What Is FAAID Certification?

What the FAAID Designation Actually Is

FAAID stands for Fellow of the AAID. It is the authorized designation granted by the American Academy of Implant Dentistry to licensed dental practitioners who complete the Fellow credentialing process and are elected to Fellow status. It is a peer-evaluated credential for implant dentists, and it is earned by defending real treatment you have personally delivered, not by answering a bank of multiple-choice questions.

That distinction shapes everything about preparation. Because several other credentials share a similar acronym, it is worth stating plainly what this article covers: only the AAID Fellow credential. If you are looking for shorter definitions, our pages on what FAAID is, what FAAID stands for and the meaning of FAAID cover the basics. This guide goes further and explains how the certification actually works from application to election.

Who Is Eligible to Sit for It

Eligibility is built around licensure, time in practice, continuing education and demonstrated competence. A full walkthrough is in our FAAID requirements guide, but the core conditions are these:

• Licensure: you must be a licensed dental practitioner.
• Membership pathway: you must 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, of which 75 hours must be participatory or hands-on.
• Competence: you must demonstrate surgical and prosthetic competence and must have provided surgical and/or prosthetic treatment for each submitted case.

A qualifying full-time program in implant dentistry, periodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery or prosthodontics lasting at least one year satisfies the educational requirement. If you trained in one of those programs, that route replaces the separate education requirement rather than adding to it.

How the Virtual Oral/Case Examination Works

The Fellow examination is delivered virtually by AAID examiner teams. It has two halves: you discuss five standardized clinical cases that the examiners present, and you defend five cases you submitted, each on a different patient. The standardized cases test how you reason when you did not choose the scenario. The submitted cases test whether you can justify decisions you actually made.

The AAID guide describes the examination as taking approximately three hours, with up to four hours blocked once equipment testing is included. Delivery requirements are practical but strict:

• an Internet-capable computer with a webcam
• a cellular device
• a prior equipment check before exam day

The examination is conducted in English. If you need an interpreter, AAID can arrange one, but at the candidate's expense. Plan for that cost and lead time well before your exam period.

Because this is an oral examination, "how hard is it" depends less on memorization and more on your command of your own cases. Our FAAID difficulty guide discusses what makes the format demanding, and the passing score article explains why no current numeric threshold has been verified.

The Five Submitted Case Types

Each submitted case must meet a common standard, then fit one of five required categories. The common standard first:

• the final prosthesis has been in function for at least one year by the examination period
• implants are at least 3 mm in diameter
• each case includes a narrative, diagnostic photographs and radiographs, and patient releases

Then the five required case types:

The one-year-in-function rule is the part that most often drives timing. A case treated recently cannot qualify regardless of how well it went, so start auditing your records for qualifying patients long before the application window opens.

The Four Case-Report Headings

The AAID guide, Demystifying the AAID Credentialing Examinations, lays out the Fellow Examination Case Report Outline on pages 18 and 19. Its principal headings serve as the four preparation domains used throughout this site. Be clear about their status: they are the required case-report preparation headings, not an exhaustive oral-exam blueprint, and AAID publishes no weights for them. For deeper coverage, see our complete domains guide.

Fees, Application Windows and Election

The fee picture needs honest handling. AAID's live fee page and the linked 2024 guide list different amounts, and the applicable route fee requires confirmation. Here is how the two schedules compare:

The guide identifies the substitution amount as an alternative fee, not an additional charge on top of the examination fee. Confirm which route applies to you before you pay. For a fuller breakdown including dues and indirect costs, see the FAAID certification cost guide.

On timing, as of October 7, 2026, the next application window opens in November 2026 and closes February 1, 2027. The Fellow oral/case exam is scheduled virtually for April 3, 2027. Our exam dates article tracks the schedule as it develops.

Passing the examination is not the final step. Election follows approval by the Admissions and Credentials Board and a vote of the Board of Trustees.

Induction and Keeping the Designation

Successful oral candidates must attend an Annual Business Meeting for induction within two years. Maintaining the credential requires active AAID membership, and regular Fellow dues are USD 695 annually, payable January 1. If you let membership lapse, you do not retain the standing the designation represents, so budget for dues as an ongoing cost of holding the credential rather than a one-time expense.

A Preparation Sequence Built Around the Case Report

Generic study habits matter less here than sequencing your work around the four report headings and the one-year-in-function rule. A workable order, using a case-first approach:

For more on structuring your preparation, see the FAAID study guide and the one-page cheat sheet. You can also reinforce clinical reasoning with questions on the main practice test site.

Where the Credential Carries Weight

Fellow status signals documented, peer-reviewed competence in implant dentistry. It tends to matter most to clinicians who place and restore implants, to practices that want to demonstrate credentialed expertise to referral partners and patients, and to dentists who value recognition from the implant-focused academy. We do not publish earnings figures for this credential because no verified data supports them; the ROI analysis and FAAID jobs overview discuss value qualitatively. If you want to compare related terminology, our pages on FAAID certification and what a FAAID is may also help, and you can test your readiness with the practice questions.

Frequently Asked Questions