A. The following acts by any person shall be regarded as practicing dentistry within the meaning of the State Dental Act:

1. Representing oneself to the public as being a dentist or as one authorized to practice dentistry;

2. Representing oneself to the public as being able to diagnose or examine clinical material or contract for the treating thereof;

3. Representing oneself as treating or professing to treat by professional instructions or by advertised use of professional equipment or products;

4. Representing oneself to the public as treating any of the diseases or disorders or lesions of the oral cavity, teeth, gums, maxillary bones, and associate structures;

5. Removing human teeth;

6. Repairing or filling cavities in human teeth;

7. Correcting or attempting to correct malposed teeth;

8. Administering anesthetics, general or local;

9. Treating deformities of the jaws and adjacent structures;

10. Using x-ray and interpreting dental x-ray film;

11. Offering, undertaking or assisting, by any means or methods, to remove stains, discolorations, or concretions from the teeth;

12. Operating or prescribing for any disease, pain, injury, deficiency, deformity, or any physical condition connected with the human mouth;

13. Taking impressions of the teeth and jaws;

14. Furnishing, supplying, constructing, reproducing, or repairing, or offering to furnish, supply, construct, reproduce, or repair, prosthetic dentures, sometimes known as plates, bridges, or other substitutes for natural teeth for the user or prospective user thereof;

15. Adjusting or attempting to adjust any prosthetic denture, bridge, appliance, or any other structure to be worn in the human mouth;

16. Diagnosing, making, and adjusting appliances to artificial casts of malposed teeth for treatment of the malposed teeth in the human mouth, without instructions;

17. Writing a laboratory prescription to a dental laboratory or dental laboratory technician for the construction, reproduction or repair of any appliance or structure to be worn in the human mouth;

18. Owning, maintaining, or operating an office or offices by holding a financial interest in same for the practice of dentistry; or

19. Any other procedure otherwise defined in the State Dental Act requiring a valid license or permit to perform while the person does not hold such valid license or permit issued by the Board.

B. The fact that a person uses any dental degree, or designation, or any card, device, directory, poster, sign or other media representing oneself to be a dentist shall be prima facie evidence that the person is engaged in the practice of dentistry; provided that nothing in this section shall be so construed as to prevent the following:

1. Physicians or surgeons, who are licensed under the laws of this state, from administering any kind of treatment coming within the province of medicine or surgery;

2. The practice of dentistry in the discharge of their official duties by dentists in the United States Army, the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service, or the United States Veterans Administration;

3. Dental schools or colleges, as now conducted and approved, or as may be approved, and the practice of dentistry by students in dental schools, colleges or hospitals, approved by the Board, when acting under the direction and supervision of licensed dentists or dentists holding properly issued permits acting as instructors;

4. Acts of a dental clinician or other participant at a dental educational meeting or at an accredited dental college, when no fee is charged to or paid by a patient;

5. The practice of dental hygiene, as defined herein, by a person granted a license by the Board;

6. The performing of acts by a dental assistant or oral maxillofacial surgery assistant who performs the acts under the direct supervision or direct visual supervision of a dentist and in accordance with the provisions of the State Dental Act and the rules promulgated by the Board; or

7. The fabrication of dental appliances pursuant to a laboratory prescription of a dentist, by a dental laboratory technician in a dental laboratory using inert materials and mechanical devices for the fabrication of any restoration, appliance or thing to be worn in the human mouth.

Added by Laws 1970, c. 173, § 19, eff. July 1, 1970. Amended by Laws 1999, c. 280, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 1999; Laws 2003, c. 172, § 4, emerg. eff. May 5, 2003; Laws 2013, c. 405, § 4, eff. July 1, 2013; Laws 2015, c. 229, § 6, eff. July 1, 2015