Earning your license to become a dentist was a long, hard road. Following your undergraduate degree, you had to apply for and get into a 4-year dental program, pass your national board and state or regional clinical exams, and maybe even complete another 2 to 6 years of residency if you wanted to pursue a specialty.
As you worked through all the demands of obtaining your license, maybe you thought that once you finished all your training and earned your license, you’d be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe you believed the hard part was over, and it would be smooth sailing from here on out.
But despite what you might have thought or hoped for while you were in dental school, working as a dentist isn’t an easy life. Dentistry brings with it endless challenges, from anxious patients to high operational costs to struggles with insurance agencies. For dentists working in the greater Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, area, intense competition for patients further exacerbates the difficulties of practicing dentistry.
During dental school, you may have also believed that once you were practicing, you’d always provide great care and maintain the highest standards of honesty and integrity. But in the face of all the demands of your job, you might now find yourself not performing as well as you once did and making mistakes in your practice.
Treatment and judgment errors can quickly lead to trouble for dentists in the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area. You can easily find yourself facing a complaint from a patient, their family, co-workers, employers, insurers, or any member of the public claiming you’re in violation of the regulations governing your license.
If you’re facing a formal complaint and your license is in jeopardy, the Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm can come to your aid. In this situation, you need to secure a legal team that can protect your rights and defend your license. The LLF National Law Firm has years of experience defending dentists in South Carolina and nationwide. Call us at 888-535-3686 or complete our confidential contact form to learn more.
Who Oversees Dentists in the Greater Myrtle Beach Area?
Because dentist licenses are state-specific, dentists in the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area must have a license from the South Carolina Board of Dentistry, which sits within the state’s Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation (LLR). This board issues licenses, creates and enforces regulations governing dentistry in South Carolina, and pursues disciplinary action against dentists in the state who violate those regulations.
The mission of the South Carolina Board of Dentistry is to protect public health and safety. The board won’t hesitate to punish a dentist in the state if they believe that the dentist has done something inappropriate or something that has harmed a patient or put them in danger. That’s why it’s so important that you have a proven legal team on your side when you’re facing a complaint. The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team will make you and your license our priority, which is something the Board of Dentistry won’t necessarily do. We’ll make sure to take all the appropriate steps to protect your right to continue working as a dentist.
When someone files a complaint against a dentist in South Carolina, the Board of Dentistry’s Office of Investigation and Enforcement is responsible for handling the disciplinary process. A complaint analyst will review the complaint and determine whether the allegations constitute a violation. If they do, the board will open an investigation. At this point, the office will notify you of the complaint, and you should consult an attorney to help you provide a response. Contacting the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team should be your first step when you learn of a complaint.
Once the investigation is complete, the office will hold an Investigation Review Conference to decide whether to move forward with a formal complaint and initiate a legal proceeding, dismiss the case, or issue you a letter of caution. A letter of caution is a non-disciplinary letter that reminds you to be sure, moving forward, that you abide by the regulations in question.
What Happens When Dentists Face a Formal Complaint in the Myrtle Beach Metropolitan Area?
When the South Carolina Board of Dentistry decides to pursue a formal complaint against you, you’ll likely have the opportunity to sign a consent agreement. The consent agreement is similar to a settlement, where you concede to certain statutory violations and accept specific sanctions.
If you and the board can’t negotiate an agreeable resolution, the case will move to a hearing. You have the right to have an attorney represent you at the hearing. An attorney from the LLR’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel will represent the state. It’s in your best interest to have legal counsel at the hearing, and the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team can provide the best defense possible.
Following the hearing, the board will make its decision and can impose sanctions against you. At this point, you’ll have 30 days to appeal the board’s decision.
This entire process can be extremely stressful and scary. You need a legal team on your side that knows how to navigate the disciplinary process, protect your rights, and make sure you have a strong defense. The Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm can guide you through this process, help you make the right decisions, and defend your right to continue practicing dentistry.
What Sanctions Can Myrtle Beach Area Dentists Face?
If the Board of Dentistry finds you guilty of statutory violations, they can impose a range of sanctions, individually or in combination. Possible penalties include:
- Public reprimand
- Probation
- Mandatory professional training
- Mandatory psychiatric evaluations
- Restrictions on your use of controlled substances
- Restrictions on your practice
- License suspension or revocation
All sanctions become part of the public record, which means that potential employers and patients have access to information on your violations.
It’s easy to imagine all the negative consequences these sanctions can have on your life, both professionally and personally:
- You can lose your job and be unable to find another one.
- You can lose friends at work.
- You can lose patients.
- You can lose your peace of mind both during the disciplinary process and in the wake of the punishment that results.
- You can lose the respect of your family.
- You can lose self-esteem and feel shame and embarrassment.
- You can lose income over both the short and long term.
With so much to lose, you need to make sure you do everything you can to avoid this situation. That’s why the Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm should be your go-to source to help you through this ordeal. We’ll make your case our top priority and give you the best chances for a successful outcome with the least amount of penalties and negative effects on your future.
What Makes Myrtle Beach Area Dentists Susceptible to Complaints?
As a dentist in the greater Myrtle Beach metropolitan area, you might think you should be living the good life in this growing oceanside region. But all is not blue skies and light breezes along the Grand Strand.
With a population of nearly half a million, the greater Myrtle Beach area includes the cities of Myrtle Beach, Conway, and North Myrtle Beach, along with a host of smaller towns. The region is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country, creating intense competition from new dental practices and making patient retention more difficult.
Meanwhile, many people in the area have limited access to dental insurance, generating financial struggles for practices. At the same time, increasing operational costs due to expensive equipment and new technologies further reduce profit margins.
In the greater Myrtle Beach area, dental practices are also having a hard time finding and retaining staff, including hygienists and assistants. This intensifies competition with other practices and puts added strain on dentists.
All these factors combine to create a stressful work environment for dentists, leading to burnout, mistakes, and lapses in judgment. This is the case whether you work for a small private practice or one of the area’s large dental practices, such as Riccobene Associates Family Dentistry, Myrtle Beach Dental Associates, Heartland Dental, Surfside Smiles, or Happy Teeth Dentistry.
Considering the challenges Myrtle Beach area dentists have to face in their daily work lives, it’s no wonder that mistakes happen and complaints result. If you learn of a complaint against you, don’t let the stress and anxiety overwhelm you. Turn to the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team. We can alleviate the burden of the disciplinary process and give you the best hope for a successful outcome.
What Kinds of Mistakes Can Get Myrtle Beach Area Dentists in Trouble?
We all know the feeling of being tired, overworked, worried about finances, and just generally drained. We know how feeling this way can make us careless, irritable, and less concerned about doing our best. This is how dentists in the greater Myrtle Beach area can find themselves making mistakes and getting into trouble.
So exactly what kinds of behaviors does the South Carolina Board of Dentistry consider misconduct worthy of disciplinary action? Here are some examples:
- Having a conviction of a felony or other crime related to moral turpitude or controlled substances
- Falsifying your credentials to earn your license
- Working without a license or with an expired license
- Engaging in false advertising
- Hiring a hygienist or other professional who isn’t properly licensed
- Failing to maintain sanitary conditions in your practice
- Committing insurance or billing fraud
- Providing substandard care
- Prescribing incorrect medications or dosages
- Working while impaired, either physically, mentally, or due to controlled substances
- Keeping incomplete or inaccurate records
These behaviors cover a broad range of activities that you have to engage in throughout your workday. It’s easy to imagine how you can slip up when fatigue sets in, you’re in a horrible mood, or you’re stressed out. And sometimes, even when you’re doing your best and providing great care, you can end up with a disgruntled patient who wants to take their frustrations out on you and makes false or exaggerated accusations.
If someone accuses you of wrongdoing—whether or not their claims are justified—you need to take the complaint very seriously and immediately arm yourself with a legal team that knows how to help you through this difficult situation. The Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm knows how to get you through this ordeal and come away as unscathed as possible.
Turn to the LLF National Law Firm
At the LLF National Law Firm, our Professional License Defense Team understands that mistakes happen, even to dentists who are dedicated to providing great care. We believe that every dentist deserves the best defense, and we can help you get your career back on track.
The LLF National Law Firm can:
- Handle communication and paperwork with the South Carolina Board of Dentistry on your behalf.
- Help you prepare a cohesive response for investigators that tells your side of the story in a positive light.
- Encourage case dismissal or negotiate a lenient consent agreement with the board.
- Represent you at a hearing and give you a strong defense in front of an administrative law judge.
- Help you decide whether to file an appeal if one is necessary, and file the appeal for you.
- Protect your rights and make sure the Board of Dentistry is following the correct procedures and not taking advantage of you.
The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team understands the challenges that Myrtle Beach area dentists face and how those challenges can end up putting you in a compromising position. We also know that making mistakes doesn’t erase your value as a dentist. You deserve the chance to rectify your errors and move forward in your career. And we know how to help you do that. Call us at 888-535-3686 or complete our confidential contact form to schedule a consultation and get started.