SB325 Alabama 2011 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Paul Bussman

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2011

Title

Dental Examiners of Alabama, Board of, dentists and dental hygienists, regulation and licensure, substantially revised, Secs. 34-9-2, 34-9-3, 34-9-5, 34-9-6, 34-9-6.1, 34-9-7, 34-9-8, 34-9-10, 34-9-13, 34-9-15, 34-9-15.1, 34-9-16, 34-9-18, 34-9-20, 34-9-21, 34-9-22, 34-9-24, 34-9-26, 34-9-27, 34-9-28, 34-9-40, 34-9-41, 34-9-42, 34-9-43, 34-9-44, 34-9-46, 34-9-60, 34-9-63, 34-9-82, 34-9-89 am'd.

Summary

SB325 would broadly overhaul Alabama's dental regulation by expanding licensing, tightening safety rules for mobile dentistry, adding new fees and penalties, and modernizing registration and record-keeping.

What This Bill Does

If enacted, the bill removes the maximum fine for Dental Practice Act violations and increases board fines; regulates tooth bleaching; clarifies regulation of mobile and portable dental operations; creates dental faculty teaching certificates and special teaching permits; extends licensure timelines; allows electronic registration and ballots; and strengthens oversight and enforcement. It also requires advanced cardiac life support for parenteral sedation, mandates written informed consent for sedative procedures, and updates various administrative rules (e.g., reporting address changes, record releases, and fee structures). It includes provisions to regulate cross-state practice with special licenses and to expand the board's staffing and procedural authority.

Who It Affects

• Dentists and dental hygienists licensed in Alabama, who would face higher fines, new licensure pathways and timelines, new reporting and record-keeping requirements, electronic registration, and potential new license types and fees.
• Mobile dental facilities, portable dental operations, dental students and faculty involved with these services, and patients treated by such services, who would must comply with new registration, safety, emergency follow-up, consent, record-keeping, and coordination requirements.

Key Provisions

• Eliminate the maximum fine for violations of the Dental Practice Act and increase administrative fines to up to $5,000 per offense.
• Regulate bleaching of human teeth and instruction in tooth bleaching.
• Separate and expand regulation of mobile dental facilities and portable dental operations, including registration, location, contact information, emergency follow-up, and record-keeping requirements.
• Authorize issuance of dental faculty teaching certificates and dental faculty special teaching permits for non-licensed clinical faculty at dental colleges.
• Extend time for licensure by examination and licensure after clinical residency or military service from 18 months to five years; allow submission of affidavits by practitioners.
• Provide inactive status for special purpose licenses to practice across state lines; establish special license provisions for cross-state practice.
• Require registration to be electronic; allow electronic ballots for board elections and update election processes.
• Require dentists to release patient records; records release obligations survive sale of a practice.
• Delete minimum fee schedules and establish maximum fees for special purpose licensure renewal, dental faculty teaching permits, and mobile/portable operation registrations; increase dental hygiene annual registration from $75 to $150.
• Allow board discipline for fraud, deceit in licensing, or prescribing drugs not dentally related.
• Increase board-imposed penalties and update terminology; require licensees to report changes of address or employment in writing.
• Authorize board to publish minutes and regulatory information online; expand board staffing and auditing rules; remove CPA audit requirement and investigators' subsistence allowances; authorize any board member to issue subpoenas.
• Require advanced cardiac life support training for dentists using parenteral sedation and require written informed consent for procedures using sedatives.
• Regulate parenteral and other sedation permits, including on-site inspections and facility/equipment standards.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 25, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Dental Examiners of Alabama, Board of