You put a lot into establishing your Louisiana dental hygienist practice, from the education you completed, the examination you passed, the job you gained, and the patients you served. A Louisiana dental hygiene practice can all at once be personally satisfying, professionally sustaining, and financially rewarding. Louisiana’s fine towns, scenic environment, stable economy, and sophisticated healthcare make it all worthwhile. But the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry discipline of your dental hygienist license can bring all those rewards crashing down, costing your employment, reputation, and relationships. Face up to your State Board of Dentistry charges. Retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team for your best disciplinary outcome. Our highly qualified attorneys are available in New Orleans, Lafayette, Metairie, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Kenner, Bossier City, Monroe, Alexandria, Prairieville, Houma, Marrero, Central, and across the rest of Louisiana. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for the skilled and experienced representation you need to preserve and protect your Louisiana dental hygienist license.
Louisiana Dental Hygienist License Requirement
You need your Louisiana Board of Dentistry dental hygiene license to continue your dental hygiene employment and practice. Louisiana Dental Practice Act Section 766 authorizes dentists to employ dental hygienists licensed by the Board of Dentistry. The Act’s Section 765 states the examination requirement and provides that a hygienist passing the exam may receive a license to practice. The Act’s Section 764 states the hygienist’s application and education requirements and other details for qualification. The Act’s Section 788 prohibits unlicensed practice by dental hygienists, authorizes criminal prosecution for unlicensed practice, and threatens up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine for each offense. The Act’s Sections 785 and 789 also authorize the Board of Dentistry to obtain an injunction to prevent unlicensed practice. Unlicensed practice is also a disciplinary ground under the Act’s Section 777, the violation of which could cause the Board to refuse to issue or renew your license. Don’t expect to practice without your license. Instead, let us help you defend and defeat the Louisiana Board of Dentistry disciplinary charges.
Louisiana Dental Hygienist Licensing Authority
You must deal effectively with the Louisiana Board of Dentistry to obtain and retain your dental hygienist license. The Board of Dentistry all at once has the authority to issue, renew, and discipline your dental hygienist license. Louisiana Dental Practice Act Section 760 grants the Board of Dentistry the power to license and regulate dental hygienists for practice in the state. The same section requires the Board of Dentistry to maintain dental hygienist members and appoint committees on dental hygiene practices to recommend rules regulating dental hygienists. The Board of Dentistry is your hygienist regulatory body with dental hygienist members. Afford the Board of Dentistry all the respect its regulatory powers are due when you respond to its disciplinary charges. Let us help you do so effectively.
Louisiana Dental Hygienist License Discipline
The Louisiana Board of Dentistry also has the power to discipline your hygienist license up to suspension or revocation. Once you obtain your initial hygienist license, you remain responsible to the Board of Dentistry to comply with all licensing qualifications, terms, and conditions. Louisiana Dental Practice Act Section 777 authorizes the Board of Dentistry to discipline a dental hygienist’s license on twenty-five different but overlapping grounds. Section 777 also states the discipline that the Board of Dentistry may impose for violations, including not only license suspension and revocation but also license probation or other restriction.” Don’t take your disciplinary charges lightly, even if you believe that you will not incur license suspension or revocation. Any discipline, even as little as a reprimand or probation, may seriously affect your employment, reputation, and relationships. Get our help defending the charges with the goal of avoiding any disciplinary sanction.
Louisiana Dental Hygienist Misconduct
The twenty-five grounds on which the Louisiana Board of Dentistry may discipline a dental hygienist’s license reflect the most common forms of misconduct in which hygienists are likely to engage. The twenty-five violations are also the only grounds for which the Board has express statutory authority to discipline. Louisiana Dental Practice Act Section 777 authorizes dental hygienist license discipline on these grounds:
- affliction with a contagious or infectious disease;
- conviction of a crime, without specifying which crimes;
- fraud or deceit in obtaining a degree or license, otherwise known as credential fraud;
- false testimony before the Board of Dentistry or a court;
- habitual indulgence in the use of drugs or alcohol;
- fraud or false promises to induce dental or dental hygiene patronage;
- license discipline or denial in another state or jurisdiction;
- unauthorized practice outside the scope of dental hygiene;
- incompetence in dental hygiene;
- dental hygiene practice below the standard of care;
- aiding unlicensed dental hygiene practice;
- inability to practice dental hygiene with reasonable skill and safety because of illness or disability;
- employing solicitors to obtain patients other than through advertising;
- advertising dental hygiene while concealing the dental supervisor;
- violating Board of Dentistry rules;
- refusing to submit to a medical examination, the Board of Dentistry orders;
- failing to pay your dental hygiene license renewal fee;
- failing to cooperate with a Board of Dentistry investigation;
- mental illness interfering with the ability to practice dental hygiene safely and with reasonable skill.
If you face Louisiana Board of Dentistry disciplinary charges alleging one or more of the above violations, do not panic and admit to the charges without first retaining us to help you evaluate the charges and your potential defenses. Keep in mind that charges are only allegations. Even if you committed some or all of the misconduct the charges allege, your sanction, if any, may still be a significant question. We may be able to show that you are still perfectly safe, skilled, and fit for dental hygiene practice after having taken appropriate remedial measures. Let us help you respond appropriately to the charges, in your best interest while keeping in mind your duty to meet all Board of Dentistry rules and standards.
Louisiana Dental Hygienist Complaints
The person or people who complain about your dental hygiene practice or personal character and fitness can influence the investigation of the complaint and the outcome of any disciplinary charges. Louisiana Dental Practice Act Section 779 recognizes two sources for a complaint. First, any member of the Louisiana Board of Dentistry may complain against a dental hygienist. Board complaints would generally involve misconduct brought to the Board’s attention by public media reports, law enforcement communication, or communication from another public official, such as a court clerk entering a criminal conviction against the hygienist. Board complaints typically proceed through investigation to formal charges and a hearing. Section 779, though, also recognizes complaints by any member of the public. The Board of Dentistry evaluates public citizen complaints to determine whether to proceed to formal charges. Public citizen complaints may lack merit more often than complaints made by public officials. Retain us as soon as you learn of a complaint against you so that we can help you identify and secure defense evidence, and respond to the complainant or investigator as appropriate.
Louisiana Dental Hygienist Disciplinary Investigation
Louisiana Dental Practice Act Section 760 authorizes the Board of Dentistry to initiate investigations of dental hygienists upon a well-informed complaint suggesting a disciplinary violation. Section 760 further allows the Board and its assigned investigator to obtain a court warrant to seize records relating to a suspected violation when the circumstances indicate that the accused dental hygienist may destroy the records. The investigator, in other words, has significant investigatory powers. The investigator may compel witness testimony and document production from which to prepare an investigation report for the Board of Dentistry review. The investigator may rely entirely on witnesses and documents without contacting the accused dental hygienist, or may interview the dental hygienist after learning everything possible from other witnesses and documentation.
Response to Louisiana Dental Hygienist Investigation
Retain us immediately upon learning of a Louisiana Board of Dentistry disciplinary investigation. The investigator likely has substantial skill and experience in ensuring that the investigator knows more about the allegations than you do before asking for your interview. You have a duty to cooperate with a disciplinary investigation. We can guide you through the process to ensure that you fulfill that duty while only submitting to an interview after you are aware of the nature of the accusations and prepared to respond accurately, truthfully, completely, and without contradiction to the investigator’s inquiry. We can help you identify, secure, preserve, and review all documentation and other information so that your responses to the investigator are well informed of the facts and circumstances. In the best outcome, we may be able to show the investigator that you committed no violation and that the investigation report should recommend dismissal of the complaint without charges.
Louisiana Dental Hygienist Disciplinary Hearing
Louisiana Dental Practice Act Sections 779 and 780 both set forth administrative hearing requirements for the Louisiana Board of Dentistry disciplinary charges. Section 779 expressly incorporates the Louisiana Administrative Procedure Act provisions for contested case hearings. The Board of Dentistry must implement those hearing requirements to satisfy your constitutional due process rights. The Board of Dentistry appoints a committee of its members to hear the formal charge. Section 779 expressly acknowledges your right to retain and rely on defense counsel for the conduct of the hearing on your behalf. Section 779 also raises the Board of Dentistry’s proof standard to clear and convincing evidence, a higher standard than the common preponderance standard.
Defending Louisiana Dental Hygienist Charges
Do not retain an unqualified local criminal defense counsel for your Louisiana Board of Dentistry disciplinary hearing. An administrative license hearing differs in its rules, procedures, laws, and conduct from a criminal court trial. Instead, retain our highly qualified attorneys to invoke your Louisiana Administrative Procedure Act rights so that you can achieve your best possible disciplinary outcome. We will timely answer the charges, raising your defenses. We may seek an early conciliation conference at which to advocate for voluntary dismissal of the charges on remedial relief. If your case does not resolve, we will secure the attendance of your witnesses for the hearing and conduct their direct examination, while cross-examining adverse witnesses.
Louisiana Dental Hygienist Post-Hearing Relief
Do not give up if you have already lost your formal hearing. The Louisiana Administrative Procedure Act, referred to and incorporated by Dental Practice Act Section 779 as discussed above, grants an administrative appeal. Let us pursue your administrative appeal by obtaining the hearing transcript to review for appeal error, preparing the appeal brief, and attending any oral argument.
Mitigating Louisiana Dental Hygienist Sanctions
If your Louisiana Board of Dentistry disciplinary charges accurately allege what you know to be true about your violation of Board rules or standards, we may be able to put on a case in mitigation of any punitive sanction. Just because the charges are substantially true does not mean that you must suffer a punitive sanction. The Board of Dentistry still needs to fit the sanction to the wrong and the Board’s responsibility to protect patients, the profession, and the public. We may be able to show that you had no prior disciplinary record, a strong school and employment record, and no disabling impairment or character issue presenting a dental hygiene practice risk.
Louisiana Dental Hygienist Disciplinary Impacts
When deciding how best to respond to Louisiana Board of Dentistry disciplinary charges, keep in mind that discipline against your license could cause you to lose your dental hygienist employment and income. You could also lose your professional reputation and relationships. Let us help you avoid the consequences of discipline by helping you defend and defeat the charges.
Premier Louisiana Dental Hygienist License Defense
If you face Louisiana Board of Dentistry disciplinary charges, retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team for the highly qualified defense representation you need. We help hundreds of dental hygienists and other health professionals successfully defend license disciplinary charges in Louisiana and nationwide. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now.