What is a Kois Trained Dentist? A Straight Answer

A Kois trained dentist is a dentist who has completed advanced continuing education at the Kois Center in Seattle, a research-based teaching program covering diagnosis, treatment planning, occlusion, biomechanics, periodontics, and implants. The phrase covers several distinct levels, from attending a single course to earning Graduate, Mentor, or Clinical Instructor status. It is advanced training rather than a recognized dental specialty.

That last sentence is the part almost nobody explains, and it is the reason this page exists.

If you have seen “Kois trained” on a dental website and wondered whether it means something specific or whether it is a badge anyone can print, you are asking the right question. Here is the honest version.

What does “Kois trained” actually mean?

It means the dentist has studied at the Kois Center, a post-graduate teaching center in Seattle founded by Dr. John C. Kois.

The Center is not a weekend seminar circuit. Its Primary Curriculum runs across five multi-day courses that cover treatment planning and digital implementation, functional occlusion, the restorative and periodontal interface, biomechanics, and implant restoration. Course numbers even encode the length, so a course numbered 105 runs five days. Most dentists work through the sequence over several years while running a practice full time.

Two things make the Center unusual among continuing education programs. It is self-funded and accepts no sponsorship money, so no material manufacturer influences what gets taught. And it conducts and publishes its own independent research, then updates the coursework as that research changes (Kois Center).

Think of it the way pilots think about type ratings. Every commercial pilot holds a license. A type rating on one specific aircraft is a different thing, and a pilot rated across an entire fleet is different again. Every dentist finished dental school. What they did in the twenty years after is where the differences live.

Is there a difference between a Kois graduate and a Kois mentor?

Yes, and the gap between the tiers is wide enough that it should change how you read the phrase.

“Kois trained” is not a protected term. A dentist who attended one course can use it accurately. So can a dentist who finished the entire curriculum, passed an exam, and now teaches other dentists. Both statements are true. They describe very different things.

The Kois Center publishes its actual membership ladder (Kois Center membership requirements):

Pay attention to the Mentor row. A Mentor has to keep showing up. The requirement to mentor a course two out of every four years means the credential expires if the dentist stops participating. A certificate earned once in 2004 and never revisited does not carry the same weight, and the Center’s own structure says so.

How can I check whether a dentist is really Kois trained?

You can verify it yourself in about a minute. The Kois Center maintains a public directory of its alumni that anyone can search by name or location, and it lists the tier each dentist holds.

Search the dentist’s last name, confirm the practice location matches, and read the designation next to the name.

You can also just ask. A reasonable question at a first visit sounds like this: “I saw you are Kois trained. Which level did you complete, and when were you last at the Center?” Any dentist who has done the work will answer it in one sentence and probably enjoy the question. A practice that gets cagey has told you something useful.

We would rather you check than take our word for it. Marketing claims in dentistry are cheap. Verifiable ones are not.

Is Kois training a dental specialty?

No. Kois training is advanced continuing education, and it is not one of the specialties formally recognized by the American Dental Association.

This matters because some practices blur the line. Recognized ADA specialties include areas like orthodontics, periodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics, and oral surgery, each requiring a formal residency after dental school. Kois training sits in a different category, which the Center explains plainly on its own site.

So what is it worth? The Kois Center is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider and an Approved PACE Program Provider through the Academy of General Dentistry. Those are meaningful quality designations for continuing education. They are simply a different thing from specialty credentials, and a practice that describes Kois training as a specialty is overstating its own qualification.

What actually changes in your appointment?

The biggest practical difference is that the exam is a risk assessment rather than a tooth-by-tooth inspection.

Kois training organizes a patient’s mouth into four risk categories: periodontal (gums and supporting bone), biomechanical (structural strength of the teeth, including decay, cracks, and wear), functional (bite, jaw joint, clenching and grinding), and dentofacial (how the teeth relate to the face and smile). Each one gets rated independently.

That changes what happens in the chair. Expect a longer first appointment. Expect photographs, a digital scan, bite records, and a conversation about your medical history and sleep before anyone proposes treatment. At Forest Hills Dental, that workup runs through the diagnostic tools we keep in-house, including 3D cone beam imaging, digital impressions, and laser cavity detection.

Here is what it looks like in practice. Two patients arrive with the same cracked lower molar. The first is 34, has no wear on her front teeth, sleeps well, and cracked the tooth on a popcorn kernel. She gets a crown, and that is the end of it. The second is 58, has flattened front teeth, a partner who says he grinds at night, and two other molars with hairline fractures. Treating only the cracked tooth would put a new crown into a bite that already broke three teeth. The crack is a symptom. The risk assessment is what tells you which patient you are looking at.

That framing also shapes how the practice approaches the connection between your dental health and the rest of your body, including coordination with your physician when something systemic is driving what we see in your mouth.

Does seeing a Kois trained dentist mean a bigger treatment plan?

Not necessarily, and it is worth separating two things that get confused.

A thorough exam finds more. That is the point of it. But finding something is not the same as recommending you treat it today. A good comprehensive workup should produce a list that sorts into three piles: what needs attention now, what is elective and can happen when you choose, and what we are simply going to watch and photograph so we can compare it next year.

I have seen patients arrive holding a five-figure plan from another office, genuinely frightened, when a fair portion of it was elective work presented alongside urgent work with no distinction between the two. The problem there was not thoroughness. It was that nobody sorted the list.

So when any dentist hands you a plan, ask these three questions:

• What happens if I wait six months on this specific item?
• Which of these are urgent, which are elective, and which are you monitoring?
• What is driving this problem, and will treating the tooth fix the cause?

A dentist trained in comprehensive diagnosis should have crisp answers to all three. If the answers are vague, that tells you more than the credential does.

Not sure whether the plan you were given is right for you?

A new patient evaluation is a reasonable place to get a second read before you commit to anything.

See what a first visit includes

You are welcome to bring x-rays or a treatment plan from another office.

When does this level of training matter most?

It matters most when your case is complex, when previous dental work has failed, or when nobody has been able to tell you why a problem keeps coming back.

Situations where comprehensive training earns its keep:

• Front teeth that are getting shorter, chipping at the edges, or wearing flat
• A second or third crown failing on the same tooth
• A bite that never felt right after dental work and still does not
• Multiple missing teeth where implants need to be planned alongside the teeth you still have
• Chronic jaw, temple, or morning headache patterns tied to clenching
• Rebuilding a full mouth where the sequence of treatment determines whether the result lasts

It matters less for a routine cleaning with no findings. If your teeth are healthy, your gums are stable, and nothing hurts, a good hygienist and a careful exam serve you well regardless of where your dentist took continuing education. Advanced training is worth seeking out when the stakes and the complexity rise.

Where can you find a Kois trained dentist in Queens?

Forest Hills Dental in Forest Hills, Queens is led by Dr. Gregory Mark, DDS, who has served as a mentor for the Kois Center and works internationally as a mentor for Kois and other dental teaching organizations.

Dr. Mark has been practicing since 1988. After graduating from Tashkent Medical University, he completed three additional years at NYU College of Dentistry, graduating with honors in 1995, and has served the Forest Hills community since that year. The path he took to get there is worth reading if credentials matter to you.

Beyond Kois, he was among the first mentors for CEREC, training other dentists on CAD/CAM dentistry as it entered practices. The office still uses that technology daily, including milling a ceramic crown in a single visit. He has also served on the faculty of Blue Sky Bio Academy.

The practice is at 102-10 66th Road, Suite 1D, Forest Hills, Queens, NY 11375, and the team includes staff fluent in Spanish and Russian.

TL;DR

• A Kois trained dentist has completed advanced continuing education at the Kois Center in Seattle, covering diagnosis, occlusion, biomechanics, periodontics, and implants.
• The phrase covers several tiers. Participant, Graduate, Graduate with Honors, Mentor, and Clinical Instructor are all different, and all can be described as “Kois trained.”
• Mentor status has to be maintained. Mentors are required to mentor a course two out of every four years, so the credential reflects ongoing involvement.
• You can verify it yourself through the Kois Center’s public alumni directory, which lists each dentist’s tier.
• It is not an ADA-recognized specialty. It is advanced continuing education from an ADA CERP Recognized Provider, which is a different and still meaningful thing.
• What changes clinically is that your mouth gets assessed across periodontal, biomechanical, functional, and dentofacial risk rather than tooth by tooth.
• It matters most for worn teeth, repeat restoration failures, bite problems, implant planning, and full mouth rebuilds.

Want to know what a comprehensive evaluation would actually find in your case?

The next step is a conversation about what is going on in your mouth and why, before anyone talks about treatment.

Book a comprehensive evaluation

We will walk you through what we find and what can wait.

Frequently asked questions

What does it mean if my dentist is Kois trained?

It means your dentist has completed continuing education at the Kois Center in Seattle, a research-based post-graduate program focused on comprehensive diagnosis, occlusion, biomechanics, periodontics, and implant dentistry. The term covers several levels of completion, from attending a single course through Graduate, Mentor, and Clinical Instructor status.

Is a Kois trained dentist better than a regular dentist?

Kois training indicates a dentist has pursued advanced education beyond dental school, particularly in diagnosis and treatment planning for complex cases. It is a useful signal rather than a guarantee. The training matters most for complex restorative work, bite problems, and cases where previous dental work has failed, and matters less for routine preventive care.

How long does Kois training take to complete?

The Primary Curriculum consists of five multi-day courses, with individual courses running three to six days each. Most dentists complete the full sequence over several years while continuing to practice. Graduates who pursue Mentor status must additionally attend an Annual Symposium in person and pass a Mentor Exam.

Is the Kois Center accredited?

The Kois Center is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider and is designated an Approved PACE Program Provider by the Academy of General Dentistry under Provider ID 308173. These are recognized quality designations for continuing dental education providers. They are separate from ADA specialty recognition, which Kois training does not confer.

Can I look up whether my dentist is a Kois graduate?

Yes. The Kois Center publishes a public alumni directory that anyone can search by dentist name or location, and it lists the membership tier each dentist holds. You can also ask the practice directly which level was completed and when the dentist last attended the Center.

Is Dr. Gregory Mark a Kois trained dentist?

Yes. Dr. Gregory Mark, DDS of Forest Hills Dental in Forest Hills, Queens has served as a mentor for the Kois Center and works internationally as a mentor for Kois and other dental teaching organizations. He has practiced since 1988 and has served the Forest Hills community since 1995.