REMINDER: Check Your Team Members’ Licenses and Registrations

The dentist is responsible for all delegated acts performed by dental hygienists and dental assistants under their direction. This includes ensuring that the dental hygienists and registered dental assistants have current licenses and registrations.¹

For a dentist to delegate the taking of patient x-rays to a dental assistant, the dental assistant must hold a registration issued by the TSBDE (ie, Registered Dental Assistant).² For a registered dental assistant or dental hygienist to monitor nitrous oxide, he or she must have a specific N20 monitoring designation issued by the TSBDE.^{3, 4}

Additionally, a dentist can’t delegate coronal polishing or pit & fissure sealants to a dental assistant unless the dental assistant completed the required education and training before the delegation.⁵

Dentists are responsible for verifying that the dental assistant has at least 2 years of experience, current basic life support, and completed the required 8 hours of didactic and clinical education in coronal polishing and/or pit and fissure sealants before delegating those procedures.

As a reminder to Texas dentists, training programs may only be offered by dental, dental hygiene, or dental assistant programs accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) and approved by the TSBDE. Neither dental professional associations nor individual dentists may offer training courses unless they are offering a course taught by a CODA-accredited dental education program approved by the TSBDE.

Dentists must perform ongoing due diligence to ensure that all team members working in the dentist’s practice remain in compliance with the TSBDE’s license and registration requirements.

References

1. Texas Occupations Code §258.003, Responsibility of Delegating Dentist
2. 22 Texas Administrative Code §114.2, Registration of Dental Assistants
3. 22 Texas Administrative Code §114.4, Monitoring the Administration of Nitrous Oxide
4. 22 Texas Administrative Code §115.2, Permitted Duties
5. 22 Texas Administrative Code §§114.3, Pit and Fissure Sealant; 114.5, Coronal Polishing