We investigated the current status of institutional review boards (IRBs) that oversee research in dental hospitals. Eight hospitals, all of which had IRB, responded to our e-mail. The questions comprised two topics: IRBs and the clinical trials approved by them. The results showed that the average number of staff on IRBs of the 8 hospitals was 12.5. Furthermore, the proportion of dentists was the highest among the science committee members, with an average of 7.75, and the average number of non-dentists among the non-scientific members was 1.8. Regular IRBs convened meetings more than once a month, over the past year, or only if necessary.According to the approval status of clinical trials from 2016 to 2019, less than 50 studies accounted for 75%. The materials related to dental-implant procedures accounted for the highest quantity of materials used during clinical trials at 33.3%. The duration of 50% of the clinical trials ranged from more than 1 year to less than 2 years.Thus, based on the hypothesis that institutional reviews are currently conducted at dental hospitals and have raised issues and suggested improvements, we believe that IRBs will play an important role in dental hospitals, with more research conducted in dentistry in the future.