Dental Board backs major changes to infection-control training, approves large provider fees and alters online-course limits

The Dental Board of California approved a package of changes on May 15 that would raise application fees for board approval of several new dental-assisting courses, set a 90-day period for new unlicensed dental assistants to complete an infection-control course, and remove a committee-inserted limit on use of online-only infection-control courses for licensure pathways.

Board staff proposed the changes as part of Assembly Bill 873 and related cleanups. Tina Valerie, chief of licensure and program compliance, told the board staff “have been conducting standard and complaint driven reevaluations of programs and courses and have found major compliance issues with the majority,” and that an existing $300 application fee “does not cover staff costs.” Valerie’s presentation summarized site-visit findings and a fiscal analysis that led staff to request much larger provider fees for the board’s review and approval work.

Why it matters: the board said the higher fees are intended to cover the staff time required to review applications for new courses the Legislature has added or revised — most notably interim therapeutic…