IA Dental Juris cheat sheet

The Dental Practice Act is state legislation; it creates the dental board and delegates rulemaking authority to it.

Scope of practice is defined by statute and board rule, not by the dentist's individual training or comfort level.

Acts reserved to licensed dentists include diagnosis, treatment planning, and performing irreversible procedures.

Delegable tasks require direct or general supervision as specified in statute or board rule for that specific task.

Direct supervision means the dentist is physically present in the office and evaluates the patient before and after the delegated procedure.

General supervision means the dentist authorized the procedure but need not be present on site during its performance.

A dental hygienist's independent or collaborative practice authority, where it exists, is set by statute and typically limited to preventive services.

Practicing outside the licensed scope is both a statutory violation and grounds for discipline, even if the patient consented.

Corporate practice doctrines restrict non-dentist ownership of dental practices in many jurisdictions; fee-splitting rules often accompany them.

Licensure is granted by the state board after meeting education, examination (e.g., clinical and written/NBDE-type), and jurisprudence requirements.

Licensure by credentials or reciprocity typically requires an active license in good standing and a defined period of clinical practice.

Renewal cycles are usually biennial; late renewal commonly triggers a fee plus possible lapsed-practice or reentry requirements.

Continuing education hours per cycle are set by statute or rule, often with mandated topic minimums such as infection control or opioid prescribing.

Inactive or retired status generally bars practice; reactivation usually requires CE and sometimes a clinical competency assessment.

Licensee must report address changes and legal name changes to the board within a stated period.

Practice before a license is issued, or after expiration, constitutes unlicensed practice regardless of pending renewal.

Temporary or limited licenses (e.g., student, residency, volunteer) carry restricted scope and expiration dates tied to the program.

Disciplinary history and pending investigations must be disclosed on renewal applications; omission is itself a separate violation.

Statutory grounds commonly include fraud in obtaining a license, incompetence, negligence, and violation of board orders.

Conviction of a felony or of a crime involving moral turpitude is typically an enumerated ground, sometimes regardless of relevance to dentistry.

Sanction ladder generally runs from reprimand and censure to probation, suspension, and revocation.

Summary or emergency suspension can occur without a prior hearing when there is an imminent risk to public health and safety.

Probation commonly imposes monitoring, chart audits, practice restrictions, and required remedial education.

Revocation terminates the license; reinstatement is discretionary and usually requires a waiting period plus a formal petition.

Practicing while suspended or revoked is unlicensed practice and may carry criminal penalties in addition to board action.

Failure to report another licensee's serious violation may itself be a disciplinary ground where a mandatory reporting statute exists.

Discipline may be based on conduct outside the dental office if it bears on fitness to practice, such as impairment or fraud.

Standard of care is the degree of skill and care that a reasonably prudent dentist in the same or similar community would exercise.

Negligence requires a duty, a breach of that duty, causation, and resulting damages; the board may act on breach alone.

Abandonment occurs when a dentist unilaterally terminates care without notice, an opportunity to transfer, or access to records.

Impairment by alcohol, drugs, or a physical or mental condition that affects practice is a classic unprofessional conduct ground.

Boundary violations, including sexual contact with a patient, are unprofessional conduct regardless of apparent consent.

Misrepresentation of credentials, specialties, or treatment outcomes is a deceptive-practice ground.

Falsifying or altering a patient record, including backdating entries, is itself a separate disciplinary violation.

Delegating a procedure to an unlicensed or unqualified person, or failing to supervise adequately, breaches the standard of care.

Advertising that is false or misleading, or that guarantees results, falls within prohibited unprofessional conduct.

Standard precautions apply to all patients regardless of presumed infectious status; the diagnosis cannot be used to decide whether to use barriers.

Hand hygiene precedes and follows glove use; gloves are not a substitute for handwashing and are not disinfected and reused.

Critical items (e.g., surgical instruments, scalers) penetrate tissue and must be sterilized, commonly by steam autoclave with biological monitoring.

Semicritical items contact mucous membranes and require at minimum high-level disinfection or sterilization.

Noncritical surfaces contact intact skin and require low-level disinfection with an EPA-registered hospital disinfectant.

Sterilization monitoring typically includes mechanical (time/temperature/pressure), chemical indicators, and spore-based biological monitoring at a defined frequency.

Sharps must be placed in puncture-resistant, closable containers at the point of use; recapping by a two-handed technique is prohibited.

Needlestick or bloodborne exposure requires immediate wash, reporting, and post-exposure evaluation and prophylaxis per public health guidance.

Waterlines for dental units require routine flushing and shock treatment per manufacturer and CDC-type recommendations to control biofilm.

The patient record is generally owned by the practice, but the patient has a statutory right of access to a copy.

Records must be contemporaneous, legible, dated, authenticated, and sufficiently detailed to permit continuity of care.

Required content typically includes medical history, diagnoses, treatment rendered, anesthesia used, prescriptions, and informed consent documentation.

Corrections must be made by dated addendum; erasing or obliterating original entries is prohibited.

Retention periods are set by statute or rule and vary by patient age and jurisdiction; minors' records often run past majority.

Disclosure of protected health information requires patient authorization except for treatment, payment, operations, or legally mandated reporting.

Informed consent requires disclosure of diagnosis, nature of the proposed treatment, material risks, alternatives including no treatment, and likely consequences.

Consent must be voluntary and obtained from a competent patient; for minors, from a parent or legal guardian.

Breach notification obligations arise when unsecured protected health information is impermissibly disclosed, with timing set by law.

A DEA registration is required to prescribe controlled substances, and it is separate from the state dental license.

Controlled substances are classified in Schedules II through V; Schedule II drugs have the highest abuse potential and the tightest controls.

Prescriptions for controlled substances must include the prescriber's DEA number, patient identification, drug, strength, quantity, and directions.

Schedule II prescriptions generally cannot be refilled; Schedule III and IV limits on refills and validity periods are set by federal and state law.

Prescription Drug Monitoring Program queries are commonly mandated before prescribing opioids beyond a threshold or duration.

Prescribing to oneself, family, or staff outside a documented dentist-patient relationship is generally prohibited.

A valid dentist-patient relationship and documented dental diagnosis are prerequisites for any prescription.

Prescription pads and electronic prescribing credentials must be secured against theft and unauthorized use.

Disposal of controlled substances and record retention for dispensing logs follow DEA and state requirements.

Board process typically begins with a complaint, followed by investigation, screening, and either dismissal or formal charges.

Due process requires notice of the charges and an opportunity to be heard before sanctions are imposed, except in emergency actions.

Licensees generally have a right to counsel, to present evidence, and to cross-examine witnesses at an administrative hearing.

The burden of proof in an administrative disciplinary proceeding is typically a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt.

Hearings are usually conducted before an administrative law judge or hearing officer who issues proposed findings to the board.

The board's final order must contain findings of fact and conclusions of law to permit meaningful appellate review.

Appeals generally go to a state trial court on the administrative record, with deference to the board's factual findings.

The standard of review on appeal is commonly substantial evidence for facts and de novo for pure questions of law.

Exhaustion of administrative remedies is normally required before seeking judicial review.