H-1176.1                  _______________________________________________

                                                      HOUSE BILL 1801

                              _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              53rd Legislature                             1993 Regular Session

By Representatives Morris, Flemming, Dellwo, Dyer, Zellinsky, Dorn, Valle, Rayburn, Ludwig, Bray, Pruitt and Long

Read first time 02/10/93.  Referred to Committee on Health Care.

Granting temporary licenses to dental hygienists licensed in another state.

          AN ACT Relating to granting temporary licenses to dental hygienists licensed in another state; amending RCW 18.29.005; and adding a new section to chapter 18.29 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 18.29 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) A person who holds a valid license issued by another state that permits the licensee to perform the procedures in subsection (2) of this section and is engaged in active practice in that state shall be granted a temporary license without the examination required by this chapter.  The term of the temporary license is eighteen months, and it is nonrenewable.  The secretary shall require the applicant to:  (a) File with the secretary documentation certifying that the applicant is licensed to practice in another state; (b) file with the secretary documentation certifying that the applicant has graduated from an accredited dental hygiene school approved by the secretary; (c) provide information as the secretary deems necessary pertaining to the conditions and criteria of the uniform disciplinary act, chapter 18.130 RCW, and to demonstrate to the secretary a knowledge of Washington state law pertaining to the practice of dental hygiene; (d) pay any required fees; and (e) meet requirements for asepsis and AIDS education.

          (2) A dental hygienist practicing with a temporary license granted under this section may perform hygiene procedures that are limited to:

          (a) Oral inspection and measuring of periodontal pockets;

          (b) Patient education in oral hygiene;

          (c) Taking intra-oral and extra-oral radiographs;

          (d) Applying topical preventive or prophylactic agents;

          (e) Polishing and smoothing restorations;

          (f) Oral prophylaxis and removal of deposits and stains from the surface of the teeth;

          (g) Recording health histories;

          (h) Taking and recording blood pressure and vital signs;

          (i) Performing subgingival and supragingival scaling; and

          (j) Root planing.

          (3) A dental hygienist practicing with a temporary license may not perform the following dental hygiene operations and services:

          (a) Giving injections of local anesthetic;

          (b) Placing restorations into a cavity prepared by a licensed dentist and then carving, contouring, and adjusting the contacts and reclusion of the restoration; or

          (c) Soft tissue curettage.

          (4) A person who holds a valid license issued by another state and who demonstrates substantively equivalent education and training in the administration of local anesthetic may be granted an endorsement on a temporary license issued under this section to administer local anesthesia.  The endorsement expires with the temporary license.

          (5) A person who holds a valid license issued by another state and who demonstrates substantively equivalent education and training in restorative procedures may be granted an endorsement on a temporary license issued under this section to perform restorative procedures.  The endorsement expires with the temporary license.

          (6) For the purposes of this section, "active practice" means five hundred sixty hours of practice in the thirty months immediately preceding the date an application for a temporary license under this section is received by the department.

        Sec. 2.  RCW 18.29.005 and 1969 c 47 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Department" means the department of health.

(2) "Secretary" means the secretary of health.

          ((The term)) (3) "Surfaces of the teeth" ((as used in this chapter)) means the portions of the crown and root surface to which there is no periodontal membrane attached.

                                                           --- END ---