Board of Dentistry Meets in Tallahassee

Feb 9, 2024 by Casey Stoutamire
On May 18, 2018, the Board of Dentistry covered topics such as the new opioid legislation, dental therapists, restorative function, and more.
The Florida Board of Dentistry (BOD) met in Tallahassee on Friday, May 18. BOD members present included Dr. T.J. Tejera, chair, Dr. Naved Fatmi, vice chair; Drs. Joe Calderone, Matt Freedman, Nick Kavouklis, Claudio Miro and Nick White; hygiene members, Ms. Cathy Cabanzon and Ms. Angie Sissine; and consumer member, Mr. Fabio Andrade. There is one consumer member position open on the Board that the governor has not yet filled. This was the first meeting for Drs. Freedman and White, who were appointed to the BOD earlier this year.

The Florida Dental Association (FDA) was represented by FDA BOD Liaison Dr. Don Ilkka and Director of Third Party Payer and Professional Affairs Casey Stoutamire. Other FDA members in attendance included: Drs. Andy Brown, Walter Colon, Mike Eggnatz, Dan Gesek, Rick Huot, Bernie Kahn, George Kolos, Eddie Martin, Jeff Ottley, Howard Pranikoff and Michael Ragan. FDA professional staff in attendance included FDA Executive Director Drew Eason, Chief Legislative Officer Joe Anne Hart and Governmental Affairs Liaison Alexandra Abboud.

The BOD heard a presentation on dental therapists from Dr. Frank Catalanotto. No action was taken by the BOD on this issue. Immediately following Dr. Catalanotto’s presentation, FDA President Dr. Mike Eggnatz gave a presentation on Florida’s Action for Dental Health (FADH). Dr. Eggnatz did a great job outlining the FDA’s priorities included in FADH and his remarks were well-received by the BOD. 

Mr. David Flynn, BOD counsel, updated the board on a recent Federal Trade Commission opinion from Louisiana regarding how much supervision a regulatory board, made up of market participants (such as the BOD), must have. As a result of this opinion, Florida will tighten its active supervision of boards, made up of market participants, to include a mechanism for the state entity reviewing board actions to not only review those actions, but also have the ability to revise and/or veto them.

Ms. Sissine updated the BOD on the status of the digital scanning and restorative function dental auxiliary (RFDA) proposals discussed by the Rules Committee on its May conference call. The Rules Committee is proposing that the taking of digital scans or images for fabrication of final intraoral restorations or active orthodontic appliances be under direct supervision to ensure that a dentist will review the work before it is sent to the lab. Current supervision levels for wet impressions remain unchanged, even if taken digitally. The Rules Committee has been reviewing the FDA's RFDA proposal from 2011 to allow dental hygienists and assistants to receive additional training to perform restorative functions. The Rules Committee will meet in person on Aug. 23, the day before the August BOD meeting, to discuss the proposal and then move it forward to the Hygiene Council for its review so that it can be voted upon by the full BOD at its November meeting. 

The BOD discussed the recent opioid legislation signed by the governor, House Bill (HB) 21, and its implications for dentistry. The Florida Medical Association (FMA), Florida Academy of Family Physicians, Florida College of Emergency Physicians and Florida Osteopathic Medical Association were approved as providers of the mandatory continuing education (CE) course on controlled substances. Both the FDA and FMA’s joint online course ​and in-person course held at the Florida Dental Convention ​has been board approved and licensees ​were able to fulfill their CE requirement by​ completing the online course. The BOD also approved rule language requiring all licensees registered with the DEA to prescribe opioids to take a two-hour CE course on opioids by Jan. 31, 2019 and at each subsequent biennium as required by HB 21. The two-hour CE requirement will be included in the 30-hour CE requirement for licensure renewal, not in addition to. Teaching permit holders also will be required to take the two-hour CE course on opioids. The BOD is working on a complete rewrite of Rule 64B5-17.0045, Standards for the Use of Controlled Substances for Treatment of Pain. There ​was a multi-board meeting of the boards of medicine, dentistry, nursing, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy and podiatric medicine on June 21, and draft language ​was developed for the BOD to review at its August meeting. The BOD discussed its citation authority for failing to check and report data to the Prescription Drug Monitoring Database (PDMP), which all prescribers of opioids must be registered to use by July 1, 2018. The BOD approved a $250 fine for failing to report controlled substance information to the PDMP and a $100 fine for failure to consult the PDMP prior to dispensing a controlled substance. There was much discussion on how the Department of Health (DOH) would monitor these violations. It was stated that the DOH will not be auditing the PDMP and that violations would most likely be discovered as part of a larger investigation on another issue. Finally, the BOD approved a motion to revise the various dental licensing applications to add a question asking if the applicant is registered with the DEA. The DOH recently established a website dedicated to the implementation of HB 21 and its impact on providers. Click here to visit the website. 

There were three disciplinary cases before the BOD: one determination of waiver and two voluntary relinquishments that dealt with fraudulently accessing opioid medications, failing to meet the minimum standard of care and Medicaid fraud. If you have not yet attended a BOD meeting, it is suggested that you take the opportunity to attend and see the work of the BOD. It is much better to be a spectator than a participant in BOD disciplinary cases.

The next BOD meeting is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 24, 2018, at 7:30 a.m. EST in Tampa. For additional information on the BOD, click here.

Today's FDA - July/Aug 2018