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Georgia Board of Dentistry warns of enforcement breakdown, seeks major investigative staffing increase
Summary
Board leaders told the subcommittee that the Board of Dentistry has a backlog exceeding 2,000 complaints, a FY24 case closure rate of 3.1 percent and average resolution times of 18-24 months; the board requested 12 investigative hires, supervisory positions, compliance analysts, training and one-time law enforcement equipment to reduce caseloads.
The Georgia Board of Dentistry told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health that it is unable to meet its regulatory duties with current staffing and budget and asked the committee to fund a substantial build-out of its investigative and compliance unit.
Clint Joyner, executive director for the state boards, told members the Board of Dentistry received 806 complaints in FY24 and now faces a backlog of more than 2,000 cases. He said the board's FY24 case closure rate was only 3.1 percent and the three-year closure rate was 28.3 percent. "The Board of Dentistry is in danger of failing its duty to regulate the practice of dentistry in the state of Georgia," Joyner said to the committee.
The board described the current investigative capacity as effectively one post-certified investigator covering the entire state (with one administrative support hire added recently). To address chronic overload, the board asked for the following recurring and one-time funding: - Recurring: 6 post-certified criminal investigator positions (5 investigators + 1 supervisor) and 6 non-certified compliance analysts (5 compliance investigators + 1 supervisor) priced using median job-code salaries, plus annual training and subscription costs for investigative software (CLEAR). - Recurring pay adjustments: increased funding to retain licensing analysts whose salaries trail comparable state agencies. - One-time: law enforcement equipment scaled to the number of funded criminal investigator positions.
Committee members asked about the kinds of complaints the board receives (unlicensed practice, treatment-related standard-of-care issues, ER transfers and, in some cases, deaths) and whether multiple complaints concern the same licensee; the board said complaints are statewide and can be concentrated in larger population centers. The board also said it has started administrative triage to filter lower-value complaints and is pairing compliance analysts with investigators to improve efficiency.
What the request would change: The board argued that adding compliance analysts would free post-certified investigators to focus on investigative tasks while compliance staff handle administrative tasks and monitor compliance with orders. Those functions, the presenters said, are currently under-resourced and many board orders are effectively tracked on an honor system due to a lack of personnel.
