In California, all healthcare practitioners, including dentists, who are authorized to prescribe Schedule II through IV controlled substances, are required to register to use the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System, CURES 2.0 (Dental Board of California, n.d.a), California’s prescription When exercising its licensing, regulatory, and disciplinary functions, the Board holds as its highest priority the protection of the public. To achieve this goal, the Board investigates complaints against licensees and disciplines and monitors those licensees found to be in violation of the Dental Practice Act. Any licensee may have his or her license revoked or suspended, or may be reprimanded or placed on probation by the Board for unprofessional conduct, incompetence, gross negligence, or repeated acts of negligence in his or her profession (California Dental Practice Act, 2009a). The Board may also revoke or suspend a license, or reprimand or place a licensee on probation, for violations of the Dental Practice Act and for conviction of a crime substantially related to that licensee’s qualifications, functions, or duties. The Board has the power to impose certain terms and conditions on a licensee’s probationary status, including obtaining additional training or passing an examination, submitting to diagnostic examination, limiting a licensee’s scope or type of practice, and requiring restitution of fees or completion of community service (California Dental Practice Act, 2009a). The term unprofessional conduct includes a long list of actions punishable by fines and/or imprisonment, such as fraud; misrepresentation; aiding or abetting the unlicensed or unlawful practice of dentistry; practicing outside the scope of practice; sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, or sexual relations with a patient (unless the licensee is married to, or in a recognized domestic relationship with, the patient [B&P 726]); fee kickbacks; false or misleading advertising (which includes guaranteeing a result or painless treatment [B&P 1680h,l]); employing or making use of solicitors (B&P 1680j); altering patient records with intent to deceive; violations of laws regulating the procurement, dispensing, or administration of dangerous drugs or controlled substances and prescribing excessive medications (typically the failure to document the pathology and purpose of a prescription of a Schedule II or Schedule III medication); and any violation of the Dental Practice Act (B&P 1680n). For a full list of the acts and omissions that constitute unprofessional conduct, see Sections 726, 1680, 1681, 1682, and 1700 through 1706 of the Dental Practice Act. As a result of amendments adopted by the California Legislature in 2012, unprofessional conduct is further defined in the CCR under Section 1018.05 and the Board is given power to require a prospective licensee to submit to a mental or physical examination under Section 1020. Concerning sexual misconduct, if a dentist or licensed staff person is convicted of such a crime, California Code of Regulations Section 1018 indicates that the Board may refuse to renew the individual’s license. California Code of Regulations section 1005 sets forth the minimum standards for infection control in the dental office. Failure to abide by these well-recognized standards is a violation of the Dental Practice Act and subjects the owner of the practice to sanctions. Therefore, failure to maintain the standards for infection control is more typically sanctioned by the Dental Board of California rather than by Cal/OSHA. The most common reason for an audit of infection control performance of an office is a complaint by an employee, or less frequently, by a patient. Because infection control is a required course for every licensee, ignorance of the requirements and appropriate implementation are inexcusable in most cases. In October of 2017, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill No. 1277, adding Section 1601.6 to the Business and Professions Code. This new law ordered the Board to amend the minimum
drug monitoring program. This program allows prescribers and dispensers to view patient reports, send peer-to-peer communications, and receive patient alerts (Dental Board of California, 2021b).
CITATIONS, FINES, REVOCATION, AND SUSPENSION
standards of infection control to require that “water or other methods used for irrigation … be sterile or contain recognized disinfecting or antibacterial properties when performing dental procedures that expose dental pulp.” The law ordered that final regulations be adopted on or before the end of December 2018 (California Legislative Information, 2017). However, the law was repealed by the passage of Senate Bill 1491, which instead made “using water, or other methods used for irrigation, that are not sterile or that do not contain recognized disinfecting or antibacterial properties when performing dental procedures on exposed dental pulp unprofessional conduct by a person licensed pursuant to the Dental Practice Act” (Birschbach, 2019). Business and Professions Code 1706 provides that: ● Every complete upper or lower denture fabricated by a licensed dentist, or fabricated pursuant to the dentist’s work order, shall be marked with the patient’s name, unless the patient objects. The patient’s initials may be shown alone, if use of the patient’s name is not practical. The markings shall be done during fabrication and shall be permanent, legible, and cosmetically acceptable. The exact location of the markings and the methods used to implant or apply them shall be determined by the dentist or dental laboratory fabricating the denture. ● The dentist shall inform the patient that the markings are to be used for identification only and that the patient shall have the option to decide whether or not the dentures shall be marked. ● The dentist shall retain the records of those marked dentures and shall not release the records to any person except to enforcement officers, in the event of an emergency requiring personal identification by means of dental records, or to anyone authorized by the patient. The primary purposes of the statute have to do with management of patients in nursing homes and for forensic identification. Section 1700(c) of the Dental Practice Act stipulates that a person may be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to disciplinary action if he or she “engages in the practice of dentistry without causing to be displayed in a conspicuous place in his or her office the name of each and every person employed there in the practice of dentistry.” Elsewhere the law provides that, while working, a healthcare professional must display his or her name and license status printed on a nametag in type that is at least 18-point or display his or her license prominently in a practice or office (California Dental Practice Act, 2013a). Dental healthcare providers who violate the California Dental Practice Act may be subject to fines or imprisonment or both, depending on the nature and seriousness of the violation. Such violations may also result in temporary suspension of licenses, required educational programs, or permanent license revocation (California Dental Practice Act, 2020d). As of July 1, 2020, per Section 1673, in the case of certain violations, the Board requires a licensee to provide patients or patients’ guardians or healthcare surrogates with a separate disclosure that includes the licensee’s probation status, along with details and the Board’s telephone number, and an explanation of how patients can find further information on the licensee’s profile page on the Board’s online license information website. The information must be provided before a patient’s first visit following the probationary order while the licensee is on probation pursuant to a probationary order made on or after July 1, 2020. Section 1673 lists several situations in which this information need not be presented.
EliteLearning.com/Dental
Page 11
Powered by FlippingBook