The Expired License and the Office Manager’s “Grace Period”
A dental hygienist licensed in Maine moved from Presque Isle to Portland last fall and did not receive her renewal notice. She believed her employer’s office manager handled the renewal. Her license expired on March 31. She continued working four days a week, seeing about 12 patients a day, until a payroll audit in mid-June flagged the expiration-11 weeks later. She has completed 8 hours of continuing education since the last renewal, including 1 hour of infection control, and has certificates for all 8 hours. Her employer says, “Just send in the fee; there’s usually a grace period.” The hygienist wants to know whether she can keep seeing patients while the Board processes her paperwork and what she must do to fix the lapse.
1. What are the consequences of having practiced after the license expired?
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Maine does not give a licensee a period of lawful practice after the expiration date merely because a renewal notice was missed or an office manager dropped the ball. Practicing after expiration is unlicensed practice, and each patient encounter during the lapse can be treated as a separate violation. The Board may impose discipline, including a reprimand, fine, probation, suspension, or conditions on reinstatement. The employer also faces exposure: services billed to insurers during the lapse may be recouped, and the practice may be reported for aiding unlicensed practice.
The hygienist should not minimize the period because the office manager said there was a grace period. Reliance on a non-lawyer’s assurance is not a defense. Her own license is her responsibility; the Board expects licensees to know their status and renewal dates. She should stop seeing patients immediately, notify the employer in writing, and preserve her CE certificates and any correspondence about the missed notice. Candor with the Board is usually better than waiting for the audit to become a complaint.
2. What must she do before returning to patient care?
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She must stop practicing now and verify her license status directly with the Maine Board of Dental Practice. She should apply for renewal or reinstatement using the Board’s current process, pay the late fee and any penalty the Board assesses, and provide the documentation requested. She should not assume that submitting a fee restores her right to practice; she may practice only after the Board shows her license as active.
The lapse may also trigger additional requirements. The Board can require evidence of continuing education for the missed cycle, a jurisprudence or competency examination, or an appearance before the Board, depending on how long the license has been expired and the circumstances. She should ask the Board in writing what applies to her case. While the application is pending, she can perform non-clinical duties that do not require a license, such as administrative work, but she cannot provide hygiene services, take radiographs, or represent herself as a licensed hygienist. She should keep a copy of every submission and confirm the active date in writing.
3. How should she address the continuing education requirement and documentation?
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Eight hours is likely not enough to satisfy a full biennial cycle. Maine’s CE rule sets a required number of board-approved hours for dental hygienists and includes specific infection-control hours; a licensee cannot cure a lapsed renewal by submitting whatever hours happen to be on hand if the total falls short. She should obtain the Board’s current CE rule, calculate the hours required for the renewal cycle she missed, and complete the difference before representing that she is compliant. The 1 hour of infection control may or may not satisfy the rule’s infection-control component, so she should check the current requirement rather than guess.
Documentation should be organized by course title, sponsor, date, hours, and topic, with certificates retained for the period the Board requires in case of audit. She should not create backdated certificates or claim hours she did not complete. If a course was not Board-approved, she should confirm whether it counts. The goal is not merely to pay a fee but to demonstrate that she met the substantive requirements for renewal and can safely return to practice.