Rules and Regulations of the Board
What Board rules do
The Board adopts rules in OAC Title 195 under the Administrative Procedures Act. They govern application forms, examination eligibility, CE reporting, infection control, patient records, advertising, sedation and anesthesia permits, and disciplinary procedure. A rule has the force of law; violating it can support discipline even when patient care was clinically acceptable. But the rule must fit within the Dental Practice Act-if the Board tried to require a license for a task the statute leaves unregulated, the rule would be vulnerable.
Commonly tested rule areas
Infection control: the office must follow current CDC recommendations and OSHA bloodborne-pathogen requirements, including written exposure control, sterilization monitoring, and safe sharps handling. Records: entries must be accurate, timely, and retained as the rule requires; altering a record after a complaint is itself a violation. Advertising: no false or misleading claims; specialty claims must match Board-recognized specialty status. Sedation: nitrous oxide and sedation or anesthesia require the specific permit and monitoring personnel-hospital privileges are not a substitute.
Worked example
A dentist holds an ACLS card from a hospital and begins moderate sedation without an Oklahoma sedation permit. The ACLS card shows training but does not satisfy the permit rule. The violation is the unpermitted sedation, not the quality of the airway management. The Board can discipline for practicing beyond the permit, and the office may also face infection-control or monitoring citations.
Traps
Candidates lose marks by treating rules as best practices rather than enforceable minimums, by citing an old rule number after the OAC has been amended, and by assuming a federal standard preempts a stricter Board rule. Read the current OAC and the Board's renewal notices; the rule, not a summary, controls.