Resident Resources
Welcome to the AVDC® Resident’s Resource Page
Veterinarians that desire to complete a residency program in veterinary dentistry to become a Board Certified Veterinary Dentist™ or Board Certified Equine Veterinary Dentist™ must complete a three to five year program.
The steps to board certification include completing the following:
1
Find a Residency
Acceptance into an AVDC® registered residency training program.
This first step involves finding a compatible match with a training program and residency supervisor. AVDC® has created a manual to help with the process.
All applicants for registration as a Small Animal AVDC® Resident must have a Residency Supervisor who is a Small Animal OR NSS Diplomate of AVDC®. The Residency Supervisor must be the Residency Program Director at or on staff at an AVDC®-approved Residency Site or Shared Residency Program site.
All applicants for registration as an Equine AVDC® Resident must have a Residency Supervisor who is an Equine Diplomate of AVDC®. The Residency Supervisor must be the Residency Program Director at or on staff at an AVDC®-approved Residency Site or Shared Residency Program site.
2
Apply to the AVDC®
Email the Executive Director of the AVDC® at execsec@avdc.org the completed Residency Training program application, Applicant’s curriculum vitae in AVDC format.
You may either mail your registration fee to the address below or you may pay online.
AVDC® Executive Director
103 E Calderwood Drive, Suite 110
Meridian, Idaho 83642, USA
The Executive Director will email a confirmation of receipt and provide you with your official start date. This start date is used by the Credentials Committee to verify that 30 months of training are completed.
3
Login to the Document
Management System
Following receipt of your confirmation email, you will be prompted to log into the AVDC® Document Management System (DMS) using your assigned user name and temporary password.
You can find how to use the AVDC® Document Management System by reading the Getting Started document.
I am interested in the following Veterinary Dental Residency:
Small Animal
Equine
Dual Track Equine and Small Animal
Registration by AVDC® is, of itself, not an assurance of the quality of training, or that the applicant will successfully complete the AVDC® credentialing and examination requirements.
Resident Resources
The primary objectives of AVDC® are to determine the standards required for recognition of board certified veterinary dental specialists and to conduct the credentials review and examination procedures necessary to identify veterinarians who have reached the specialist veterinary dentist standard.
Quick Links
- How to use the AVDC® Document Management System (DMS)
- AVDC® Abbreviations (PDF)
- List of Resident Forms
- Use of Specialty Titles and Definitions
- AVDC® Nomenclature
- Examples of Dental Charts:
Small Animal | Equine - Instructions for Credentials Application:
Small Animal | Equine | Dual | Link to Online Payment - Instructions for Case Logs:
Small Animal | Equine | Dual
Video (SA) Explanation regarding Case Logging
Power Point (SA) Explanation regarding Case Logging - Radiograph Submission Guidelines:
Small Animal | Equine | Examples - Publication Requirements
- Curriculum Vitae / Resume Format for AVDC® (PDF)
- Curriculum Vitae / Resume Format for AVDC® (Word doc)
- Preparing for the AVDC® Examination
- Leave of Absence Policy and Form
- Reinstatement Policy
- Residency Open Positions & Job Board
- Vet Dentist Continuing Education
- Online Payments
- Consequences of Missing Resident Deadlines
- Covid-19 Pandemic Exceptions 2021
Grants for Research
Grant announcements are made in the Spring and Summer issues of the Journal of Veterinary Dentistry; The grants have a Dental Forum requirement for reporting research findings within 2 years of the awarded grant.
See Foundation Grants >
General Resident Training Requirements
Current and Previous Changes Documents
Major changes in AVDC® training program requirements are not applied retroactively. For information on previous training program requirements click the links below:
Part Time Residency Program
A. The signed Residency Registration Application Form (co-signed by the Diplomate Supervisor) and fee. If this item was mailed to the Executive Seceretary, the Executive Director will scan and upload it to the DMS document.
B. Applicant’s curriculum vitae in AVDC® format.
C. Proposed arrangements for meeting the anesthesia, radiology and surgery Specialty Training requirements.
D. A list of the equipment and supplies available to you at you practice, indicating that you are equipped to commence the planned training program when you are working in your own practice environment. See AVDC® Initial Equipment List.
E. A list of relevant Books and Journals available to you at your practice.
F. Part time residents are required to begin their first four weeks of the program with direct supervision with their Residency Supervisor. On average, eight weeks will be required to be spent with your Supervisor each year to meet the minimum diplomate supervision requirement.
Part Time Residency Forms
Part Time Initial Equipment List
Part Time Dental Chart Supervisor Form
Full Time vs Part Time Residency Requirements
Requirement |
Full Time |
Part Time |
Total Program Time from Start Date |
30 months minimum 6 year maximum |
30 months minimum 6 year maximum |
Type of Diplomate Supervision required |
Direct supervision1 |
Direct supervision1 |
Location of residency |
On-site with Residency Director/Supervisors at approved Residency Site. Resident is not working at satellite clinics with indirect supervision. | Mix between Residency Director’s/Supervisor’s approved residency site(s) and resident’s primary practice. |
Allowed usage of 30-month exception for credentials |
Yes – 30-months must be completed by Feb 28th the year following provisional credentials acceptance. | No |
Minimum directly supervised clinical time weeks2 |
48 weeks |
48 weeks **First 4 weeks must be at mentor’s practice** |
Total Clinical Time (supervised + unsupervised) |
78 weeks; Full-time residents will have no more than 6 weeks per year total indirect supervision for clinical weeks (starting January 2023) | 78 weeks |
Approved AVDC® Residency Site(s)3
|
Yes | Yes – Residency Director’s site(s) needs to be an approved residency site. Additional documentation is required for part-time resident program approval. |
Who Approves Site |
RPAC | RPAC |
Who Approves Individual Resident Programs |
Approval through RPAC. | RPAC – Part-time resident needs to submit application, arrangements for SIT and documents for equipment list and library at resident’s practice (not the approved residency site). |
Who Approves the Resident |
Residency Director/Supervisor. Only APP-100 form required. | The Residency Director/Supervisor and RPAC. |
- Direct supervision is defined as the Residency Director/Supervisor and the resident are participating in a clinical practice approved for residency training and in which both the Diplomate and the resident are on duty interactively and concurrently managing cases. Direct supervision means a Board-Certified Veterinary DentistTMis readily available on the premises where the patient is being treated and has assumed responsibility for the veterinary care given to the patient by a person working under his or her direction. Indirect supervision means a Board-Certified Veterinary DentistTM need not be on the premises and has given either written or oral instructions for treatment of the patient. The Residency Director/Supervisor is readily available by telephone or other forms of immediate communication and has assumed responsibility for the veterinary dental care given to the patient by a person working under his or her direction.
- Full-time Residencies, shall provide a minimum of 40 hours of clinical dentistry experience per “clinical week.” A “Clinical Week” is defined as 40 hours acquired during a Monday-Sunday time span containing any of the following activities: clinical dental didactic rounds, clinical dental/maxillofacial consultations and procedures, dental/maxillofacial cadaver work, and teaching involving the foundations of dentistry. If a resident were to work more than 40 hours of clinical dentistry in a week (Monday to Sunday), it is still to be counted as 1 week towards the 48 and 78 weeks of the supervised and unsupervised clinical time requirement for a full-time residency. (Applies to full-time residencies starting January 2021 and on.)
- If a pair or group of AVDC® diplomates working at different locations joins together to form a residency program under which the resident’s time will be shared in a formal way, each Diplomate participating within the program must be located at an approved residency site or at the resident’s primary practice with approved initial equipment list and library.
Opportunities at the Veterinary Dental Forum
Review and Assessment Exam
Each year a Review & Assessment Exam is offered for people in veterinary dental training programs to help in their studies. This is practice for taking the examination for the American Veterinary Dental College®. Visit Registration Page
When the registration opens the Review and Assessment Exam will be listed alongside the available wetlabs and hands on learning labs.
English is the official language of AVDC®. All documents, forms and examinations provided by AVDC® are written in English, and all materials submitted by applicants and residents are to be written in English.
Use of Specialty Titles: The AVMA Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics state: It is unethical for veterinarians to identify themselves as or in any way imply that they are members of an AVMA recognized specialty organization until such time as such certification has been awarded. AVDC® has adopted the Guidelines for Use of Specialty Titles, prepared by the American Board of Veterinary Specialties of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
By signing the AVDC® Training Program Registration form, an individual submitting an application for registration of a training program acknowledges that s/he may not use the terms ‘board eligible’, ‘board qualified’, ‘veterinary dental specialist’ or ‘veterinary dentist’, and may not make or imply any connection with AVDC® until such time as the individual passes the AVDC® examination and is awarded the AVDC® Diploma.
The registration of an AVDC® training program of an individual who is not in compliance with the policy stated above may be terminated by AVDC®, in which case the individual will not be permitted to complete the AVDC® credentials and/or the examination procedures, and, when appropriate, the circumstances may be reported by AVDC® to the individual’s State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.