Chapter

10

Dental Board and Licensure: Where the Rubber Meets the Road of Ethical Decision Making

Maxwell Finn, DDS, MD and Miro Pavelka, DDS, MSD

Da siempre lo mejor de ti. Somos eternos en el recuerdo de nuestros pacientes.
Always do your very best. We are eternal through our patient’s memories.

Jorge I. Ravelo, DDS, MS, Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela

Obtaining a license to practice dentistry is the goal of your professional education. Although the perceived goal of dental school is to graduate, it is just one requirement for the achievement of licensure. Without a dental license, you may not practice. This is true for all 50 states. Thus, your dental license is your most valuable asset of your dental practice and must be protected.

A dental license is under the umbrella of the legislature of each state. In Texas, the legislature first provided for licensure of dentists in 1897. In 1911, the Legislature established the Board of Examiners. In Texas, the dental board consists of 15 members, 5 public members, 2 hygienists, and 8 dentists; some of whom are specialists, yet all are appointed by the Governor. We serve for six-year teams. The governor appoints the presiding officer, and the members of the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners (TSBDE) elect the board secretary. Each state will have its own composition and governance of its particular dental board as put forth by statute established by each state’s legislature.

It is the Board of Examiners of each state that oversees the licensure process. The state legislature, who are the elected officials of each state, determine the laws that govern your license, but gives rule making authority to the board. It is the license holder’s responsibility to be knowledgeable of said laws and rules and obey them.

The primary mission of the dental board is to protect the public. In addition, our mission is to ensure that only qualified people are licensed to provide dental care and violators of laws and rules regarding dentistry are sanctioned as appropriate.

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