For immediate release, July 18, 2022

Dental health professionals seeking initial state licensure and the far-reaching licensure portability of ADEX examinations can to look to one national testing agency for their needs.  CDCA-WREB and The Council of Interstate Testing Agencies (CITA), the two agencies currently authorized to administer assessments developed by the American Board of Dental Examiners (ADEX), announce their intent to combine on August 1, 2022. The new organization will operate as CDCA-WREB-CITA.

A CDCA-WREB-CITA combination simplifies the pathways for dental and dental hygiene licensure candidates, schools, and state licensure boards.  CDCA-WREB-CITA will continue to provide licensing jurisdictions a robust results database for all current ADEX and legacy examinations while adding new and simplified features.

CDCA-WREB-CITA is proud to administer the ADEX examinations. ADEX examinations are accepted in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. Similar to the NCLEX™ examinations in nursing and the USMLE™ assessments for physicians, ADEX’s examinations protect the dental public. ADEX develops uniform competency assessments that reflect current dental and dental hygiene practices. In doing so, ADEX relies on the expertise of its membership, which consists of representatives from most of the state dental boards in the U.S.

“It is now time to… pick up a new banner, based on trust, and common purpose, a combined purpose of protecting the public.”

Dr. Conrad McVea, CITA President

CDCA-WREB Chairman Dr. Harvey Weingarten said, “Members of the Boards of both organizations enthusiastically and unanimously support this combination, which further strengthens the framework of a nationally recognized and administered psychomotor performance licensure examination for the oral health professions.”

In January, the CDCA-WREB General Assembly voted unanimously to combine with the CITA organization. Dr. Conrad McVea, CITA President, addressed members of the General Assembly, saying, “it is now time to… pick up a new banner, based on trust, and common purpose, a combined purpose of protecting the public. I am proud to be part of this historic day.”

“Our combined organization further elevates the end-to-end services for schools, students, licensing jurisdictions, and examiners as we can meet their needs efficiently within one infrastructure,” explained Alex Vandiver, CDCA-WREB Chief Executive Officer. Already co-administrators of ADEX examinations, CDCA-WREB-CITA and CITA share a history of working together in the development of ADEX examiner training and administration quality benchmarks.

“We are grateful to all our examiners who prepare themselves to deliver examinations in a fair, standardized, and professional manner. This year brings exciting opportunities for continued cooperation and collaboration among examiners and colleagues from across the country,” CDCA-WREB-CITA Director of Examinations Dr. Benjamin Wall added.

The news comes nearly a year after The Commission on Dental Competency Assessments (CDCA) and The Western Regional Examining Board (WREB) merged to form the largest independent, third-party assessment organization. The existing board of CDCA-WREB and CITA’s executive committee will come together to provide governance oversight to the combined entity. “We look forward to working with our new colleagues in service of our shared mission and the oral health professions,” said Dr. Rob Lauf, CDCA-WREB Board member, and former WREB President.

In addition to the ADEX licensure examinations for dentists and dental hygienists, CDCA-WREB-CITA will offer proprietary assessments that demonstrate entry-level competency in Dental Therapy and other expanded function oral health services. The organization will also provide Local Anesthesia, Sedation, Restorative and jurisdiction-specific Laws and Rules examinations. Information regarding all available examinations can be found by clicking here.

Direct inquiries to Alex Vandiver at avandiver@cdcawreb.org or Amy Matthews at amatthews@citaexam.com.