Cal. BPC § 1741 — California Code / Code bpc / Division 2 / Chapter 4 / Article 7 / Section 1741
Section 1741
Status: in_force

As used in this article:

(a) “Alternative dental assisting program” means a program offered by an institution of secondary or postsecondary education that has a current accreditation from the Commission on Dental Accreditation or is accredited or approved by an agency recognized by the United States Department of Education or State Department of Education, including career health and technical education programs, regional occupation centers or programs, or apprenticeship programs registered by the State Department of Education or Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations in allied dental programs, and whereby a certificate of completion from the program shall serve as a pathway component for licensure as a registered dental assistant.

(b) “Basic supportive dental procedures” means procedures that have technically elementary characteristics, are completely reversible, and are unlikely to precipitate potentially hazardous conditions for the patient being treated, including extraoral tasks involving sterilization procedures and infection control and disease prevention tasks.

(c) “Board” means the Dental Board of California.

(d) “Certified dental assistant” means an individual who has successfully passed the general chairside assisting, radiation health and safety, and infection control examinations administered by the Dental Assisting National Board and has an active certification satisfactory to terms and conditions of the Dental Assisting National Board at the time of application for a dental assisting license. A current and valid certified dental assistant certificate is not required for subsequent licensure renewals.

(e) “Certificate of completion” means a certificate that shall include, at minimum, the participant’s name, the name of the course or program completed, the name of the course or program provider, including the board-issued approval number, the date or date range of completion of the course or program, the number of completed hours of the course or program, and the signature of the course or program provider, director, administrator, or their designee that verifies the participant has successfully completed any of the following:

(1) A board-approved educational course or program in dental assisting.

(2) A continuing education course provided by a board-approved continuing education provider.

(3) An alternative dental assisting program.

(f) “Continuing education” means a course of study specific to the performance of dental-related procedures where the education is directly related to the clinical and supplemental duties and functions of dental assistants, registered dental assistants, registered dental assistants in extended functions, and dental assisting permitholders, as defined in this article. The continuing education coursework must follow the provisions outlined in board regulations. Continuing education units obtained shall be limited to no more than eight units per day. The following shall apply to the continuing education units:

(1) Live interactive coursework units obtained shall not total more than eight units per day.

(2) Nonlive or self-paced online coursework units shall not be more than eight units per day within a range of dates during a seminar, workshop, or educational series where more than one day is required to complete the coursework.

(g) “Coronal polishing” means a procedure limited to the removal of plaque and stain from exposed tooth surfaces.

(h) “Council” means the Dental Assisting Council of the Dental Board of California.

(i) “Course” means an educational offering, class, presentation, meeting, or other similar event.

(j) “Dental assistant” means an individual who, without a license, may perform only basic supportive dental procedures described in Sections 1750 and 1750.1.

(k) “Direct supervision” means supervision of dental procedures based on instructions given by a licensed dentist, who shall be physically present in the treatment facility during the performance of those procedures.

(l) “General supervision” means supervision of dental procedures based on instructions given by a licensed dentist but not requiring the physical presence of the supervising dentist during the performance of those procedures.

(m) “Good standing” means the licensee or permitholder has not been disciplined, is not the subject of an unresolved complaint or review procedures, and is not the subject of any unresolved disciplinary proceeding.

(n) “Interim therapeutic restoration” means a direct provisional restoration placed to stabilize the tooth until a licensed dentist diagnoses the need for further definitive treatment. An interim therapeutic restoration consists of the removal of soft material from the tooth using only hand instrumentation, without the use of rotary instrumentation, and subsequent placement of an adhesive restorative material. An interim therapeutic restoration may also be applied to a tooth with caries that has been confirmed by the treating dentist to be arrested through the use of a caries arresting agent with or without further removal of tooth structure. Local anesthesia shall not be necessary for interim therapeutic restoration placement.

(o) “Preceptee” means an unlicensed dental assistant who is supervised by a California-licensed dentist or dentists in good standing and is participating in a preceptorship in dental assisting to learn the clinical skills and acquire procedural knowledge through work experience and supplemental dental assisting coursework.

(p) “Preceptor” means a California-licensed dentist in good standing who directly supervises and provides on-the-job training to a preceptee in a preceptorship in dental assisting by evaluating clinical competence, documenting completion of clinical chairside work experience, learning, and clinical progress, teaching and promoting clinical reasoning, and ensuring the preceptee has completed course requirements before performing dental assisting duties pursuant to Section 1750.1. A preceptee may have more than one California-licensed dentist serve as a preceptor.

(q) “Preceptorship in dental assisting” means supervised on-the-job training of a preceptee by a preceptor in the performance of duties specified in Section 1750.1 in a competent manner as determined by the preceptor pursuant to the requirements set forth in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) of Section 1752.1.

(r) “Registered dental assistant” means a person licensed by the board to perform all procedures authorized under Section 1752.4.

(s) “Registered dental assistant in extended functions” means a person licensed by the board to perform all procedures authorized under Section 1753.5.

(t) “Satisfactory work experience” means performance of the duties specified in Section 1750.1 in a competent manner as determined by the supervising dentist or dentists, who shall certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California the applicant’s completion of the work experience.