Are you closer than you realize to earning DOCS Fellowship or Diplomate status? Your sedation CE, completed cases, writing, or research may already put one of these advanced credentials within reach.
By Genni Burkhart, Editor
As a DOCS member, you’ve already made a meaningful investment in advancing your skills in sedation dentistry. You’ve also joined a community of dental professionals committed to safe, effective, and compassionate sedation care.
The DOCS Fellowship (FDOCS) and DOCS Diplomate (DDOCS) status offer an opportunity to take that commitment even further. While both credentials recognize those who’ve completed advanced training, they also show patients, peers, and your community that you've demonstrated a substantial commitment to clinical excellence, patient safety, and compassionate sedation care.
For dentists looking to pursue the next level, the value of these programs extends beyond the credentials themselves. While FDOCS recognizes advanced sedation education and documented clinical experience, DDOCS recognizes current fellows whose work reflects deeper case experience, advanced CE, writing, and/or research.
Although the two credentials are connected, they mark different stages of achievement. Fellowship establishes a strong clinical and educational foundation. Diplomate status then builds on that foundation and represents the highest credential DOCS Education offers.
Understanding the difference between these two programs can help clarify the path that best fits your experience, what each credential requires, and whether the work you've already completed may place the next step in your career closer than you realize.
Why Pursue a DOCS Credential?
Continuing education is a vital (and required) part of every dentist's career. As such, working toward an advanced credential, such as a Fellowship or Diplomate, gives the investment you've made in those hours a clear and meaningful purpose.
Rather than allowing completed courses, sedation cases, and professional contributions to stand alone, DOCS Fellowship and Diplomate status bring them together as a recognized achievement.
An advanced credential can also help communicate the training behind a practice’s sedation services. It doesn’t replace the trust developed through patient care, but it can show that a dentist has continued learning well beyond an introductory course.
The DOCS Fellowship Process
DOCS Fellowship recognizes active members who’ve continued their sedation education and documented their clinical experience.
To qualify, applicants must:
- Maintain active membership in DOCS Education.
- Complete 75 hours of continuing sedation education within the past five years, including ACLS.
- Document the completion of 50 sedation cases.
- An application fee of $495.
For active sedation dentists, some or all of that work may already be complete. Reviewing your CE records and documented cases can quickly show whether the FDOCS is within reach.
The process begins when a doctor applies for Fellowship consideration. DOCS then reviews the applicant’s eligibility. If the requirements are met, a course adviser collects the application fee, and the prospective Fellow submits completed sedation cases for review.
Once approved, DOCS prints and ships the official Fellowship certificate. New Fellows may receive the credential during a ceremony at an upcoming event or through a private virtual awarding session. DOCS then shares the recorded virtual presentation at its next live event.
While Fellowship is a meaningful achievement in its own right, it also establishes the credential required to pursue DOCS Diplomate status.
Steps to DOCS Diplomate
DOCS Diplomate is available exclusively to current Fellows. It represents the highest recognition DOCS Education offers and is only awarded to dentists who demonstrate exceptional achievement in clinical experience, continuing education, and academic or research contributions.
Diplomate status reflects more than proficiency. It recognizes broad clinical experience, advanced knowledge, and a long-term commitment to elevating standards of sedation care. Through patient care, education, writing, research, and leadership, Diplomates also help advance the field.
Applicants must:
- Maintain active DOCS membership.
- Hold a current DOCS Fellowship.
- Demonstrate at least two qualifying achievements.
- Pay the $695 application fee.
Applicants must also demonstrate at least two of the following:
- Completed 200 sedation dentistry cases.
- Completed 200 hours of sedation-related CE within the past eight years.
- Authoring or co-authoring five articles on sedation dentistry.
- Participating in sedation dentistry research.
The requirements allow Fellows to qualify through different combinations of experience. For example, one dentist may meet the criteria through cases and advanced CE, while another may combine clinical work with writing or research.
Candidates first confirm their eligibility and gather supporting documentation. They then complete and submit the Diplomate application for DOCS review. Once approved, they receive an official certificate and a digital badge.
One Achievement Can Lead to the Next
Fellowship and Diplomate status are separate credentials, but members can, and have, earned both. Fellowship is the first step and recognizes advanced sedation education and documented clinical experience. Diplomate status then offers current Fellows an opportunity to receive DOCS Education’s highest recognition of achievement in sedation dentistry.
Additionally, all DOCS members are automatically eligible for consideration in the annual “Best in the Nation Sedation Dentist” recognition program. Fewer than 1 in 200 alums receive this honor.
If this sounds like the next step in your career, start by reviewing the requirements and compare them with the work and training you’re doing now. You may already be building toward the education, case experience, writing, or research needed to qualify for the FDOCS or DDOCS credential.
For questions about eligibility or the application process, contact the DOCS Membership Loyalty Team at (877) 325-3627.
Author: With over 16 years as a published journalist, editor, and writer, Genni Burkhart's career has spanned politics, healthcare, law, business finance, technology, and news. She resides in Northern Colorado, where she works as the editor-in-chief of the Incisor at DOCS Education.
