Chapter 456, Florida Statutes - Health Professions and Occupations: General Provisions
Chapter 456 supplies the general legal framework for Florida health professions; Chapter 466 and Rule 64B5 supply dentistry-specific rules. Chapter 456 addresses licensure and renewal, inactive or retired status, continuing education, disciplinary grounds and penalties, unlicensed practice, impairment, patient records, confidentiality, and the Department/Board relationship. It also establishes that practice beyond one's scope, gross or repeated malpractice, failure to meet the standard of care, fraud, false advertising, record-keeping failures, and aiding unlicensed practice are disciplinary matters. A key structural point: the Board of Dentistry imposes discipline, while the Department handles investigations and prosecutions; questions often test who does what. Traps: assuming a dentistry-specific rule displaces general law; forgetting that a licensee can be disciplined for conduct outside the treatment room, such as billing fraud, impairment, or failure to report; and confusing criminal penalties with administrative discipline-both may apply. Worked example: A dentist employs an unlicensed person to perform a clinical task. The dentist cannot defend by saying the employee was trained; Chapter 456 and Chapter 466 both make aiding unlicensed practice a basis for discipline, and the employee may face unlicensed-practice penalties. Rule of thumb: read Chapter 456 as the "general chassis" and Chapter 466/64B5 as the "dentistry body"; use the specific rule first, then check the general statute for discipline, records, and licensing mechanics.