Th e American Board of Periodontology was organized in 1939 by the Ameri can Academy of Periodontology. It was incorporated in 1940 and held its first meeting for the certification of can didates in February 1941. In the nine meetings held for this pur pose, 117 periodontists have been certi fied. At first the candidates were almost all well known members of the American Academy of Periodontology whose quali fications were personally known to mem bers of the Board. For these, no formal examination was required. Later on, when younger, less prominent dentists applied for certification, it became nec essary to examine case reports and con duct written and oral examinations in order to ascertain their educational and practical qualifications. When the majority of well recognized periodontists had been certified' accord ing to the waiver provision for periodon tists of ten years’ experience, so that a respectable roster was possible, it became possible to raise the educational standard for qualification for all candidates to ac cord more nearly with the ideals of the Board and the Academy. This raising of standards has, of course, been accelerated by the efforts of the Council on Dental Education which set up a requirement of two years of super vised postgraduate education and train ing in addition to three years of practice devoted principally to the specialty. Each dental specialty certifying board must