BILL REQ. #:  S-3789.1 

Read first time 01/12/2006.   Referred to Committee on Health & Long-Term Care.

     AN ACT Relating to initial limited licenses for dental hygienists; amending RCW 18.29.190; and repealing RCW 18.29.200.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 18.29.190 and 2004 c 262 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall issue an initial limited license without the examination required by this chapter to any applicant who, as determined by the secretary:
     (a) Holds a valid license in another state that allows ((the)) a substantively equivalent scope of practice in subsection (3)(a) through (j) of this section;
     (b) Is currently engaged in active practice in another state. For the purposes of this section, "active practice" means five hundred sixty hours of practice in the preceding twenty-four months;
     (c) Files with the secretary documentation certifying that the applicant:
     (i) Has graduated from an accredited dental hygiene school approved by the secretary;
     (ii) Has successfully completed the dental hygiene national board examination; and
     (iii) Is licensed to practice in another state;
     (d) Provides information as the secretary deems necessary pertaining to the conditions and criteria of the uniform disciplinary act, chapter 18.130 RCW;
     (e) Demonstrates to the secretary a knowledge of Washington state law pertaining to the practice of dental hygiene, including the administration of legend drugs;
     (f) Pays any required fees; and
     (g) Meets requirements for AIDS education.
     (2) The term of the initial limited license issued under this section is eighteen months and it is renewable upon ((demonstration of successful passage of the examination for administering local anesthetic and nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia)):
     (a) Demonstration of successful passage of a substantively equivalent dental hygiene patient evaluation/prophylaxis examination;
     (b) Demonstration of successful passage of a substantively equivalent local anesthesia examination; and
     (c) Demonstration of didactic and clinical competency in the administration of nitrous oxide analgesia.
     (3) A person practicing with an initial limited license granted under this section has the authority to 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) Performing root planing.
     (4)(a) A person practicing with an initial limited license granted under this section may not perform the following dental hygiene procedures unless authorized in (b) or (c) of this subsection:
     (i) Give injections of local anesthetic;
     (ii) Place restorations into the cavity prepared by a licensed dentist and afterwards carve, contour, and adjust contacts and occlusion of the restoration;
     (iii) Soft tissue curettage; or
     (iv) Administer nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia.
     (b) A person licensed in another state who can demonstrate substantively equivalent licensing standards in the administration of local anesthetic may receive a temporary endorsement to administer local anesthesia. For purposes of the renewed limited license, this endorsement demonstrates the successful passage of the local anesthesia examination.
     (c) A person licensed in another state who can demonstrate substantively equivalent licensing standards in restorative procedures may receive a temporary endorsement for restorative procedures.
     (5)(a) A person practicing with a renewed limited license granted under this section may:
     (i) Perform hygiene procedures as provided under subsection (3) of this section;
     (ii) Give injections of local anesthetic;
     (iii) Perform soft tissue curretage; and
     (iv) Administer nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia.
     (b) A person practicing with a renewed limited license granted under this section may not place restorations into the cavity prepared by a licensed dentist and afterwards carve, contour, and adjust contacts and occlusion of the restoration.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   RCW 18.29.200 (Temporary licensees--Requirements for regular examination) and 1993 c 323 s 3 are each repealed.