NBDHE Practice Questions (2026) — Free Sample Questions with Answers

Answer: B

Pseudomembranous candidiasis: Pseudomembranous candidiasis forms white plaques that can be wiped off, leaving a red base.

Oral hairy leukoplakia: Correct. Hairy leukoplakia is an Epstein-Barr virus lesion of the lateral tongue that is corrugated and cannot be wiped off.

Geographic tongue: Geographic tongue shows red, depapillated patches with white borders that move over time, mainly on the dorsum.

Linea alba: Linea alba is a white line on the buccal mucosa along the occlusal plane, not on the lateral tongue.

Oral hairy leukoplakia: EBV-related, lateral tongue, corrugated, does not wipe off; a marker of immunosuppression such as HIV.

Answer: B

Place her supine with her legs raised: The supine position is used for syncope; an asthmatic patient breathes more easily sitting upright.

Stop treatment and give her own albuterol inhaler: Correct. Stop treatment, keep her upright and have her use her short-acting bronchodilator (albuterol); give oxygen and call EMS if she does not improve.

Give an intramuscular injection of epinephrine: Epinephrine is reserved for anaphylaxis or a severe attack that does not respond to the bronchodilator.

Give a nitroglycerin tablet under the tongue: Nitroglycerin treats angina; it has no role in bronchospasm.

Asthma attack: stop treatment, sit upright, short-acting beta-2 agonist (albuterol), oxygen; activate EMS if there is no response.

Answer: C

Once a month: Monthly testing is not frequent enough to meet CDC recommendations.

With every load processed: Every load is checked with mechanical and chemical indicators; spore tests are needed every load only for implantable devices.

At least once a week: Correct. The CDC recommends spore testing each sterilizer at least weekly, and also for loads with implants.

Once a year at servicing: Annual testing would leave long periods with no proof that the sterilizer works.

Sterilization monitoring: mechanical and chemical indicators with every load, biological indicators at least weekly.

Answer: B

Excessive vertical angulation: Too much vertical angulation causes foreshortening, which makes teeth look shorter.

Insufficient vertical angulation: Correct. Too little vertical angulation produces elongation, so the teeth look longer and apices may be cut off.

Incorrect horizontal angulation: Horizontal angulation errors cause overlapping of proximal contacts, not elongation.

Underexposure of the receptor: Underexposure makes the image too light; it does not change the length of the teeth.

Vertical angulation: too little gives elongation; too much gives foreshortening. Horizontal errors cause overlap.

Answer: C

8 mm: Adding the 2 mm is only correct when the margin is apical to the CEJ (recession), not coronal to it.

6 mm: Probing depth equals attachment loss only when the gingival margin is exactly at the CEJ.

4 mm: Correct. With the margin coronal to the CEJ, CAL = probing depth − distance from margin to CEJ = 6 − 2 = 4 mm.

2 mm: 2 mm is the margin-to-CEJ distance, not the attachment level.

CAL: margin at CEJ → CAL = PD; margin apical to CEJ (recession) → PD + recession; margin coronal to CEJ → PD − that distance.

Answer: B

Cross-sectional study: A cross-sectional study measures exposure and outcome at a single point in time, with no follow-up.

Prospective cohort study: Correct. Groups are defined by exposure and followed forward in time to measure new disease, which is a prospective cohort design.

Case-control study: A case-control study starts with people who already have the disease and looks back at past exposures.

Randomized controlled trial: In an RCT the investigators assign the exposure at random; here the children chose their own beverages.

Cohort: start with exposure, follow forward to outcome (incidence). Case-control: start with outcome, look back. RCT: investigator assigns the intervention.