For purposes of this chapter:
(1) "Academic license" means a license issued under § 1132A of this title to a full-time director, chairperson, or attending faculty
member of a hospital based dental, oral and maxillofacial surgery, or other specialty dental residency program for the purposes of
teaching.
(2) "Board" means the State Board of Dentistry and Dental Hygiene established in this chapter.
(3) "Dental assistant" means any person not licensed to practice dentistry or dental hygiene in this State, who aids a dentist in the
performance of generalized tasks, including chair-side aid, clerical work, reception, radiography, dental laboratory work, and any other
such tasks delegated by the dentist.
(4) "Dental auxiliary personnel" means any person not licensed to practice dentistry in this State, who works in a dental office as
either a dental assistant, dental hygienist, dental technician, or otherwise.
(5) "Dental hygienist" means a person who is qualified to practice dental hygiene as prescribed in this chapter.
(6) "Dental technician" means any person not licensed to practice dentistry in this State, engaged in the business of constructing,
altering, repairing or duplicating full dentures ("plates"), partial dentures, splints, orthodontic appliances, fixed bridges, or any other
prosthetic appliances.
(7) "Dentist" means a person who is qualified to practice dentistry as prescribed in the chapter.
(8) "Direct supervision" means the dentist is physically present in the dental office or facility for the duration of the procedure,
diagnoses the condition to be treated, authorizes the procedure, and examines the patient before the patient's dismissal.
(9) "Division" means the Division of Professional Regulation.
(10) "Electronic prescription" means a prescription that is generated on an electronic application and transmitted as an electronic data
file.
(11) "Excessive use or abuse of drugs" means any use of narcotics, controlled substances, or illegal drugs without a prescription from
a licensed individual with valid prescriptive authority or the abuse of alcoholic beverage or prescription or nonprescription drugs, such
that it impairs a person's ability to perform the work of a dentist or dental hygienist.
(12) "Local anesthesia" means the elimination of sensations, especially pain, in 1 part of the body by the topical application or
regional injection of a drug, and includes anesthesia administered using the infiltration technique and anesthesia administered using the
nerve block technique.
(13) "Person" means a corporation, company, association, or partnership, as well as an individual.
(14) "Practice of dental hygiene" means the removal of calculus deposits, plaque and stains from all surfaces of the teeth, and making
instrumental examinations of the oral cavity, and assembling all necessary information for use by the dentist in diagnosis and treatment
planning, and the performance of such prophylactic or preventive measures in the case of teeth, including the application of chemicals to
the teeth and periodontal tissues, designed and approved for the prevention of dental caries or periodontal disease, as the Board may
authorize. The "practice of dental hygiene" also includes the administration of local anesthesia under the direct supervision of a licensed
dentist and in accordance with requirements and standards that the Board shall establish by regulation. The "practice of dental hygiene"
does not include any other operation on the teeth or tissues of the mouth.
(15) "Practice of dentistry" means the evaluation, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment (nonsurgical, surgical or related procedures) of
diseases, disorders, and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area, and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on
the human body provided by a dentist within the scope of the dentist's education, training, and experience, in accordance with the ethics
of the profession and applicable law. A person is construed to practice dentistry who by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, opening of an
office, or in any other way, including use of the words "dentist," "dental surgeon," the letters "D.D.S.," "D.M.D.," or other letters or
titles, represents the person to be a dentist, or who holds oneself out as able to perform, or who does perform, dental services or work. A
person is regarded as practicing dentistry who is a manager, proprietor, operator, or conductor of a place for performing dental
operations or who for a fee, salary, or other reward paid, or to be paid either to oneself or to another person, performs or advertises to
perform dental operations of any kind.
(16) "State" means the State of Delaware.
(17) "Substantially related" means the nature of the criminal conduct, for which the person was convicted, has a direct bearing on the
fitness or ability to perform 1 or more of the duties or responsibilities necessarily related to the practice of dentistry or dental hygiene.‹ Prev All Delaware sections Next ›
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