthodontics, and endodontics programs generally run 2-3 years, while oral and maxillofacial surgery programs run 4-6 years and sometimes include a combined MD.

Talk to your dental school's advising office about which specialty programs its graduates have matched into in past years. Program directors often favor applicants from schools with a track record of strong residents.