Grounds for disciplinary action, unprofessional conduct, and impairment
This domain tests the Board’s disciplinary reach: what conduct supports action, how impairment is handled, and what does not need to be proved.
Statutory grounds
KRS 313.130 lists grounds including fraud or deceit in obtaining a license, gross ignorance or inefficiency, unprofessional conduct, habitual intemperance, addiction, conviction of a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, violating a Board order, aiding unlicensed practice, and failing to cooperate with an investigation. The list is not exhaustive in practice because “unprofessional conduct” is broad.
Unprofessional conduct
It can include false advertising, fee splitting, practicing beyond scope, abandoning patients, failing to maintain records, infection-control violations, prescribing outside the scope of dentistry, and disruptive behavior in a professional setting. Patient harm is not an element; risk of harm or violation of a rule can be enough.
Impairment
Impairment may arise from substance use, mental illness, or physical condition that affects judgment or performance. The Board may require an evaluation, restrict practice, monitor compliance, or refer the licensee to a Board-approved recovery program. Impairment is a health issue, but it is also a licensure issue: confidentiality of treatment does not bar the Board from acting when patients are at risk.
Worked example
A dentist is arrested for DUI but has no criminal conviction and no patient complaint. Reasoning: the Board may still investigate. A DUI suggests possible impairment and falls within unprofessional conduct; a conviction is not required. The Board can order an evaluation and impose conditions while the criminal case proceeds.
Traps that cost marks
- Thinking discipline requires a malpractice suit or patient injury.
- Assuming out-of-state discipline is irrelevant; it can be independently actionable in Kentucky.
- Treating “burnout” as automatically equivalent to impairment; the test is functional effect on practice.
- Forgetting that failure to cooperate with the Board is itself a ground.