Kentucky Dental Practice Act: Statutory Structure, Definitions, and Board Authority
This section covers the statutory architecture of Kentucky dental hygiene practice and the Board's authority; the exam tests whether you can separate statute, regulation, and guidance and apply definitions to scope problems.
Statute and regulations
KRS Chapter 313 is the Dental Practice Act. The Board of Dentistry's regulations are in 201 KAR Chapter 8. The statute creates the Board, defines practice, and sets licensure and discipline authority; regulations fill in operational detail. If a regulation conflicts with the statute, the statute controls.
Definitions that decide cases
KRS 313.010 defines the 'practice of dentistry' broadly (diagnosis, treatment, surgery, prescription, appliances) and 'practice of dental hygiene' as preventive and therapeutic services performed under the supervision of a dentist. Supervision levels, unlicensed practice, and scope complaints are argued from these definitions, not from office job descriptions.
Board authority and composition
The Board is a seven-member governor-appointed body: five dentists, one dental hygienist, and one consumer. It examines and licenses applicants, renews licenses, adopts regulations, audits CE, investigates complaints, and imposes discipline. It acts in a quasi-judicial role, so its orders must follow due process and statutory grounds.
Worked example
A hygienist in a private office performs scaling and root planing after the dentist has left for the day. The issue is not clinical technique; it is whether the service was authorized and supervised as KRS 313.010 and Board rules require. The office's written 'standing order' does not enlarge the statutory scope.
Traps
Do not cite OSHA or HIPAA as the source of hygienist licensure; they are separate. Do not treat the Board as a court or assume it can rewrite the statute. Do not assume the consumer member is a nonvoting observer.