# Pennsylvania dental CPR/BLS requirements

> CPR, BLS, Basic Life Support, hands-on skills, and renewal-cycle signals for Pennsylvania dental professionals.

URL: https://dentovio.com/dental-cpr-requirements/pennsylvania

Last verified: 2026-07-08

Research confidence: high

Educational summary only, not compliance advice. CPR/BLS provider, hands-on skills, online-only, and renewal rules can change. Confirm current instructions with the Pennsylvania dental board before renewing.

## Direct answer

For dental CPR/BLS requirements in Pennsylvania, Dentovio's sourced CE notes say: MANDATORY for dentists, hygienists, and EFDAs: 2 hours of approved child abuse recognition and reporting in the 2-year period preceding renewal (Act 31), and current CPR certification as a condition of renewal. Confirm current CPR, BLS, hands-on skills, provider, renewal-cycle, and audit rules with the Pennsylvania dental board before renewing.

## CPR/BLS notes

MANDATORY for dentists, hygienists, and EFDAs: 2 hours of approved child abuse recognition and reporting in the 2-year period preceding renewal (Act 31), and current CPR certification as a condition of renewal.

## Renewal CE snapshot

- Dentists: 30 hours / 2 years (biennial)
- Dental hygienists: 20 hours / 2 years (Public Health Dental Hygiene Practitioner also 20 hrs, of which 5 must be public-health related)
- Dental assistants: Expanded Function Dental Assistants (EFDAs): 10 hours / 2 years (of which 3 hours must be in coronal polishing, with limited exemptions). Non-EFDA dental assistants are not separately licensed and have no state CE requirement.

## Full renewal-cycle note

Biennial cycle renewing Apr 1 of every odd-numbered year (State Board of Dentistry). MANDATORY for dentists, hygienists, and EFDAs: 2 hours of approved child abuse recognition and reporting in the 2-year period preceding renewal (Act 31), and current CPR certification as a condition of renewal. Prescribers of opioids/controlled substances must complete 2 hours of approved education in pain management, identification of addiction, or safe prescribing (Act 124) — required of DEA-registered dentists. Hygienists with a local-anesthesia permit: 3 of the 20 hours in local anesthesia administration. LIVE-vs-SELF-STUDY caps: individual/self-study capped at half the total — dentists max 15 hrs, hygienists max 10 hrs, EFDAs max 5 hrs. NOTE: the PA 'Dental Renewal Guide' PDF returned conflicting figures (30 hrs hygienist / 18 hrs EFDA); the binding regulation 49 Pa. Code §33.402 governs and states 20 (hygienist) and 10 (EFDA).

## Official board source

- <https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=/secure/pacode/data/049/chapter33/subchapFtoc.html&d=reduce>

## References

- <https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=/secure/pacode/data/049/chapter33/subchapFtoc.html&d=reduce>
- <https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=%2Fsecure%2Fpacode%2Fdata%2F049%2Fchapter33%2Fs33.402.html&d=reduce>
- <https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/pennsylvania/49-Pa-Code-SS-33-402>
- <https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/dos/department-and-offices/bpoa/dental/Dental-Renewal-Guide.pdf>

## Related

- [Pennsylvania dental CE requirements](https://dentovio.com/ce-requirements/pennsylvania/index.html.md)
- [Pennsylvania online dental CE](https://dentovio.com/online-dental-ce/pennsylvania/index.html.md)
- [Pennsylvania dental license renewal](https://dentovio.com/dental-license-renewal/pennsylvania/index.html.md)
- [Pennsylvania dental board](https://dentovio.com/dental-boards/pennsylvania/index.html.md)
- [All dental CPR/BLS requirement pages](https://dentovio.com/dental-cpr-requirements/index.html.md)
- [Dental CE hours tracker](https://dentovio.com/tools/ce-tracker/index.html.md)