The American Board of Anesthesiology (A.B.A.) is organized to certify M.D. anesthesiologists, (and recently, selected D.O.'s). The American Osteopathic Board of Anesthesiology (A.O.B.A.) is organized to certify D.O. anesthesiologists exclusively. Neither of these national boards however, is permitted by their by-laws to examine or certify anesthesiologists with the D.D.S. or D.M.D. as their Doctoral degree. This has been a political rather than professional issue and therefore one will not find either a D.D.S. or D.M.D. anesthesiologist as a Diplomate of either of these two boards.

The National Board of Anesthesiology (N.B.A.) was formed to examine the fully trained anesthesiologist who has completed an ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) accredited program and products, and is working as a Anesthesiologist in a hospital setting. With the exception of the doctoral degree necessary to qualify for examination with the A.B.A. or A.O.B.A. board examinations, the N.B.A. criteria for examination, and protocol of examination meets or exceeds the standards of both the A.B.A. and A.O.B.A.

The D.D.S., D.M.D., M.D. and D.O. degrees are accepted by Governmental accrediting organizations.

The N.B.A. exists only to examine those anesthesiologists who do not meet the requirements to be examined or certified by any other existing certification boards.