Dental Practice Act and Scope of Practice
Domain 2: Dental Practice Act and Scope of Practice
This domain tests the statutory boundary between dentistry, dental hygiene, and dental assisting, and the supervision levels that make a task lawful. The Dental Health Care Act defines dentistry broadly: diagnosis, treatment planning, surgery, prescribing, and treating conditions of the teeth, oral cavity, jaws, and associated structures. Hygienists and assistants may perform only the services and functions authorized by statute and Board rule, under the required supervision.
Core rules
- The dentist holds ultimate responsibility for diagnosis, treatment planning, and delegation. A task is not within scope merely because a licensee has been trained to do it.
- Supervision categories matter. Direct supervision generally means the dentist is physically present and available; general supervision means the dentist has authorized the service but is not necessarily on site, as defined by rule. Do not import another state’s labels.
- Expanded functions require Board-approved training and may be limited by setting. Public-health exceptions for hygienists or assistants are narrow and rule-specific.
- Prescribing, final impressions, and irreversible procedures are generally dentist-level unless a rule expressly assigns them.
Worked example
A hygienist is asked to adjust a patient’s new partial denture because the dentist is off-site. The adjustment requires evaluating fit against oral tissues and altering a prosthesis-both diagnosis and treatment, and a dentist-level procedure under the Act. The hygienist should decline and document the request; the dentist must perform or directly supervise the adjustment.
Traps
Treating “general supervision” as “no supervision”; assuming a new technology is automatically in scope; letting an assistant perform a final impression without checking the rule; and relying on another state’s scope when practicing in New Mexico.