Two things make South Dakota different from its neighbors. Continuing education runs on a five year cycle rather than a one or two year cycle, which changes how you should plan it. And in 2023 the Legislature added a statute that names dentists explicitly in a list of practitioners whose post-employment restrictions are voidable. If you are an associate here, that second one is worth more to you than everything else on this page.
Key takeaways
- CE is 100 hours over five years for dentists (at least 50 of them academic) and 75 hours for dental hygienists, who must also document at least five hours of dental radiography within the five year period.
- Radiation producing devices are licensed by the South Dakota Department of Health, not by the dental board. You apply within 30 days after installation or purchase, and the license renews annually in January.
- X-ray machines must be surveyed every three years by the department or a qualified expert. The Department of Health publishes the documentation list inspectors ask for, which makes it a usable self-audit.
- Under SDCL 53-9-11.2, for contracts entered into on or after July 1, 2023, a provision restricting a practitioner from practicing after employment ends is voidable. SDCL 53-9-11.1 lists dentists licensed under chapter 36-6A among the covered practitioners.
Rules change. Everything below was checked against an official South Dakota or federal source in September 2026. Fees, deadlines, rules and statutes change, and the non-compete provisions are new enough that they have not been fully tested. Confirm with the agency and with counsel before acting.
Who regulates what
| Topic | Agency | Official link |
|---|---|---|
| Dentist and hygienist licensure and renewal | South Dakota Board of Dentistry | SD Board of Dentistry |
| Continuing education | South Dakota Board of Dentistry | CE overview and guidelines |
| Dental assistants and dental radiographers | SD Board of Dentistry (separate registrant categories) | Registrant applications |
| Licensing of radiation producing devices | SD Department of Health, Health Facility Licensure | SD Healthcare Licensing System, radiation devices |
| X-ray facility inspections and surveys | SD Department of Health | Prepare for x-ray facility inspection |
| Radiation control rules | Administrative Rules of South Dakota 44:03:01 | ARSD 44:03:01 |
| Non-competes | South Dakota Codified Law chapter 53-9 | SDCL 53-9-11.2 |
| Amalgam separators and dental wastewater | US EPA rule, enforced through your pretreatment control authority | EPA Dental Effluent Guidelines |
| Sales and use tax on equipment | SD Department of Revenue | SD Department of Revenue |
License renewal and continuing education
The board publishes CE as a five year total rather than an annual drip:
- Dentists: 100 hours per five year cycle, of which at least 50 must be academic.
- Dental hygienists: 75 hours per five year cycle, including at least five hours of dental radiography within the five year period.
- Anesthesia or sedation permit holders: an additional 25 hours in anesthesia related topics per cycle, on top of the base requirement.
The caps matter more here than in short cycle states, because a five year window gives you plenty of room to accidentally fill it with the wrong thing. Home study is capped at 30 hours. CPR is capped at 15 hours. Practice management is capped at 10 hours. For hygienists, radiography is capped at 20 hours. Add those up and you can see how a licensee who leaned on convenient formats for four years ends up needing a lot of in-person academic coursework in year five.
CPR itself is not optional. The board requires a current card intended for a healthcare provider, earned in a course with a hands-on skills assessment. An online-only card will not satisfy it.
A five year cycle rewards a calendar and punishes memory. Put your cycle end date somewhere you will see it, log hours by category (academic, home study, CPR, practice management) rather than as one running total, and check the category caps at the halfway point instead of at the end.
South Dakota also registers dental assistants and dental radiographers as separate categories with their own applications and their own continuing education. If you are hiring, do not assume an assistant's credential from another state carries over. Start the South Dakota application on day one and plan your radiography coverage around the gap.
X-ray equipment: licensing and surveys
South Dakota calls it licensing rather than registration, and it sits with the Department of Health. The radiation control rules in ARSD chapter 44:03:01 set out the mechanics:
- Apply within 30 days. Each person who has a radiation source, a radiation device or a radioactive material facility must apply for licensure with the department within 30 days after the equipment is installed or the material is purchased.
- Renew annually in January through the department's licensing program.
- Surveys every three years. X-ray machines must be surveyed every three years by the department or by a qualified expert to verify compliance. Computed tomography systems are surveyed by a qualified physicist within 30 days after clinical use begins and annually after that.
- Installers report separately. When a radiation machine is installed, the assembler must report to the department within 15 days with the recipient's information, the equipment details and the installation date.
- Report changes within 30 days. Licensees must notify the department within 30 days of a change in machine location or other registered information.
Note the fee question, because it has an unusual answer. The rule chapter that set an annual license fee was repealed effective July 1, 2009, and the current rules we read do not state a dollar amount. That does not necessarily mean there is no charge today, only that you will not find the number in the rule. Ask the Department of Health directly before you budget.
The inspection checklist, used as a self-audit
The Department of Health publishes what its inspectors will look at, which is more useful than most states' inspection pages. On the paperwork side: film badge reports, the technique chart, darkroom or processor quality assurance records, the patient examination record, education documentation for operators, the annual evaluation of protective devices (aprons, gloves, gonadal shields), and the annual physicist survey report if you have a CT unit.
On the machine side, inspectors check kVp, timer, collimation and linearity. The published tolerances are timer and kVp accuracy within ten percent, and collimation within two percent of the source to image distance. If you still run film, the safelight filter, bulb wattage and distance from the work surface are checked, with the test being whether a pre-exposed film gains more than 0.10 in density after two minutes under darkroom conditions.
Print that page, walk your own office against it once a year, and the actual survey becomes uneventful. For the general mechanics that apply in every state, see dental x-ray registration and inspections.
Buying and selling used equipment in South Dakota
Licensing follows the machine
Buy a used intraoral unit, pan or CBCT and install it, and you have 30 days to get it onto your license. Change its location and you have 30 days to tell the department. The assembler who installs it has a separate 15 day report to file, which is a useful cross-check: if your installer has done South Dakota work before, ask them to confirm they filed it.
The Department of Health notes that sales and service companies themselves do not have to register with the department. That is worth knowing, because it means a service company's involvement is not evidence that anything was filed on your behalf.
Ask any seller for the current device license and the machine list, and compare it against what is physically in the building. A license listing a tube that was scrapped three years ago, or a room with a machine that appears nowhere, tells you something about how the rest of the compliance file was kept.
Amalgam separators and wastewater
The federal EPA dental rule at 40 CFR Part 441 applies. If you place or remove amalgam and discharge to a publicly owned treatment works, you need a compliant amalgam separator, you follow the best management practices (no discharging scrap amalgam, and restrictions on certain line cleaners), and you file a one-time compliance report with your pretreatment control authority. EPA routes those reports to a state agency in only a handful of states, and South Dakota is not among them, so your control authority is almost certainly the local wastewater utility. Ask them what they expect from an incoming owner at closing. See amalgam separators.
Lead, chemicals and processor rooms
Lead foil, lead aprons, spent fixer and developer and lead-lined cabinetry all need a licensed waste vendor and a paper trail. Our overview of dental waste disposal walks through each stream, and disconnecting dental equipment safely covers removal. Before you commit, run the pre-purchase equipment checklist and read the hidden costs of buying used equipment.
Non-competes and employment
South Dakota's general rule has been in statute for a long time. SDCL 53-9-11 permits an employee to agree not to engage directly or indirectly in the same business or profession for a period not exceeding two years from termination, and not to solicit the employer's existing customers within a specified county, first or second class municipality, or other specified area, also for not more than two years, if the employer continues to carry on a like business there.
That is the rule you will see quoted in older contracts. It is no longer the whole story for dentists.
SDCL 53-9-11.1 lists the professions that count as a practitioner, and dentists licensed in accordance with chapter 36-6A appear in that list. SDCL 53-9-11.2 then provides that, for a contract entered into on or after July 1, 2023, a provision restricting a practitioner from practicing or otherwise providing professional services after the conclusion of employment is voidable. The section carries exceptions, including for the sale of a practice and for reasonable restrictions on soliciting patients.
Read the two statutes together and the shape of a South Dakota dentist contract changes. A straight practice restriction signed after July 1, 2023 is exposed. A patient non-solicitation clause, and a covenant attached to the sale of a practice, are not treated the same way. That is why the drafting distinction between "you may not practice within X miles" and "you may not solicit our patients" is now the whole ballgame.
Two cautions. First, the statute uses the word voidable rather than void, and that distinction has consequences for how and when a practitioner has to act. Second, the July 1, 2023 date turns on when the contract was entered into, so an older agreement is a different analysis. Read both sections with a South Dakota employment attorney rather than assuming your contract is covered or not covered.
At the federal level, the FTC's non-compete rule is not in effect. The Commission announced on September 5, 2025 that it would dismiss its appeals and accede to the vacatur of the rule, so state law controls. See our national overview of non-compete agreements for dentists and the associate contract review checklist.
What we could not confirm
- The South Dakota dentist and hygienist license renewal deadline and cycle dates. The board publishes CE requirements but we did not find the renewal date pattern on the pages we read.
- Current fees for licensing a radiation producing device. The rule that set an annual fee was repealed in 2009 and the current rules do not state an amount.
- The exact training required before a person may expose dental radiographs in South Dakota. The board maintains a separate dental radiographer registrant category, but we did not confirm the prerequisites from the board's own pages.
- Whether SDCL 53-9-11.2 reaches an agreement signed before July 1, 2023 that is later renewed or amended.
- Sales and use tax treatment of dental equipment, including private party purchases. Confirm with the Department of Revenue and your CPA.
- South Dakota limits on non-dentist ownership of a dental practice. Confirm with a dental-specific attorney.
Where to verify
- South Dakota Board of Dentistry: board home and continuing education overview
- SD Department of Health: prepare for an x-ray facility inspection and the healthcare licensing system for radiation producing devices
- South Dakota Legislature: ARSD 44:03:01, radiation control, SDCL 53-9-11, SDCL 53-9-11.1 and SDCL 53-9-11.2
- US Environmental Protection Agency: dental effluent guidelines, 40 CFR Part 441
- Federal Trade Commission: September 2025 statement on the non-compete rule
- SD Department of Revenue: dor.sd.gov
Putting it to work
If you are negotiating a South Dakota associate contract signed after July 1, 2023, the question to bring to counsel is whether the restriction in front of you is a practice restriction (exposed under 53-9-11.2) or a patient non-solicitation clause (treated differently). If you are buying a practice, ask for the current radiation device license with the machine list, the last survey report, and the protective device evaluations, then walk the building against the Department of Health's own inspection checklist before closing rather than after.
Related reading: non-compete agreements for dentists, x-ray registration and inspections, the compliance chapter of the operations guide, and the rest of the state resources directory.
This guide is educational content and does not constitute legal, financial, tax, or clinical advice. Laws and regulations vary by state and change over time. Consult your own dental-specific attorney, CPA, and state dental board before acting.