The Commission for Continuing Education Provider Recognition (CCEPR) maintains the highest standards for continuing dental education.
The Commission establishes the standards for continuing dental education and approves CE providers that meet those standards through the American Dental Association Continuing Education Recognition Program (ADA CERP).
Choosing CERP-recognized providers helps the dental profession select quality CE with confidence.
ADA CERP also provides dental regulatory agencies with a sound basis for uniform acceptance of CE credits required for the maintenance of dental licensure.
Learn how to apply for or maintain ADA CERP recognition.
The Commission for Continuing Education Provider Recognition has adopted a comprehensive revision of the ADA CERP Recognition Standards. The new ADA CERP Standards 2026 (PDF) will take effect June 1, 2026, to give providers time to adapt to the new Standards. The Commission is also revising the CERP application. The revised application will be available in June 2026, and the first cohort of providers evaluated under the new Standards will be those submitting applications in January 2027.
The Commission considered feedback from the communities of interest regarding the proposed revisions which emphasized the need for education and training on how to meet the new Standards. Educational webinars and new resources and tools to help familiarize providers with the new Standards will be made available in the coming months.
The Commission for Continuing Education Provider Recognition requests nominations to fill an open position to serve on the Board of Commissioners.
The primary duties of the Commission for Continuing Education Provider Recognition are to:
Nominations are being accepted for a public member of the CCEPR Board of Commissioners.
The public member brings a valuable public/consumer perspective to the Commission’s deliberations. Potential candidates may be nominated by an organization or may nominate themselves.
Interested parties should review the Commission’s responsibilities and the CCEPR Criteria for a Public Member (PDF) and download the CCEPR Public Member Application Form (DOCX).
Contact CCEPR staff for more information.
The Commission has approved a 4% increase in ADA CERP provider fees for 2024 over 2023 levels. Invoices for the 2024 ADA CERP provider annual fee will be emailed in March. Payment may be made by credit card using the link provided in the invoice.
The 2024 ADA CERP annual survey will be emailed in March as well.
If you do not receive the invoice or the annual survey emails by March 15, please check your email filters or contact CCEPR staff at cerp@ada.org.
Payment of the annual fee and completion of the annual survey are requirements for all ADA CERP recognized providers. To ensure that you receive the annual fee invoice and annual survey link, please inform CCEPR staff of any changes to contacts for your organization at cerp@ada.org.
View fees for providers in the U.S. and Canada (PDF)
View fees for international CE providers outside the U.S. and Canada (PDF)
With many providers offering CE courses online, the Commission has prepared a summary of ADA CERP requirements for online CE (PDF), including live and recorded events.
Providers are also encouraged to review the ADA CERP Recognition Standards, in particular Standard VI.8-9.
Joint Accreditation offers organizations that develop interprofessional continuing education (IPCE) the opportunity to be simultaneously accredited to provide continuing education credit for multiple health professions through a unified accreditation process and set of accreditation standards. With this new collaboration between Joint Accreditation and the ADA’s Continuing Education Recognition Program, organizations that are jointly accredited now have the option to include dentists in their education programs, without needing to attain a separate accreditation with ADA CERP.
Joint Accreditation gives providers that design at least 25% of their CE activities for an interprofessional audience the opportunity to offer continuing education credits in medicine, nursing, optometry, PAs (physician assistants), pharmacy, psychology, social work, and now dentistry. Read the complete Joint Accreditation news release.
CERP recognized providers that are currently accredited through Joint Accreditation, and that wish to obtain CERP recognition through the single Joint Accreditation process rather than the separate CERP application process, should contact CCEPR staff.
In 2019 the Commission announced changes to the eligibility requirements (PDF) for CERP recognition. Effective July 1, 2023, providers that are commercial interests, as defined by ADA CERP, will no longer be eligible for CERP recognition. Providers that qualify as commercial interests may maintain their recognition status through June 30, 2023 by fulfilling normal program requirements.
To identify the providers that will be affected by this change, all CERP recognized providers were sent an online “commercial interest questionnaire” in December 2020. Based on its review of the information supplied by providers, the Commission identified the providers that meet the ADA CERP definition of a commercial interest. These providers were notified of the Commission’s findings this August, and advised that they will be able to maintain their recognition through June 23, 2023 but no later. Providers the Commission determined are not commercial interests were also notified that they will be eligible to maintain their ADA CERP recognition status by continuing to meet program requirements.
After June 30, 2023, commercial interests, as defined by ADA CERP, will be able to provide financial and in-kind support for CE activities developed by ADA CERP recognized providers, as long as the commercial interests have no role in selecting the content or instructors.
The intent of this change is to reduce the potential conflicts of interest that arise when entities that produce, market, distribute or re-sell healthcare goods or services used on patients also control the content of continuing education activities.
For more information, contact the CCEPR director, at cerp@ada.org.