Bill would place a paid executive officer with Alaska’s dental board

Dental hygiene license applicants must meet the listed education, exam, and professional history requirements. These requirements apply to people applying for a license to practice dental hygiene. Applicants must complete an accredited dental hygiene program approved by the board, pass written and clinical exams approved by the board, and meet other board qualifications set by regulation. Applicants must meet the listed standards on past license actions, disciplinary matters, impairment, reports, and convictions. These include adverse or unresolved matters involving specified conduct or patient safety, and convictions that reflect adversely on competence or safety. The requirements apply when a person applies for a dental hygiene license.

The department, in consultation with the board, shall employ an executive administrator for the board. The administrator would be the principal executive officer of the Board of Dental Examiners. The position is in the partially exempt state service and pays a monthly salary equal to a step in Range 23. The board prescribes the administrator’s duties and may delegate authority needed to conduct board business. The bill text gives no start date for employing the administrator.

An estate representative may retain dentist ownership interests in a dental office or clinic for 24 months, and the board shall extend that period by 24 months upon 30 days’ notice. This applies when all ownership interests of a dentist or dentists in an office or clinic are held by an administrator, executor, personal representative, guardian, conservator, or receiver of a former owner’s estate. The board may grant further extensions upon reasonable request. If the board finds the representative is not acting in good faith to transfer the interest to a person allowed to own the office or clinic, it may impose a fine of up to $1,000 for each day the interest is kept after the permitted period ends. The first 24-month period begins when the ownership interest is created. A fine may apply for each day the interest is kept after the permitted period ends.