SB 173 Summary

• Creates advanced practice permits for dental hygienists with 4,000+ documented clinical hours, allowing them to provide preventive care, scaling, topical treatments, radiographs, local anesthetics (if certified), and prescribe fluoride and antibacterial rinses without dentist supervision to underserved populations.

• Permits dental hygienists with advanced practice permits to delegate certain tasks to dental assistants, including radiograph exposure and application of topical preventive agents, under board-specified supervision levels.

• Prohibits unfair discrimination against advanced practice permit-holding dental hygienists in group health insurance coverage and adds them to the list of providers covered under medical assistance for dental hygiene services.

• Transfers regulation of dental radiological equipment inspection from the Board of Dental Examiners to the Department of Health and includes the cost of equipment inspection in regulatory costs for board fee calculations.

• Creates specialist licenses for dentists in specialized branches of dentistry based on nationally recognized certifications; prohibits dentists from advertising specialty status without a specialist license.