The aim of this prospective longitudinal study was to develop an extension course based on distance learning and evaluate its potential in developing necessary skills for Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) implementation. The course teaches philosophy and technique using different resources such as computer graphics in three dimensions, clinical films, photographs and radiographs, and interviews with experts. The course takes approximately 40 minutes and is presented in DVD format providing high availability and low interactivity. The study sample consisted of 68 dentists and was assigned into 2 groups: Diadema Group-44 professionals from public health system in Diadema / SP (dropout 38.9%) and USP Group-24 professionals from 7 different cities close to São Paulo involved in a scientific partnership between municipalities and discipline of Pediatric Dentistry from FOUSP (7.7% dropout). Initially the dentists answered a questionnaire focused in baseline knowledge, credibility and interest in receive training in ART. Subsequently, participants underwent an assessment process that consisted of sectorized evaluation (sectors 1, 2 and 3) at two different times: before and after the extension course (baseline and final assessment). The correction of the tests was performed by two researchers (inter-examiner agreement ICC = 0.970, 95% CI = 0.916 to 0.989 and intraexaminer agreement ICC = 0.991, 95% CI = 0.975 to 0.996). The two groups had similar initial knowledge (Student´s t test p> 0.05) and showed knowledge increase, after extension course, for each of three sectors and in the sum (Student's paired t test ˂ p 0.05). In the multiple linear regression model, considering the grades from initial evaluation, it was observed association for professional over 46 year olds (ᵝ =-0.807, p ˂ 0.01), for participants that had in mind that ART was a definitive treatment (ᵝ = 0.581, p ˂ 0.01) and for dentists with reduced clinical experience in ART (ᵝ =-0.592, p ˂ 0.05). When considering the dentists´ performance in the final evaluation, there was an association for professionals in the Diadema group (ᵝ =-0.652, p ˂ 0.01), for women (ᵝ = 0.700, p ˂ 0.05), for professionals over 46 years old (ᵝ =-0.788, p ˂ 0.05) and for participants who pointed out ART as a definitive restorative treatment (ᵝ = 0.515, p ˂ 0.05). It was concluded that distance education has the potential to promote the skills to perform correctly evidence based dental techniques, such as ART. Besides that, young adult, female, with appropriate basis knowledge and interest in professional development improve the students´ performances on distance education.