Is Your Cosmetic Dentist an
Accredited Fellow with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD)?

One of my dentists, Dr. Emil Hawary, recently earned the AACD Accredited Fellow honor. This is a big deal!

A quick snapshot of banged up poster used to commemorate Fellowship

He is one of only eight dentists in the entire state of California to hold this designation. And at the time of this writing, less than 60 dentists in the world carry this prestigious title.

When you look for a dentist for your cosmetic or dental reconstruction work, you want to find the most capable possible. In most instances, this also means your dentist is working with a capable and experienced dental technician.

Veneers used to close a gap between teeth.

Dr. Hawary was excited and called me as soon as he found out to share the news. He thanked me profusely because I was the aesthetic dental technician who worked on his patients' cases used to pass the examination.

Indirectly, this means the The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) approved and passed my work as a dental technician.

More importantly, this really feels good because it means I helped transform and improve the smiles of over 50 patients to the high standards of the Academy.

What's it Take to Become an Accredited Fellow?

I know a little something about helping dentists reach this designation. Before Dr. Hawary's news, I apprenticed under a ceramist who was one of a handful of Fellowship dental technicians. This is an even smaller worldwide group than dentists.

Side view of seven unit bridge before glazing.

What does it take a dentist to reach Fellowship honors? Well, it can be a grueling experience that normally takes a number of years to complete.

The cases are either pass or fail. In other words, the cases have to be perfect for Accreditation standards. Here are some requirements for both dentists and technicians:

• You have 5 years to complete the process. These are real-time, real life patient cases and not "fake" ones done in a controlled vacuum or university lab. What tends to happen is if the dentist doesn't have many cosmetic patients (doesn't specialize in cosmetic dentistry), this process can take longer;
  
  
• The dentist must send 50 cases that comprise predetermined and specific cosmetic dental scenarios. That is to say, the Academy wants to see different and specific types of cosmetic dental restorations, not 50 of the same type of case;
  
  
• 45 out of the 50 cases (90%) must pass to complete and attain the Accredited Fellow status;
  
  
• Each case must be from a unique patient (i.e. 50 cases means 50 cosmetic patients. It's a very hands-on examination);
  
  
• If you fail the process once, you can bank your 'passed' cases and redo the 'failed' ones;
  
  
• But if you fail twice, you have to start from scratch;
  
  
• Each case is judged by three examiners. You need two out of three passes for the case to pass, otherwise it's a fail;
  
  
• The candidate must pass at least half of each predetermined category/scenario in addition to passing 45 out of 50 total cases;
  
  
• Both the dentist or technician is annonymous to the examiners, and the examiners are anonymous to the dentist or technician. No politics, no favoratism, just merit;
  
  
• There are no appeals on any Fellowship cases. The examiners have final say on everything.
  

As you can tell, this is truly a team effort between the dentist and the aesthetic technician. If the technician isn't top-notch, the dentist will have an almost impossible time passing the Academy's standards.

There you have it. Now you know why the AACD's Accredited Fellowship honor is one of the toughest in the world, and one of the rarest. Only 60 dentists from around the world have it today.