Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-534_19m2.pdf
Page Number: 29.0

6 

NORTH CAROLINA STATE BD. OF DENTAL
EXAMINERS v. FTC 

ALITO, J., dissenting
 

specifying  the  qualifications  to  practice  medicine  was 
clearly  a  proper  exercise  of  the  police  power.    Thus,  the 
North  Carolina  statutes  establishing  and  specifying  the 
powers of the State Board of Dental Examiners represent 
precisely  the  kind  of  state  regulation  that  the  Parker 
exemption was meant to immunize. 

II 

As noted above, the only question in this case is whether 
the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners is really a
state  agency,  and  the  answer  to  that  question  is  clearly 
yes. 

  The  North  Carolina  Legislature  determined  that  the 
practice of dentistry “affect[s] the public health, safety 
and  welfare”  of  North  Carolina’s  citizens  and  that 
therefore  the  profession  should  be  “subject  to  regula-
tion and control in the public interest” in order to en-
sure  “that  only  qualified  persons  be  permitted  to
practice dentistry in the State.”  N. C. Gen. Stat. Ann. 
§90–22(a) (2013). 

  To further that end, the legislature created the North
Carolina  State  Board  of  Dental  Examiners  “as  the 
agency  of  the  State  for  the  regulation  of  the  practice
of dentistry in th[e] State.”  §90–22(b). 

  The  legislature  specified  the  membership  of  the 
Board.  §90–22(c).  It  defined  the  “practice  of  dentis-
try,” §90–29(b), and it set out standards for licensing 
practitioners,  §90–30.  The  legislature  also  set  out
standards  under  which  the  Board  can  initiate  disci-
plinary  proceedings  against  licensees  who  engage  in 
certain improper acts.  §90–41(a). 

  The legislature empowered the Board to “maintain an
action  in  the  name  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  to 
perpetually  enjoin  any  person  from  . . .  unlawfully 
practicing dentistry.”  §90–40.1(a).  It authorized the 
Board  to  conduct  investigations  and  to  hire  legal