§ 721 - Practicing dentistry defined - Vermont Statutes

§ 721. Practicing dentistry defined

(a) A person shall be regarded as practicing dentistry within the meaning of this chapter:

(1) Who uses or permits to be used, directly or indirectly, for profit or otherwise, for himself or for any other person, in connection with his name, the word "dentist," or "dental surgeon," or the title "D.D.S." or "D.M.D." or any other words, letters, titles, or descriptive matter, personal or not, which directly or indirectly implies the practice of dentistry; or

(2) Who owns, leases, maintains, or operates a dental business in any office or other room or rooms where dental operations are performed, or directly or indirectly is manager, proprietor, or conductor of the same; or

(3) Who directly or indirectly informs the public in any language, orally, in writing, or in printing, or by drawings, demonstrations, specimens, signs, or pictures that he can perform or will attempt to perform dental operations of any kind; or

(4) Who undertakes, by any means or method, gratuitously or for a salary, fee, money, or other reward paid or granted directly or indirectly to himself or to any other person, to diagnose or profess to diagnose, or to treat or profess to treat or to prescribe for or profess to prescribe for any lesions, diseases, disorders, for deficiencies of the human oral cavity, teeth, gums, maxilla, or mandible or adjacent associated structures; or

(5) Who extracts human teeth, corrects malpositions thereof or of the jaws; or

(6) Who, except on the written prescription of a duly licensed dentist and by the use of impressions or casts made by a duly licensed and practicing dentist, directly or indirectly by mail, carrier, personal agent, or by any other method, furnishes, supplies, constructs, reproduces, or repairs prosthetic dentures, bridges, appliances, or other structures to be used and worn as substitutes for natural teeth, or adjusts the same; or

(7) Who administers dental anaesthetics, either general or local; or

(8) Who engages in any of the practices included in the curricula of recognized dental colleges.

(b) Nothing contained in subsection (a) of this section shall prevent regularly licensed physicians or surgeons from treating or prescribing for lesions, diseases, disorders, or deficiencies of the human oral cavity, teeth, gums, maxilla, or mandible or adjacent associated structures, or from extracting human teeth or administering anaesthetics, or using or prescribing drugs or other remedies; nor shall it prevent students from performing dental operations under the supervision of a registered dentist at a state hospital or competent instructors within a dental school, or college, or dental department of a university recognized by the board of dental examiners, or prevent students from serving as interns in any hospital approved by the board.

(c)(1) A dentist may administer nondental anesthesia if the dentist meets the following requirements:

(A) The administration of anesthesia occurs only in a hospital where the dentist is credentialed to perform nondental anesthesiology;

(B) The dentist holds an academic appointment in anesthesiology at an accredited medical school;

(C) The dentist has successfully completed a full anesthesiology residency in a program approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education;

(D) The dentist has a diploma from the National Board of Anesthesiology; and

(E) The dentist practicing nondental anesthesia is held to the same standard of care as a physician administering anesthesia under the same or similar circumstances.

(2) The board of dental examiners shall refer a complaint or disciplinary proceeding about a dentist arising from his or her administration of nondental anesthesiology to the board of medical practice, which shall have jurisdiction to investigate and sanction and limit or revoke the dentist's license to the same extent that it may for physicians licensed under chapter 23 of this title. (Amended 1961, No. 172, § 1, eff. June 21, 1961; 1969, No. 81, § 1; 2009, No. 35, § 12.)