How to transfer your Dental hygienist licence to West Virginia (2026)

Dental hygienist work in West Virginia is licensed at state level, by the West Virginia Board of Dentistry. This page says what a dental hygienist licensed or working in another state has to do to work in West Virginia, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

Every state licenses dental hygienists and most offer licensure by credentials to a hygienist licensed elsewhere for a set number of years, typically two to five, with the national board exam passed and no discipline. States that do not offer licensure by credentials require a regional clinical exam they accept; West Virginia's board publishes which ones.

Exam: National Board Dental Hygiene Examination plus a clinical exam the state accepts.

How long: four to twelve weeks. Fee: $100 to $400; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• National board scores
• Proof of years in practice
• CPR card and continuing education record
• A jurisprudence exam result if ${STATE} requires one

Start the paperwork before you give notice. Every week the licence is not done is a week you are not paid, and nothing in the process needs you to be in West Virginia already.

What people get wrong

• Assuming your clinical exam is accepted; it depends on the region and the year you took it
• Not having enough licensed years for the credentials route and discovering it after the move

Who hires dental hygienists in West Virginia

Dental hygienists in West Virginia are hired by private dental practices, dental service organisations, public health clinics and schools. The metros with the most of that work are Charleston, Huntington and Morgantown. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the West Virginia openings page.

For the money side: the median dental hygienist in West Virginia earned $72,670 a year ($35 an hour) in May 2024 across 1,220 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and West Virginia has a progressive state income tax with a top rate of 4.82%. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

West Virginia also has a program that pay people to move in: Ascend West Virginia ($12,000 over two years plus outdoor perks, for remote workers who move to one of the participating communities (Morgantown, Lewisburg, Shepherdstown and others)). Each has a residence condition and a funding round.

Everything about West Virginia, on one page

The West Virginia page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of West Virginia employers hiring from out of state.