§ 613. Practice; scope of practice

(a) A person who provides oral health care services, including prevention, evaluation, and assessment; education; palliative therapy; and restoration under the general supervision of a dentist within the parameters of a collaborative agreement as provided under section 614 of this subchapter shall be regarded as practicing as a dental therapist within the meaning of this chapter.

(b) A dental therapist may perform the following oral health care services:

(1) Oral health instruction and disease prevention education, including nutritional counseling and dietary analysis.

(2) Periodontal charting, including a periodontal screening examination.

(3) Exposing radiographs.

(4) Oral evaluation and assessment of dental disease.

(5) Dental prophylaxis.

(6) Mechanical polishing.

(7) Applying topical preventive or prophylactic agents, including fluoride varnishes, antimicrobial agents, and pit and fissure sealants.

(8) Pulp vitality testing.

(9) Applying desensitizing medication or resin.

(10) Fabricating athletic mouthguards.

(11) Suture removal.

(12) Changing periodontal dressings.

(13) Brush biopsies.

(14) Administering local anesthetic.

(15) Placement of temporary restorations.

(16) Interim therapeutic restorations.

(17) Placement of temporary and preformed crowns.

(18) Emergency palliative treatment of dental pain in accordance with the other requirements of this subsection.

(19) Formulating an individualized treatment plan, including services within the dental therapist’s scope of practice and referral for services outside the dental therapist’s scope of practice.

(20) Minor repair of defective prosthetic devices.

(21) Recementing permanent crowns.

(22) Placement and removal of space maintainers.

(23) Prescribing, dispensing, and administering analgesics, anti-inflammatories, and antibiotics, except Schedule II, III, or IV controlled substances.

(24) Administering nitrous oxide.

(25) Fabricating soft occlusal guards, but not for treatment of temporomandibular joint disorders.

(26) Tissue conditioning and soft reline.

(27) Tooth reimplantation and stabilization.

(28) Extractions of primary teeth.

(29) Nonsurgical extractions of periodontally diseased permanent teeth with tooth mobility of +3. A dental therapist shall not extract a tooth if it is unerupted, impacted, fractured, or needs to be sectioned for removal.

(30) Cavity preparation.

(31) Restoring primary and permanent teeth, not including permanent tooth crowns, bridges, veneers, or denture fabrication.

(32) Preparation and placement of preformed crowns for primary teeth.

(33) Pulpotomies on primary teeth.

(34) Indirect and direct pulp capping on primary and permanent teeth. (Added 2015, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. June 2, 2016.)