Professional Conduct, Ethics, and Disciplinary Grounds
This domain tests the conduct standards the Board enforces and the reasoning that separates an ethical problem from a disciplinary one.
Grounds that support discipline
- Fraud or misrepresentation in obtaining or renewing a license, including false continuing education attestations.
- Practicing beyond scope, practicing without a valid license, or aiding another person in unlicensed practice.
- Negligence or incompetence in delivery of care, and abandonment of a patient mid-treatment.
- Practice while impaired by alcohol, drugs, or a physical or mental condition affecting competence.
- Unprofessional conduct: breach of patient confidentiality, abusive behavior, dishonesty in records, boundary violations, and misuse of social media.
- Failure to comply with continuing education, reporting, or Board order requirements.
Ethics in operation
- Veracity with patients and with the Board; patient autonomy, including informed refusal.
- Recognizing and disclosing conflicts of interest, such as production pressure tied to unnecessary services.
- Scope humility: the ethical answer and the legal answer are usually the same when a case exceeds your training.
Worked example. A hygienist posts a photo of a distinctive oral lesion on a social platform with the caption "look at this case from today." Reasoning: even without a name, the combination of image and clinical detail can identify a patient, and the disclosure occurred without authorization. This is a confidentiality breach and supports a finding of unprofessional conduct, regardless of intent.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming a single act cannot be both negligent and unprofessional; grounds overlap.
- Believing a personal apology resolves a Board matter; the complaint process is independent.
- Overlooking the duty to report certain conduct, including abuse and impairment that endangers patients.