10 State Dental Boards Verified Free of Intrusive Mental Health Questions

Posted: October 13, 2026

10 State Dental Boards Verified Free of Intrusive Mental Health Questions

Edited by Dentaltown staff

Ten state dental licensing boards have verified that their licensure applications no longer include intrusive mental health questions, according to the Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation, which reported that the changes cover 146,647 dental professionals.

The tally, current as of Sept. 25, doubles the five dental boards recognized in 2025, which covered nearly 65,000 dental professionals. Boards earn recognition as Wellbeing First Champions after auditing and revising their applications so that health professionals are not discouraged from seeking care for mental health conditions or substance use disorders.

Across all health professions, 82 state licensing boards have been recognized: 46 medical, 13 pharmacy, 11 nursing, 10 dental, and two specialty boards. Those changes affect nearly 3.6 million licensed health workers. With hospitals and other facilities that revised their credentialing applications, the total reaches more than 4.1 million workers, a 437% increase since September 2023.

Other states have acted without being verified by the foundation. According to the ADA, Massachusetts and New York do not include intrusive mental health questions on dental licensure applications, and Minnesota and Virginia have reviewed their questions and undertaken reforms.

The initiative is run by the ALL IN: Wellbeing First for Healthcare coalition, led by the Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation, and the ADA is among its supporting organizations. ADA President Richard Rosato commended licensing agencies for removing stigma from licensure applications. Corey Feist, CEO and co-founder of the foundation, said revising applications is only a starting point and that leaders must openly normalize mental health care.

The ADA recently updated its resource toolkit on preventing mental health and substance use disorder discrimination in dentist licensure and credentialing. The toolkit is aimed at state dental associations, dental boards, credentialing organizations, and dental professionals.

Sources:
ADA News, “More than 4.1 million health workers gain safer path to mental healthcare,” Oct. 9, 2026:
adanews.ada.org/2026/october/safer-path-to-mental-healthcare
Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation, “Nationwide Initiative Shifts the Culture to Normalize Mental Health for Our Healthcare Workforce,” Sept. 30, 2026:
drlornabreen.org/nationwide-initiative


10 State Dental Boards Verified Free of Intrusive Mental Health Questions

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