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Scope of Practice

Some topics that Board Staff are often contacted about include:

​The Oregon Health Authority, not the Board of Dentistry has jurisdiction over the Dental Pilot Projects.

Senate Bill 738 was passed by the Oregon State Legislature in 2011. This bill allows the Oregon Health Authority to approve Dental Pilot Projects once an application has been approved. The goal of the Dental Pilot Projects is to encourage the development of innovative practices in oral health care delivery systems with a focus on providing care to populations that evidence-based studies have shown have the highest disease rates and the least access to dental care.

Dental Pilot Projects are intended to evaluate the quality of care, access, cost, workforce, and efficacy by teaching new skills to existing categories of dental personnel; developing new categories of dental personnel; accelerating the training of existing categories of dental personnel; or teaching new oral health care roles to previously untrained persons.

The Oregon Health Authority is responsible for processing initial pilot project applications, approving projects and monitoring approved pilot projects. Program staff shall review approved projects and the assessment shall include but is not limited to reviewing progress reports and conducting site visits. The program is responsible for ascertaining the progress of the project in meeting its stated objectives and in complying with program statutes and regulations.

Please contact the Board Office if you have questions or need additional information.​

​The Board has very few rules on advertising.  Generally as long as what is advertised is accurate, then the Board is not going to get involved in any matters. On matters of fraud, illegal fee splitting and if a consumer is harmed, then the Board may become involved in the matter.

Advertising OAR 818-015-0005 General Provisions

(1) "To advertise" means to publicly communicate information about a licensee's professional services or qualifications for the purpose of soliciting business.

(2) Advertising shall not be false, deceptive, misleading or not readily subject to verification and shall not make claims of professional superiority which cannot be substantiated by the licensee, who shall have the burden of proof.

(3) A licensee who authorizes another to disseminate information about the licensee's professional services to the public is responsible for the content of that information unless the licensee can prove by clear and convincing evidence that the content of the advertisement is contrary to the licensee's specific directions.

Please contact the Board Office if you have any questions or need additional information.

​Oregon Revised Statute 679.020 Practice of dentistry or operating dental office without license prohibited; exceptions.

(1) A person may not practice dentistry without a license.

(2) Only a person licensed as a dentist by the Oregon Board of Dentistry may own, operate, conduct or maintain a dental practice, office or clinic in this state.

The statute does make exceptions for a number of entities, please refer to the statute ORS 679.020 for all exceptions. Exceptions include the OHSU School of Dentistry, certain public universities, local governments and CODA accredited schools among others. 

The statute does not allow Dental Hygienists or Denturist to own or operate a dental practice.

A non-licensed Oregon dentist may have ownership or leasehold of any tangible or intangible assets used in a dental office or clinic. These assets include real property, furnishings, equipment and inventory but do not include dental records of patients related to clinical care.

  • Employing or contracting for the services of personnel other than licensed dentists.
  • ​Management of the business aspects of a dental office or clinic that do not include the clinical practice of dentistry.

Please contact the Board Office if you have any ​questions or need additional information.

Dental Hygienists, after meeting the requirements, may apply for an Expanded Practice Permit (EPP) either at time of initial licensure or later after becoming licensed.

Legislation passed in 1997 intended to expand access to dental hygiene services to populations that are historically underserved. Historically Underserved Populations: “Patients or residents of the following facilities or programs who, due to age, infirmity or disability, are unable to receive regular dental hygiene treatment.”
  • ​Nursing homes
  • Adult foster homes
  • Residential Care facilities
  • Adult congregate living facilities
  • Mental Health residential programs administered by the OHA
  • Facilities for persons with mental illness
  • Facilities for persons with developmental disabilities
  • Local correctional facilities a​nd juvenile detention facilities, regional correctional facilities, youth care centers, and the Department of Corrections
  • Public and nonprofit community health clinics
  • Homebound adults

Expanded Practice Dental Hygienists can practice without the supervision of a dentist, only on the populations described in ORS 680.205 in the Dental Practice Act. 

Examples:
  • ​Staffing a community health clinic without a supervising dentist.
  • Mobile dental hygiene services.

What does the Expanded Practice Permit NOT allow a hygienist to do?
  • ​Extra duties in a dental clinic staffed by a dentist. This is not what is meant by “Expanded Practice”.
  • Practice dental hygiene when supervising dentist is not in the clinic. A hygienist practices under general supervision, meaning the dentist does not need to be in the office, but needs to authorize the procedure!  No EPP is required to practice dental hygiene when the supervising dentist is out of the office.
  • Administer nitrous oxide when a supervising dentist is not in the clinic. This is expressly prohibited by the Dental Practice Act, whether or not the hygienist has an EPP.

What is a Collaborative Agreement?  A Collaborative Agreement is optional – it is not required to obtain/maintain an EPP.
  • An approved agreement between an Oregon licensed dentist and an Oregon licensed EPDH, which allows the EPDH to perform some or all of the following procedures while working under their EPP:
  • Administer local anesthesia (providing the EPDH has the appropriate endorsement);
  • ​Place temporary restorations without excavation (providing the EPDH has the appropriate endorsement).
  • ​Prescribe phophylactic antibiotics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications.

The Collaborative Agreement itself is not a document that is provided by the OBD. 

The Collaborative Agreement:
  • ​Should be drafted and signed by the dentist and the EPDH together
  • Should contain agreed-upon referral parameters
  • ​Should state if/how the various duties covered by the Collaborative Agreement are to be performed

Verification of Collaborative Agreement (also signed by both parties) must be attached to the Collaborative Agreement.

Here is a link to a helpful Newsletter article​ about EPPs.

​Please contact the Board Office if you have questions or need additional information.​

​It is the Board’s position that the diagnosis of Sleep Related Disordered Breathing (SRDB) or Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is outside the scope of the practice of dentistry, and the diagnosis must be made by a physician prior to oral appliance therapy by a dentist.

Working in conjunction with physicians, dentists can help treat these disorders. Dentists have long been aware of the importance of the maintenance of their patient’s airway. Many dentists and their hygienists regularly screen their patient’s Mallampati score, and grade their patient’s tonsils to evaluate their patient’s airway. But again, dentists legally are not in a position to diagnose sleep disordered breathing and sleep apnea; a physician must make the diagnosis and then prescribe oral appliance therapy before the dentist can treat it.

In children, a dentist can and should refer the patient to a pediatric otolaryngologist for evaluation and treatment of suspected airway obstruction caused by hypertrophic tonsils.​​

Please contact the Board Office if you have any questions or need additional information.

OAR 818-01​2-0005 (3) and (4):

(3) A dentist may utilize Botulinum Toxin Type A to treat conditions that are within the oral and maxillofacial region after completing a minimum of 10 hours in a hands on clinical course(s), in Botulinum Toxin Type A, and the provider is approved by the Academy of General Dentistry Program Approval for Continuing Education (AGD PACE) or by the American Dental Association Continuing Education Recognition Program (ADA CERP). Alternatively, a dentist may meet the requirements of subsection (3) by successfully completing training in Botulinum Toxin Type A as part of a CODA accredited program.

(4) A dentist may utilize dermal fillers to treat conditions that are within the oral and maxillofacial region after completing a minimum of 10 hours in a hands on clinical course(s), in dermal fillers, and the provider is approved by the Academy of General Dentistry Program Approval for Continuing Education (AGD PACE) or by the American Dental Association Continuing Education Recognition Program (ADA CERP). Alternatively, a dentist may meet the requirements of subsection (4) by successfully completing training in dermal fillers as part of a CODA accredited program.​

The Board also views "cosmetic dentistry" as within the scope of practice, as long as there is a dental justification for the procedure.

Please contact the Board Office if you have any questions or need additional information.