Statue and Rules and Regulations Concerning Dental Hygienists and Dentist in Hawaii and Florida American Dental Hygienist's Association is the largest governing body for maintaining the dental hygiene and care. The members of ADHA body get pleasure from professional support, educational programs and other variety of opportunities for them to participate and strengthen their decision making process and professional expertise. Government affairs division of ADHA works in close association with state constituent to support issues that are important for the dental care of public and dental hygiene profession. This covers licensing, scope of practice, patient access to care, water fluoridation and other dental care services. The dental hygienists interest is promoted through the governmental affairs division through federal and state policy efforts. The legalization of the ADHA affairs sustain close collaboration with other institutions where public or private to institutionalize the oral health policy document and improve the quality of services provided in oral health clinics.

Application for licensure for dental hygienist and dentist

According to the Rule III Licensure of Dentists and Dental Hygienists of the Board of Dental Examiners Rules and Regulation last amended on Oct 21st, 2009 and was effective from Dec 30th, 2009, the general licensing requirements are summarized below:

1. An applicant is required to complete the licensing process within one year of the date of the origination of the application. If not then the applicant is required to restart the application process again including payment of the application fee. The life of material submitted for licensing if for one year.

2. If an applicant undergoes a name change then name change evidence like court order, passport, and marriage certificate or divorce decree should be submitted within 30 days of the name change.

3. In case of the address change, the licensee should notify the Board within 30 days of the address. The form of notification should be in writing through fax or email. Verbal communication like telephonic notification is not acceptable.

4. The notification by the board to licensees under the Dental Practice Law or the Administrative Procedures Act of any specific region will be made on the last address provided by the licensee to the Board.

License if granted to dentist if they submit along with the application fees all the credentials necessary for the license. These credentials include graduation degree DDS or DMD from accredited dental school or college with accredited by American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation. Also official transcript required with date of graduation and degree obtained with evidence of the applicant's successful completion of all the examination administered by the joint commission on National Dental Examinations.

Dental hygienist and Dentist Rules and Regulation of Hawaii and Florida

Florida has dental hygiene and dental assisting councils. The dental hygiene council is comprised of four dental hygienists, among one sits on the board and one dentist member of the board. The council is responsible for structuring all dental hygiene rules and regulations to be submitted to the board for approval.

Hawaii law on license to the dentist have been expanded to allow temporary license employed by the state to provide dental services to dispensaries, infirmaries, private schools and welfare centers. The amended law named Act 36 has broadened the scope by adding category of temporary licenses for dentist employed by the state Department of Health for the coverage of people with disabilities or mental illness and aging population of the Hawaii rural unmet areas for increasing the dental hygiene and care outreach. The program makes it convenient for Hawaii rural areas to have reach of out-of-state dentist and serve their dental needs. The latest statistics from the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs have shown that Hawaii has total 1,471 licensed dentists, 22 community-service licensed dentists and only 14 temporarily licensed dentists (Pacific Business News, 2009).

In both the countries, Hawaii and Florida the rule for fees applied is same. All the applicants who have qualified for registration are deemed to pay license fee before entering practice....

All such person who holds the license to practice dentistry in the state are required to pay the board on or before Dec 31st of each odd-numbered year a biennial registration fee. In case of the failure to pay biennial fee in the tenure of license compels the board to cancel the license. The license then is restored by written application and payment of the appropriate fees to the board.
The Florida dental act confirms that besides the other requirements for renewal, each licensed dentist is required to complete biennially not less than 30 hours of continuing professional education in the dental subjects. The program of the continuing education is aimed at providing dental education including lectures, study clubs, college postgraduate courses or scientific sessions of conventions and research programs. The purpose of continuing education program is to improve thorough dental health care delivery to the public; it also addresses courses of basic medical and scientific subjects like biology, physiology, pathology, biochemistry and pharmacology. The program so designed also teaches clinical techniques and procedures, material requirements and equipment handling. The focus of continuing education is patients care and oral safety (Chapter 446 Florida Statues & Rule 64B5, Florida Administrative Code, 2009)

The continuing education requirement for Hawaii dental act is based on the regulation that the board will adopt a program of continuing education for dentists and program of continuing education for dental hygienists. It was declared by the board that after Jan 1st, 2002, at the time of re-registration of license as a dentist or dental hygienist, the entire licensee will present to the board evidence to confirm the compliance with the program of continuing education applicable to their profession. Failure in this respect will result in the cancellation of license and will only be restored on the condition that written application along with the fees is made to the board (Chapter 448 HRS dentistry). Both the countries have strict guidelines regarding continuing education in order to make sure that dental hygienists are practicing as per requirements and oral health and safety of the public is well maintained.

Other areas of rules and regulations governing dental hygienist and dentist of both the countries are as follows:

Florida Dental Regulation Act

Hawaii Dental Regulation Act

Prohibitions for purpose of Advertising

This section focuses on true representation to public and that all members of society have access to information which is right and justified morally. Dentist's duty is to protect people from any false or misleading advertisements. Strict penalties are applied in case if dentist is providing false information, advertising the wrong products or deceptive statements whose purpose is to mislead the public.

For the purpose of this section, D.D.S. Or D.M.D. are synonymous and can be used interchangeably by licensed dentists who have graduated from an accredited American dental school with a D.D.S. Or D.M.D. degree, when advertising dental services.

Prohibitions for purpose of Advertising

It is considered unlawful for any person to publish or circulate, directly or indirectly any statements concerning the person's practice of dentistry which is false or tend to be false, fraudulent, or misleading. Any person violating this regulation will be subject to penalty. The act has prescribed such penalty to be $200.

Dental hygienist scope and area of practice

Dental hygienists are responsible for removing calculus deposits, accretions and stains from exposed surfaces of the teeth. Dental hygienists can also expose to dental X-ray films, apply topical preventive agents and perform all tasks delegated by dentist. Board is made responsible to plan whether such directions are made under direct or indirect supervision of the dentists.

Dental hygienist and dentist are also delegated the task of providing community health awareness program of dental hygiene and care. These programs cover the market of public, society, schools, welfare programs and social group's awareness campaign but not limited to these.

Dental hygienist scope and area of practice

Dental hygienist is delegated the responsibility of providing all the exterior…