Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 9, September, 2024
ARTICLE
VII
ANNOUNCEMENT OF SPECIALIZATION AND LIMITATION OF
PRACTICE
Dentists who choose to announce specialization should limit their
practice exclusively to the announced special area(s) of dental practice,
provided at the time of the announcement such dentists have met in each
approved specialty for which they announce, the existing educational
requirements and standards set forth by the American Dental Association and
have been issued a specialty license by the State. Those special areas of
dental practice will be limited to those approved by the American Dental
Association and include the following: dental public health, endodontics, oral
pathology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry,
periodontics, and prosthodontics.
It is understood by die Arkansas State Board of Dental Examiners,
that the various specializations approved by the American Dental Association
will be the definition adopted for each of those specializations by the
Arkansas State Board of Dental Examiners.
A.
Pursuant to Act 489 of 2017, A
dentist who has been issued a specialist license under this section may
announce and hold himself or herself out to the public both as a specialist in
the area covered by his or her specialty certificate and as a dentist who
provides general dentistry services if the dentist practices his or her
specialty at least fifty percent (50%) of (lie time that lie or she practices
dentistry during a calendar year.
B. Dentists may not use their eligibility as
specialists to make the public believe that specialty services rendered in the
dental office are being rendered by a qualified specialist when such is not the
case. The burden of responsibility is on the specialist to avoid any inference
that general practitioners who are associated with the specialists are
qualified to announce themselves as specialists.
C.
1.
General practitioner announcement of services: Any communications indicating
availability of such services shall be separate and apart from the name of me
practitioner and the statement of "general practice". Any communications
indicating availability of such services in signage or advertisement shall have
no lettering larger than the lettering in the statement "general
dentist".
2. Specialists
announcement of services: Dental specialists who wish to announce the services
available in their practice are permitted to announce the availability of those
services so long as may avoid any communications which express or imply a
specialty license in any other specialty other than the specialty in which they
are licensed in Arkansas. No specialist shall announce available services in
any way that would be false or misleading in any material respect. Any
communications indicating availability of services shall be separate and apart
from the name of the practitioner and the statement of the type of licensed
specialty. Any communications indicating availability of such services in
signage or advertisement shall have no lettering larger than the smallest
lettering in the statement reflecting the type of licensed specialty.
D. The Board shall upon
application and without examination issue a specialty certificate to any
registered and currently licensed dentist in Arkansas who has been certified in
that particular specialty by an American Board recognized by the American
Dental Association, and who has been practicing that specialty continuously for
a period of five (5) years or more. Any such application shall be accompanied
by the required fee as set forth through the provisions of the Arkansas Dental
Practice Act. Applicant must have graduated from a specialty program recognized
by the American Dental Association Council on Dental Education.
E. An examination committee appointed by the
Board consisting of two (2) specialists who have been certified by the Arkansas
Board as having met the standards set forth by the Board for that specialty and
one licensed dentist Board member shall examine each applicant at the time and
place fixed by the committee to thoroughly test the applicant's qualifications
for the practice of that specialty, and report to the Board whether the
applicant is qualified in the specialty.
F. In the event that applicant fails to pass
the examination and is reported by the examining committee as not being
qualified, he may upon application to die Board be re-examined by the committee
at such time and place as the Board may specify, but any applicant shall pay a
reexamination fee equivalent to the specialty fee.
G. Each member of the examining committee
appointed by the Board shall receive compensation as set forth in die Arkansas
Dental Practice Act.
H. The Board
shall issue to each applicant, who has been recommended as qualified by the
examining committee, as provided in the Dental Practice Act, a certificate of
registration to practice dentistry in their particular specialty.
I. All issued specialty certificates shall be
subject to revocation and suspension for the causes set forth in the Dental
Practice Act.
J. A Dental Board
member, who is a licensed dentist, shall be responsible for one of the
specialties which are: ENDODONTICS, ORTHODONTICS AND DENTOFACIAL ORTHOPEDICS,
PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY, ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY, PERIODONTICS,
PROSTHODONTICS, DENTAL PUBLIC HEATH, AND ORAL PATHOLOGY.
Each Board member's responsibilities for that particular
specialty shall be as follows:
1. To
make recommendations to the Board for approval of specialists to serve on die
examining committee of that specialty.
2. To forward applications of applicants for
specialty license to the examining committee and provide necessary
communication between applicant and examining committee to insure that the
examination is carried out in a timely and expedient manner.
3. The President of the Board shall assign
each licensed dentist member a specialty for which that member will be
responsible and serve as an examiner.