As the largest city and second-largest urban area in Alabama, Huntsville is an excellent place to build or advance your career in dentistry. Situated near southern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia, Huntsville is home to NASA rocket propulsion facilities and key manufacturers in military technology and biotech. With Redstone Arsenal and other military and aerospace facilities nearby, military dentists and veterans transitioning to dental careers in their civilian lives can easily see a future in and near Huntsville, given the area’s robust manufacturing and technology sectors.
New and experienced dentists alike can find opportunities in general dentistry and specialties in small and medium dental groups in the Huntsville metro area, in addition to starting their own practice or going into governmental and research settings. No matter which career path you choose, you can inadvertently run into snags that pose a threat to your hard-earned dentistry license.
The LLF National Law Firm advocates for dental professionals nationwide. Our experienced Professional License Defense Team represents dentists throughout Huntsville, Decatur, Ardmore, and beyond in navigating threats to their licenses and negotiating with the Board of Dental Examiners for lesser disciplinary measures. We can represent you even if you have a complex case. Call us at 888-535-3686 or fill out our online intake form to tell us about your case.
Who Presides Over Huntsville Dentists?
Dentists in Alabama are governed by the Board of Dental Examiners in Alabama (BDEA), a state agency headquartered in Birmingham.
Unlike most U.S. states, where the governor appoints members of the state dental board, Alabama is just one of two states where board members are elected for five-year terms by their professional peers in the Alabama Dental Society. The BDEA consists of six dentists and oral surgeons and one dental hygienist, with no public members.
The BDEA oversees dentists and dental hygienists who practice in Alabama. The agency also oversees dental laboratories, mobile dental clinics, and dental teaching facilities. The BDEA allows public records requests, offers an instantly-accessible list of current licensees, and also has a public webpage that names disciplined members and the nature of their violations for all to see.
Employment Opportunities for Dentists In and Near Huntsville
Huntsville is the most economically diverse region in Alabama, with government, aerospace, technology, healthcare, and manufacturing having a strong presence in the city and in nearby Decatur and Ardmore. With the Redstone Arsenal military base being the largest employer in the region, there are direct opportunities for dental professionals with the U.S. Army and Air Force in addition to private dental practices close to base operations in southern Huntsville.
Dentists and dental hygienists interested in research settings can find employment at the University of Alabama Huntsville, which has a scientific research facility that draws international talent. Huntsville Hospital is the second-largest employer in the area after the military, followed by Crestwood Medical Center and Clearview Health, providing excellent opportunities for oral surgeons. Medium and small dental practices and groups with multiple regional offices can be found throughout Huntsville proper, with several more over the Tennessee River in Decatur, such as Dental Associates of North Alabama.
Huntsville has a robust economy with a strong demand for general dentists, oral surgeons, cosmetic dentists, and other specialties. In addition to its proximity to Decatur, it is also close to Chattanooga, a major Tennessee city, and the nearby town of Ardmore shares the Tennessee border. The Chattanooga Valley in northwest Georgia is also popular with people who work in Huntsville, and with less competition among small dental practices.
Threats to Your Dentist License in Huntsville
Dentists who practice in Alabama are expected to meet certain standards of care and professional conduct. The BDEA takes accusations of poor conduct very seriously to the point of making violations easily visible to the public for a year before they become requestable records, even if you simply let a permit lapse and didn’t renew it on time. If you plan to practice in and around Huntsville, here are the threats to your dentistry license you are most apt to run into:
Duty Delegation and Employing Unlicensed Dental Hygienists
In some states, the state dental board regulates dental assistants, as well as dental hygienists. Alabama only regulates dentists and dental hygienists, with dental assistants having less legal definition concerning which duties dentists are allowed to delegate to a licensed dental hygienist versus an unlicensed dental assistant.
Alabama dentists are subject to discipline by the board if they employ an unlicensed dental hygienist who represents themselves as licensed. You also risk discipline if you permit employees to do certain tasks that only a licensed dental hygienist or dentist can do, such as administering anesthetics.
Retaining Advertising Proof for Alabama Dental Practices
Alabama has comprehensive regulations on dentist advertising, with the BDEA more involved in the process than other state dental boards tend to be.
Per the Alabama Dental Practice Act, dentists need to retain the recordings of ads for one year following their final run, and must make all forms of advertising available to the board within 10 days of their request. This encompasses not just traditional broadcast and printed advertising for radio, TV, and newspapers, but also for other forms of marketing. Dentists need an online presence in the modern landscape, but it can be difficult to archive one year’s worth of social media posts and online ads. However, failure to do so can result in a violation.
Allegations of Unprofessional Conduct
The BDEA has a public complaint form that anyone can use. Complainants can include employees, employers, insurance companies, patients, and their families. Under Alabama law, public complaints are only considered if the event occurred in the past four years. These complaints can be strictly practice-related or fall under the wide umbrella of professional misconduct.
These allegations can include, but are not limited to:
- Inappropriate Behavior: Dental patients are put into a vulnerable position after they strap into the reclining chair, even if they aren’t sedated. They will usually be alone with you, heightening the possibility of being accused of inappropriate touch or language.
- Unauthorized Services: Since dental insurance often doesn’t cover the full breadth of patients’ needs, billing can be confusing for dental patients to navigate. A patient may accuse you of billing them for services they did not receive or that they did not authorize you to bill them for.
- Drug or Alcohol Use: The BDEA doesn’t necessarily consider recreational drug and alcohol use outside the workplace to be immoral, which some dental boards may construe. However, if you are struggling with substance use and it is affecting your ability to care for your patients, your peers, and other parties may file a complaint against you to go before the BDEA’s Impaired Professionals Committee. There is also the Wellness Committee that is designed to help Alabama dentists get treatment for substance use, mental health, and other issues that require compassion and recovery before you can safely serve the public again.
Administrative Challenges
If you are a new dentist in Huntsville or you earned your license in another state and are looking to relocate to northern Alabama, you can run into administrative issues that can inadvertently result in a board inquiry.
- Documentation Issues: Major employers in Huntsville, Decatur, and Chattanooga include military bases, biotech firms, large healthcare organizations, and small and medium dental groups. If you practice in multiple settings, you might receive a BDEA letter if it looks like you have an abnormal number of administrative inquiries.
- Continuing Education Requirements: All Alabama dentists must meet their continuing education credits throughout the year, with a few exemptions. If you have a valid exemption, you need to file the correct forms or risk sanctions. Failure to report proof of your continuing education credits poses a serious risk to your license.
- Out-of-State Licensure Issues: Alabama and Georgia do not participate in the National Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact, a legislative project designed to increase portability and reduce administrative burdens on dental professionals who practice in multiple states. However, Tennessee does. Since Huntsville sits next to these two states, you will need to file the appropriate paperwork with each jurisdiction. If you are moving to the Huntsville area and do not have an Alabama dentist license, you will also need to apply for permission or risk discipline from BDEA.
- Filing Errors: The BDEA and numerous other regulatory agencies that Alabama dentists interact with are staffed by humans, and humans can make mistakes. Even if you have the correct paperwork on hand and file it on time, delays and mistakes can still result in fines and bottlenecks. Filing an appeal can take time and potentially affect your ability to legally practice.
Dentist Discipline Process in Huntsville
The BDEA takes public safety and adherence to the Alabama Dental Practice Act seriously. The board evaluates all complaints concerning conduct within the past four years, but only proceeds with complaints against dental professionals that are correctly notarized with sufficient information and feel that an investigation is warranted.
- Complaint: A party files a written, oral, or administrative complaint. If the complaint meets BDEA’s requirements for further examination and has jurisdiction, it is assigned a case number. If not, the complainant is notified that the complaint is dismissed.
- Team Leader Assignment: A board member is assigned as the Team Leader for the potential investigation. The complainant gets confirmation that the complaint is under review.
- Brief Investigation: The BDEA’s staff investigator reviews the complaint and any associated documents and forwards them to the enforcement group. They contact the complainant to see if they have any additional information that provides more context for the investigation.
- Enforcement Review: The enforcement group determines whether any immediate action is needed, such as imminent threats to public safety, incarceration, or any recent violations. Otherwise, the enforcement group assembles its findings and recommendations for the Team Leader to review.
- Team Leader Review and Proceedings: The Team Leader reviews the enforcement group’s findings. They decide whether to authorize the staff investigator or prosecutor to continue with the investigation or dismiss the case. In impairment cases, the Team Leader gives the respondent 60 days to report for evaluation at a Board-approved rehabilitation facility. The Team Leader then defers the case to the prosecutor or investigator but authorizes the issuance of any subpoenas or other documents and keeps an oversight role in the ensuing investigation.
- Legal Review: The prosecutor looks for specific violations of the Dental Practice Act and board rules. If any are identified, the prosecutor determines the types of evidence that can validate the complaint. The enforcement group notifies the respondent and compiles the prosecutor’s findings with the other investigative materials, presenting them to the Team Leader.
- Board Decision: The Team Leader takes the enforcement group’s findings to the full board and makes a recommendation to close the case, call a hearing, or take a different action like an administrative fine, cease and desist, or refer the case to another agency. The Team Leader is recused from voting on BDEA’s decision.
- Final Determination: After hearing both sides, the board meets with its Executive Director and General Counsel, and then makes a final determination. They will either dismiss the case, impose license restrictions, suspend or revoke your dentistry license, or take some other action, such as impose administrative fines or refer to the Wellness Committee for monitoring.
Even though some complaints are referred to the Alabama Attorney General, it is relatively rare that dental disciplinary matters are criminalized. A majority of BDEA inquiries are resolved at the board level, with the ability to deliberate for lesser disciplinary sanctions such as remedial education and training, rehabilitative treatment, and temporary restrictions.
However, since Alabama makes even minor infractions easily searchable by the public, informal process sanctions can still have an immediate impact on your career. Once you are aware that a complaint has been filed against you, you should prepare for representation in case the matter escalates. The LLF National Law Firm can advocate for you at every step of the BDEA’s disciplinary process.
How the Professional License Defense Team Can Protect Your Dentist License in Huntsville and Decatur
If you’ve become aware that a party filed a complaint against you, it is certainly an intimidating prospect. Even though your professional peers sit on the board, and you may have even elected them, you do not want to represent yourself when dealing with a board inquiry.
Unlike a court of law, state dental boards do not presume your innocence, and BDEA is no exception. Dental boards often operate from a place of taking an overabundance of caution out of public safety, and ensuring strict adherence to board regulations no matter how small the infraction. Professional license defense is a nuanced practice area that specifically addresses the challenges of navigating professional board inquiries, as they have many stark differences from courtrooms. But just like how a settlement is usually preferable to a trial, a stipulated agreement is preferable to the original proposed disciplinary action, and the Professional License Defense Team strives to protect your career.
If you are a dentist in the Huntsville area, the LLF National Law Firm is ready to advocate for you and achieve the best outcome for your case. Call us today at 888-535-3686 or reach out via our online contact form.