As a licensed dental hygienist, you have studied, passed exams, and practiced your profession. You know that oral health and hygiene are an essential part of overall wellness, and you understand your responsibilities to your patients and your community.
Given your commitment to your patients, it can be devastating to learn a complaint has been made against you. Whether you practice in Dover, Rehoboth Beach, Wilmington, or in a smaller community, you need your license to work. Any accusation of misconduct against your license puts your ability to work at risk.
At the LLF National Law Firm, we defend dental hygienists and other medical and health care professionals accused of misconduct.
You studied and trained to care for your patients. We studied and trained to help you protect your license. Let our experienced Professional License Defense Team partner with you to navigate any disciplinary investigation or hearing. To discuss your case with the LLF National Law Firm’s experienced attorneys, call our offices at 888-535-3686 or complete a confidential online form.
Delaware’s Division of Professional Regulation and Board of Dentistry and Dental Hygiene
From charting cavities to completing preliminary exams, dental hygienists depend on their education, training, and experience when caring for patients. Additionally, dental hygienists must practice in accordance with Delaware’s statute on dentistry and dental hygiene, and the related rules promulgated by the Division of Professional Regulation (DPR).
In Delaware, the DPR and the Board of Dentistry and Dental Hygiene (the Board) are responsible for protecting patients who receive dental and dental hygiene care. To maintain the standards of competency and care, the Board oversees licensing, monitors complaints, imposes sanctions, and promulgates rules and regulations for dental care providers, including dental hygienists.
The Board consists of nine members and must include:
- Five licensed dentists
- One licensed dental hygienist
- Three members of the public
Board members are appointed by the governor. Additionally, the three-member Dental Hygiene Advisory Committee votes with the members of the Board on matters related to dental hygienist licensure, the licensing exam, license renewal matters, and disciplinary matters involving dental hygienists.
Your License and Your Future Deserve a Comprehensive Defense
Dental patients often depend on the calm, consistent bedside manner of dental hygienists to tolerate dental procedures. From conducting preliminary dental exams to taking dental x-rays, dental hygienists perform wide-ranging duties with a commitment to easing patient anxiety and improving patient outcomes.
In contrast, Delaware’s license disciplinary process is adversarial with far-reaching consequences. The Board or the DPR will not protect you, your livelihood, or your family’s financial well-being. An allegation of misconduct alone can destroy an otherwise spotless reputation. Many licensed professionals discover that a disciplinary investigation leads to isolation and estrangement from mentors, employers, and colleagues.
Additionally, the disciplinary process may disrupt the support systems and personal lives of the accused. Too often, the licensee isolates from friends and loved ones, suffering the stress of the ongoing investigation, contentious hearing, and an uncertain outcome alone.
An adverse disciplinary decision or sanction may end your current employment and limit future career opportunities. If you can’t work, your financial security may be in jeopardy. As a result, take any accusation of misconduct made against you seriously.
The LLF National Law Firm can partner with you to challenge any accusation.
Defending Your License in Delaware
The DPR’s Investigative Unit is responsible for complaints that accuse dental hygienists of violating Delaware’s professional licensing statute and regulations. Its authority is limited and does not include disputes over billing, insurance coverage, contract disputes, and other non-licensing related conflicts.
Complaint
Complaints against a dental hygienist may be made through Delaware’s online DELPROS system. The DPR will confirm receipt of the complaint with the complainant and send the complaint information to the accused licensee. The accused licensee may file an answer to the complaint within 20 calendar days of receiving the complaint.
Importantly, anyone can submit a complaint against a dental hygienist. Patients, colleagues, other licensees, co-workers, insurers, and employers are frequently the source of complaints.
In Delaware, licensed-health care providers are mandated reporters. By law, they are required to report any healthcare provider, including dental hygienists, who have engaged or are engaging in misconduct that would be grounds for disciplinary action or who are unable to practice with reasonable skill due to excessive drugs or alcohol use, mental illness, mental incompetence, or physical illness.
Investigation
The DPR investigator will review the complaint and begin collecting evidence, including documents, written responses, witness interviews, and inspections. At the conclusion of the investigation, the Board decides whether there is evidence of misconduct.
If there is not adequate evidence of misconduct, the case is dismissed.
If there is credible evidence of misconduct, the case is forwarded to the office of the Delaware Attorney General. If the Attorney General’s office agrees that further action is required, a formal hearing will be scheduled.
Consent Agreement
A formal hearing may be avoided if the accused licensee negotiates a consent agreement with Delaware officials. A consent agreement is an agreement that allows the accused to avoid a formal disciplinary hearing by admitting misconduct and agreeing to a sanction.
Our Professional License Defense Team understands that many accused licensees want a fast and favorable resolution, particularly if it avoids a formal hearing. Before signing any consent order or settlement agreement, a licensee must understand all of its terms, including its impact on their ability to practice. If you are considering a consent order, make sure you understand all of its terms, including how your practice may be restricted, before signing.
The LLF National Law Firm believes in approaching all negotiations with a clear understanding of the accused licensee’s priorities. Our attorneys can work to resolve a disciplinary complaint through a consent agreement and advocate for you during all negotiations.
The Formal Hearing
If an informal resolution or consent order is not possible, the disciplinary process will proceed to a formal hearing under Delaware’s Administrative Procedure Act. At the conclusion of the hearing, the hearing panel determines that a violation has occurred.
If the panel determines there is no violation, the complaint is dismissed.
Order and Board’s Approval
If the hearing panel determines that a violation occurred, the panel issues an order with proposed findings of fact, conclusions of law, and disciplinary sanctions. Possible disciplinary sanctions may range from a formal reprimand or fine, to license suspension or revocation.
Importantly, disciplinary actions and professional and occupational license tests are public information in Delaware and may be reviewed online.
The hearing panel’s order is final after approval of the Board.
In the event of an adverse determination, the Board’s final decision may be appealed on limited grounds and with a strict filing deadline. If you have been sanctioned by the Board, contact the LLF National Law Firm immediately so that our experienced professional license defense attorneys can review your case and identify and preserve your appeal rights.
Your education and experience are the foundation for your dental hygiene practice. You are trained to care for patients, not navigate the complexities of Delaware’s professional license disciplinary hearings. At the LLF National Law Firm, we can manage the disciplinary proceedings so that you can concentrate on your patients and your career.
Common Misconduct Allegations in Complaints Made Against Dental Hygienists in Delaware
Delaware’s statutes and rules create the regulatory architecture in which licensed healthcare professionals, including dental hygienists, practice. These standards are intended to protect the public from the unethical, dangerous, inappropriate, or deceptive conduct by trusted licensed professionals.
In Delaware, dental hygienists may be disciplined for misconduct, including violations such as:
- Practicing outside the authorized scope of practice or without maintenance of competency
- Creating, recording, or altering patient care, employment, or licensure documents in a false or inaccurate manner
- Engaging or threatening violence, verbal abuse, or physical abuse of patients, co-workers, or members of the public
- Violating professional boundaries of the dental hygienist-patient relationship, including but not limited to physical, sexual, emotional, or financial exploitation of the patient
- Engaging in sexual conduct with a patient, including touching a patient in a sexual manner, requesting or offering sexual favors, or using language or behaving in a similarly suggestive manner
- Failing to safeguard a patient’s dignity and right to privacy
- Violating patient confidentiality
- Practicing dental hygiene when unfit to perform procedures and make decisions because of physical or mental impairment or a dependence on alcohol or drugs
- Diverting, possessing, obtaining, supplying, or administering prescription drugs to yourself or any person, except as directed by a person authorized to prescribe drugs
- Engaging in fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit in taking the licensure exam, or in obtaining a license or temporary permit
- Failing to report unprofessional conduct by another licensee
- Holding yourself out as or practicing as a dental hygienist without a current license
Importantly, the failure of a licensee to comply with the terms and conditions of a disciplinary action constitutes misconduct. It is critically important that any licensee found responsible for a violation understands how to comply with their sanction.
For a dental hygienist, a complaint against your license can jeopardize your livelihood. It makes sense to feel overwhelmed, angry, or scared. You may want to ignore the complaint in hopes that it will disappear or delay your defense until you know what to do.
Don’t let fear determine your response to a disciplinary complaint. Instead, take action and partner with the experienced license defense attorneys at the LLF National Law Firm. Our attorneys can help bring order to the complexities and uncertainties of the disciplinary process, from investigation to formal hearing. Let the Professional License Defense Team advocate on your behalf and fight to protect your dental hygienist license.
It’s Never Too Late to Partner with the LLF National Law Firm
With your license and livelihood on the line, you need the LLF National Law Firm in your corner, fighting for you and your future. We can develop a comprehensive license defense strategy to handle each step of the investigative and hearing process with you.
Our team can respond to the initial complaint on your behalf. Additionally, we can help you prepare for an interview with an investigator or to testify as part of a hearing.
Every interaction you have with the DPR, the Board, or their representative is important. A careless statement can be used as evidence against you, treated as an admission of misconduct, or undermine your defense strategy.
Let us help. By collaborating on each step of the investigative and adjudicative process, we can work together and ensure your written and verbal statements are clear, well-reasoned, and easy for investigators and adjudicators to understand.
The Professional License Defense Team can lead our own investigation to identify mitigating evidence and exonerating witnesses. DPR investigators are not neutral, third-party investigators with unlimited resources. Even the best and most unbiased investigator can miss an essential fact or overlook an important mitigating witness. We understand the complexity of licensing investigations. We will diligently search for relevant evidence and witnesses in support of your case.
Whether the complaint leads to an informal resolution, a consent agreement, or a formal hearing, the LLF National Law Firm will work at your side, collaborating to identify your best interests and keep you informed of the progress of the disciplinary matter.
In Delaware, license disciplinary investigations and hearings can be long and arduous. The rules of procedure are strict, and a missed deadline may limit your rights. It is never too late to discuss your case with a member of the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team.
Partner with the LLF National Law Firm
You don’t have to navigate an investigation or hearing alone. If you practice in Delaware, the LLF National Law Firm can help.
We know your work is both a profession and a calling. Whether charting cavities or demonstrating best practices for dental care, you deliver quality, responsive dental care to your patients. Your patients need your knowledge and expertise, and you need your license to provide this critical care.
Take action to protect yourself and your future by contacting the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team at 888-535-3686 or contact us online.