The NDEB Equivalency Process – A Brief Review of Revised Process

With the announcement from National Dental Examining Board (NDEB) on 25th February 2021 there are big changes coming to the NDEB equivalency process. These changes are based on Reduce, Change, and Develop strategy. NDEB equivalency process is a pathway for international dentists whose dental degree is not recognized (non-accredited) in Canada. It consists of three examinations Assessment of Fundamental Knowledge (AFK), Assessment of Clinical Judgement (ACJ), and Assessment of Clinical Skills (ACS). Once candidates clear these examinations, they must appear for NDEB certification process like Canadian dental graduates.
Assessment of Fundamental Knowledge – Current AFK examination consists of 300 multiple choice questions which tests the ability of candidates about core and basic knowledge of dentistry. The new changes are based on reduce strategy where AFK will comprise of 200 multiple choice questions while maintaining strong validity and reliability. Candidates can attempt this examination for maximum of three times.
Assessment of Clinical Judgement – Candidates who successfully clear AFK can attempt AFK and ACS together or in any sequence. NDEB changed this and decided that to appear for clinical skills candidates must demonstrate that they have enough knowledge of clinical judgement before putting their hands on clinical procedure mainly irreversible dental procedures. So, candidates must take and pass ACJ to become eligible for ACS. Candidates can attempt this examination for maximum of three times.
Assessment of Clinical Skills – ACS comprised of total of 12 exercises, in current scenario ACS structure candidates can fail in one of 12 exercise and still pass the examination and candidates can attempt it maximum of three times. NDEB has done some significant changes in ACS structure. Candidates can attempt ACS for unlimited number of times, but they must pass all 12 exercises. Also, New ACS will introduce new exercises to test the skills of international dentists. These changes will take effect from 2022.
Till now candidates have to go to different universities faculty of dentistry all over Canada to appear for ACS examination. The NDEB has started building and developing its own ACS testing facility in Ottawa, Ontario. This will allow NDEB to conduct ACS in a controlled manner in a well-equipped environment throughout out the year which will reduce the numbers of backlog candidates and increasing the capacity. Hopefully with all these changes the fees for ACS examination will also go down from current CAD 9000.