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HB 2634

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 63-5-107, relative to continuing education requirements.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 635-107(c), is amended by adding the following language immediately following the second sentence in subdivision (1):

However, for the purpose of the annual continuing education requirement for dental hygienists, no more than twenty-five (25%) of such continuing education requirement may be earned from on-line or web-based courses.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2011, the public welfare requiring it.

Legislation Fact Sheet

HB 2679

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 63-5-108, relative to dental hygienists.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 63-5-108(c), is amended by deleting

the subsection in its entirety and by substituting instead the following:

  (c)            

(1) A dental hygienist is a primary healthcare professional, licensed under this act to provide preventive, educational, and therapeutic services supporting total health for the control of oral diseases and the promotion of oral health, who has graduated from a dental hygiene program accredited by the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). Dental hygiene services include the removal of all hard and soft deposits and the stain from the

human teeth to the depth of the gingival sulcus, polishing natural and restored surfaces of teeth, performing clinical examination of teeth and surrounding tissues for diagnosis by the dentist, and performing other such procedures as may be delegated by the dentist, under the supervision of a licensed dentist. No person shall practice dental hygiene in a manner that is separate or independent from a supervising dentist, or establish or maintain an office or a practice that is primarily devoted to the provision of dental hygiene services. A dental hygienist

shall perform, under direct supervision only, root planing, subgingival curettage, administering nitrous oxide, and local anesthesia. Under general supervision a dental hygienist may provide to patients, for not more than fifteen (15) consecutive business days, all other dental hygiene services not otherwise limited to direct supervision by this chapter or rules adopted by the board, if all of the following requirements are met:

(A) The dental hygienist has at least one (1) year, full-time, or an

equivalent amount of experience practicing dental hygiene;

(B) The dental hygienist complies with written protocols for

emergencies that the supervising dentist establishes;

(C) The supervising dentist examined the patient not more than

seven (7) months prior to the date the dental hygienist provides the dental

hygiene services.

(D) The dental hygienist provides dental hygiene services to the

patient in accordance with a written treatment plan developed by the

supervising dentist for the patient; and

(E) The patient is notified in advance of the appointment that the

supervising dentist will be absent from the location and that the dental

hygienist cannot diagnose the patient's dental health care status.

(2) Dental hygienists may provide preventive, educational and therapeutic services for general and specialty dental practices, programs for research, professional education, community health programs, hospitals and institutions, federal programs and armed services, as well as pilot or appropriate planned programs approved by the department of health or the board of dentistry.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.