Section 1636.6.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares that in order to assure that the people of California receive the highest quality of dental care, dentists graduating from dental schools outside of the United States who apply for licensure in California must possess the same training and skills as applicants from schools that have been approved by the board. The Legislature further finds and declares that the current process for ensuring the adequacy of training of these applicants is deficient, that high numbers of foreign dental graduates are failing the restorative technique examination required in Section 1636, and that there are numerous repeat failures. The Legislature further finds and declares that while current law requires that a foreign dental graduate who fails the restorative technique examination is required to take a minimum of two years of additional training from a dental school approved by the board, only three of the five dental schools operating in California offer a two-year course of study for graduates of foreign dental schools.

Therefore, the Legislature hereby urges all dental schools in this state to provide in their curriculum a two-year course of study that may be utilized by graduates of foreign dental schools to attain the prerequisites for licensure in California.

(Added by Stats. 1997, Ch. 792, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 1998.)