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Dental leaders and advocates clash over new dental-assistant rules and foreign-trained pathways
Summary
The DC Dental Society and dental hygienists urged changes to the Board of Dentistry’s rules — opposing a proposed registration for sterilization staff while supporting scope expansions for dental assistants and pathways for foreign-trained clinicians; the board outlined a teaching-license pathway and incentive registration policies.
Kurt Gallagher, executive director of the DC Dental Society, urged the Committee on Health to reject a Board of Dentistry proposal that would require registration of staff who perform sterilization, cleaning and related functions, saying the board offered little justification and the change could restrict entry-level pathways into dentistry.
"Sterilization techs are an important entry level position in dental practices, and we've seen employees start out in these positions and work their way up as assistants, dental hygienists and even dentists," Gallagher said, arguing the registration would create barriers without clear public-safety justification.
Siobhan Healy, representing hygienists and assistants, told the committee collaborative practice agreements created by the 2024 scope-of-practice law remain unregulated and stressed the need for rules that enable hygienists to deliver preventive services in community settings. The Board's chair, Dr. Michelle Tortue, told the committee the board has implemented an incentivized registration process for dental assistants (including a 90-day supervised practice period) and approved a Level 2 dental assistant registration to expand career pathways.
On foreign-trained professionals, board members said the teaching-license pathway allows foreign-trained dentists to work in educational settings (e.g., at Howard) while they pursue additional coursework or national-exam eligibility; staff emphasized national testing and accreditation requirements limit direct conversion of foreign credentials. The committee asked the board for timelines on collaborative practice regulation and for data on registration and application-processing times.
