This chapter shall not:

Terms Used In Virginia Code 54.1-2701

  • Board: means the Board of Dentistry. See Virginia Code 54.1-2700
  • Dental hygienist: means a person who is licensed by the Board to practice dental hygiene. See Virginia Code 54.1-2700
  • Dentist: means a person who has been awarded a degree in and is licensed by the Board to practice dentistry. See Virginia Code 54.1-2700
  • Dentistry: means the evaluation, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment, through surgical, nonsurgical, or related procedures, of diseases, disorders, and conditions of the oral cavity and the maxillofacial, adjacent, and associated structures and their impact on the human body. See Virginia Code 54.1-2700
  • in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • License: means the document issued to an applicant upon completion of requirements for admission to practice dentistry or dental hygiene in the Commonwealth or upon registration for renewal of license to continue the practice of dentistry or dental hygiene in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 54.1-2700
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
  • United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255

1. Apply to a licensed physician or surgeon unless he practices dentistry as a specialty;

2. Apply to an advanced practice registered nurse certified by the Board of Nursing and the Board of Medicine except that intraoral procedures shall be performed only under the direct supervision of a licensed dentist;

3. Apply to a dentist or a dental hygienist of the United States Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Public Health Service, or Department of Veterans Affairs;

4. Apply to any dentist of the United States Army, Navy, Coast Guard, or Air Force rendering services voluntarily and without compensation while deemed to be licensed pursuant to § 54.1-106;

5. Apply to any dentist or dental hygienist who (i) does not regularly practice dentistry in Virginia, (ii) holds a current valid license or certificate to practice as a dentist or dental hygienist in another state, territory, district or possession of the United States, (iii) volunteers to provide free health care to an underserved area of the Commonwealth under the auspices of a publicly supported nonprofit organization that sponsors the provision of health care to populations of underserved people, (iv) files a copy of the license or certificate issued in such other jurisdiction with the Board, (v) notifies the Board at least five days prior to the voluntary provision of services of the dates and location of such service, and (vi) acknowledges, in writing, that such licensure exemption shall only be valid, in compliance with the Board’s regulations, during the limited period that such free health care is made available through the nonprofit organization on the dates and at the location filed with the Board. Clauses (iv), (v), and (vi) shall not apply to dentists and dental hygienists volunteering to provide free health care to an underserved area of the Commonwealth under the auspices of a publicly supported nonprofit organization that sponsors the provision of health care to populations of underserved people if they do so for a period not exceeding three consecutive days and if the nonprofit organization verifies that the practitioner has a valid, unrestricted license in another state. The Board may deny the right to practice in Virginia to any dentist or dental hygienist whose license has been previously suspended or revoked, who has been convicted of a felony, or who is otherwise found to be in violation of applicable laws or regulations; or

6. Prevent an office assistant from performing usual secretarial duties or other assistance as set forth in regulations promulgated by the Board.

Code 1950, §§ 54-149 through 54-151, 54-172; 1970, c. 639; 1972, c. 805, § 54-200.23; 1975, c. 479; 1988, c. 765; 1995, c. 509; 2002, c. 740; 2003, c. 495; 2019, c. 290; 2023, c. 183.