FAAID Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling

What the Fellow Exam Actually Is

Before you can plan around dates, you need to understand what you are scheduling. The Fellow of the AAID (FAAID) designation, issued by the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, is earned through a virtual oral/case examination administered by AAID examiner teams. It is not a multiple-choice sitting at a testing center, and it is not something you book for the next open slot on a calendar.

The examination has two parts: you discuss five standardized clinical cases, and you defend five cases you submitted yourself, each on a different patient. The guide describes the session as approximately three hours, with up to four hours allowed when you include equipment testing. That time structure matters for scheduling because the exam is a single, fixed-date event rather than a flexible appointment.

If you are still orienting yourself to the credential, start with What Is FAAID? and then return here for the calendar mechanics. For how the credential's content is organized, see FAAID Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 4 Content Areas.

The Current Application and Exam Timeline

As of October 7, 2026, AAID's published schedule shows the following. Always verify against the official exam schedule and application notices on aaid.com before committing, because dates can be revised.

Why There Are No Rolling Test Windows

Many certification candidates expect a continuous testing window where they pick any day in a multi-month span. The Fellow exam does not work that way. AAID runs an application window, followed by a scheduled virtual examination date. If you miss the February 1, 2027 close, you are not looking at a short wait for the next appointment slot; you are waiting for the next published cycle.

That has a practical consequence: the real deadline for most candidates is not the exam date at all. It is the day your five case reports, narratives, diagnostic photographs and radiographs, and patient releases are complete and ready to submit. The exam date is simply where all that preparation gets evaluated.

Eligibility Gates to Clear Before the Window Opens

The calendar is only useful if you qualify to be on it. Check each of these well before November so a missing requirement does not cost you a full cycle. The complete breakdown lives in FAAID Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify, but the headline points are:

• Licensure: You must be a licensed dental practitioner.
• Membership path: Either be an AAID Associate Fellow in good standing, or have passed Associate Fellow Part 1 and meet Fellow eligibility.
• Experience: At least five years of implant-dentistry experience.
• Continuing education: 400 hours of implant CE, including 75 participatory/hands-on hours.
• Education alternative: A qualifying full-time implant dentistry, periodontal, oral/maxillofacial surgery or prosthodontics program lasting at least one year satisfies the educational requirement.
• Competence: You must demonstrate surgical and prosthetic competence and have provided surgical and/or prosthetic treatment for each submitted case.

If you are on the Associate Fellow Part 1 route, remember that the written blueprint for that exam is a separate matter from the Fellow oral/case exam. Keep those two preparation tracks distinct in your planning.

Case Readiness: The One-Year Rule and Your Calendar

The single most schedule-sensitive requirement is that all five submitted cases must have final prostheses in function for at least one year by the examination period. This is what actually determines whether a given cycle is realistic for you.

Work out, for each of the five cases, the date its final prosthesis was delivered. Add twelve months. The latest of those five dates is your earliest realistic exam cycle. A case that is eight months into function in November 2026 will not satisfy the one-year rule for an April 2027 exam if the examination period requires a full year in function by then, so check with AAID on how it measures that period against your specific delivery dates.

Fees, Routes and the Conflicting Fee Schedules

Fee timing is part of scheduling, because payment accompanies your application and the window is firm. Here is where candidates get tripped up: AAID's official documents do not currently agree.

Because these schedules conflict, confirm the applicable fee for your route with AAID before you submit. The guide identifies substitution as an alternative fee, not an additional charge, so you should not expect to pay both. For a fuller picture of what the credential costs over time, including maintenance, see FAAID Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.

Once elected, maintenance requires active AAID membership, and regular Fellow dues are USD 695 annually, payable January 1. Factor that recurring January date into your budgeting, particularly because it will fall shortly before or after a successful exam cycle.

Virtual Exam-Day Logistics

Because the exam is virtual, the technical setup is part of your scheduling responsibilities. The guide calls for an Internet-capable computer with a webcam, a cellular device, and a prior equipment check. The up-to-four-hour allowance exists specifically to cover equipment testing alongside the roughly three-hour examination itself.

• Block the full four hours on April 3, 2027 rather than only the three-hour examination length.
• Complete the equipment check early, not on the morning of the exam.
• Arrange backup connectivity since both a computer and a cellular device are expected.
• Plan for language: the exam is conducted in English. An AAID-supplied interpreter may be arranged at the candidate's expense, which is another item to raise well ahead of the date.

Working Backward From the Window

This is the one place a structured timeline helps, because the application window is fixed and the preparation work is front-loaded. The four case-report headings in the Fellow Examination Case Report Outline (pp. 18-19 of AAID's credentialing guide) are Patient Examination, Development of the Treatment Plan, Surgical and Prosthetic Report, and Clinical Résumé. These are required case-report preparation headings, not an exhaustive blueprint of the oral exam, and no weights are published for them. Use them to organize your written submission work.

After submission, your attention should move to rehearsing the discussion of the five standardized cases and defending your own. For that phase, FAAID Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt covers preparation approach in more depth, and How Hard Is the FAAID Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 helps you calibrate your effort. You can also reinforce clinical recall with the practice questions at our main practice test site.

After the Exam: Election, Induction and Dues

Passing the oral/case exam is not the final step. Election follows approval by the Admissions and Credentials Board and a vote by the Board of Trustees. Only then do you use the designation, as described on AAID's page for announcing your credential.

Successful oral candidates must attend an Annual Business Meeting for induction within two years. Treat that as a calendar commitment from the moment you pass; check AAID's meeting schedule so travel and clinic coverage are arranged in advance. And since dues are payable each January 1, your first dues cycle will follow soon after election.

One note on expectations: no current numeric passing threshold or pass-rate statistic has been verified, so treat claims of either with caution. For what is and is not known, see FAAID Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass and FAAID Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows. For a quick-reference summary of the key facts, FAAID Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts is a useful companion. And to gauge the return on all this effort, read Is the FAAID Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions