President’s Message Dr. Michael Link The Virginia Board of Dentistry, at its last meeting, passed a notice of intention to change the regulations of Virginia. This request will require an open book test for all licensees every three years on the statutes and regulations governing dentistry! The vote was unanimous without any discussion by the Board members. From a licensee’s point of view there is no rationale or justification for their vote. I believe that we, as dental professionals, hold ourselves to a higher standard than the average individual. Continuous education is the hallmark of our profession. There are a small percentage of individuals in our profession who do not adhere to this principle; however, trying to catch the 3-5% of the violators while punishing 95-97% of all licensees is not right. This reasoning is analogous to requiring every driver to take a new driving test every 3 years on all the laws governing driving. While there is constant change in the regulations governing dentistry, ignorance of the laws by a few is not a reason to punish those who do keep up to date. Improving compliance with the rules lies in the communications from the Board of Dentistry; therefore, I challenge them to improve their communication with their licensees. The Board of Dentistry currently acquires the e-mail address of each licensee at renewal. Why can’t they communicate to each dentist regarding any changes in the regulations through e-mail? Why in the 21st century does the Board only communicate to interested third parties about changes? Why is there no
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hotline to help licensees with their questions? This type of dialogue should be improved when the Board of Dentistry knows that there is a problem. The VDA is happy to help the Board of Dentistry communicate with our members. However, we do not represent all of the dentists in the state of Virginia. Previously the Board of Dentistry published a printed quarterly newsletter with up-to-date guidelines, policy decisions and infractions that have occurred to licensees and mailed it to all the licensees and interested parties. This type of communication was extremely helpful in understanding the type of infractions and the sanctions that were being imposed by the Board of Dentistry. I know that the newsletter, statutes and regulations are on the website. However, as a licensee who pays a fee to a governing Board, we are entitled to receive correspondence from that Board. The quarterly printed newsletters were discontinued several years back due to budgetary concerns. We encourage the Board of Dentistry to bring back this type of interaction by electronic means to all dentists and hygienists in Virginia. I personally believe this can be accomplished electronically by sending notices, Board actions, infractions that occurred, NORA’s (Notice of Regulatory Action) and any other pertinent communication to all of its licensees. This type of communication will help each licensee to better understand the statutes and the rules and regulations governing Virginia’s dentists and hygienists. Furthermore, the Board of Dentistry will receive more communications from the licensees. At our last Board of Directors meeting, we discussed the actions taken by the Board of Dentistry’s for the NORA and our Board voted unani-
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mously to oppose this intent for regulatory change. I hope you will take the time to let your Board of Dentistry members know your opinion on this very important issue. Our Board also approved a petition for rule-making to the Board of Dentistry to have the Board endorse the ADA Principles of Ethics and the Code of Professional Conduct. Currently, the Board of Dentistry already endorses the ADA’s sedation guidelines and the ADA’s CDT codes. Having the Principles of Ethics in our regulation will also help the Board deal with unethical behavior and fee-splitting by licensed Dentists. If the Board of Dentistry can endorse the sedation guidelines and the ADA’s CDT codes, then they should be able to endorse the ADA’s principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct. Currently, there are nine other states that endorse these principles of ethics in their regulations. Again, I encourage you to call the Board members to voice your opinion. The May 8th hearing at the Board of Dentistry on access-to-care was quite interesting. Dr. Mark Crabtree and I presented to the Board the concept of the CDHC program. The CDHC topic dominated the discussions during the question and answer period. While the main discussion on improving access to care is multifaceted, we believe that the CDHC program offers more help and ability to improve access to care than any other suggestions offered. The bottom line is to find the most economically feasible model to help improve access to care in our Commonwealth.
atu e F NEW
A new feature of the Virginia Dental Journal, 40 under 40 will introduce you to VDA members under forty years old in forty words or less.
Dr. Sheldon Bates
Dr. Bates is a bow-tie wearing, Southern gentleman who owns and operates his growing practice, Bates Orthodontics, in Richmond. He is a Northside community activist and he and his wife, Taylor, are involved with their church and local nonprofits.
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