Dental hygienists are the backbone of the dental health industry, and obtaining your license to practice as a dental hygienist in New Mexico is no small feat. Once you’ve achieved this significant milestone, you must do everything in your power to maintain good standing as a dental health practitioner.
Even with the best intentions, mistakes happen, and many dental hygienists find themselves in trouble with the New Mexico Board of Dental Health Care. There’s nothing more stressful than an investigation by the Board but there are steps you can take to mitigate the damage.
The first step any New Mexican dental hygienist should take if their professional license is at risk is to contact The LLF National Law Firm. Our experienced team of dental hygienist Professional License Defense attorneys understands the nuances and processes involved in license investigations by the Board. Contact us online today, or call us at 888-535-3686.
Who Makes the Rules for Dental Hygienists in New Mexico?
The New Mexico Board of Dental Health Care regulates dental hygienists in New Mexico. The Board operates under the state’s Regulation and Licensing Department and oversees rulemaking and disciplinary action against those involved in dentistry and related fields, including dental hygienists.
Throughout your dental hygienist education, you’ve undoubtedly interacted with the Board. They set the standards by which you acquired your license. They also set the continuing education requirements you need moving forward after school.
The Board also creates and enforces rules. Unfortunately, too many dental hygienists end up on the wrong side of the Board through accident, negligence, or wrongdoing. Importantly, the Board handles disciplinary action for dental hygienists across the state. Whether you live in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Farmington, or Las Cruces, you will answer to the same Board if a complaint is filed against you.
Common Disciplinary Issues for New Mexico Dental Hygienists
The rules and regulations that dental hygienists must adhere to come from two sources of authority. First, the state legislature passes laws applicable to the dental health industries, and second, the Board of Dental Health Care and the Dental Hygienist Committee promulgates rules that hygienists must adhere to.
There are numerous laws and rules that dental health professionals in New Mexico must follow, or else they risk a wide range of disciplinary action against them. Common examples of disciplinary issues include:
- Practicing without a license
- Acting unprofessionally
- Gross Negligence
- Incompetence
- Bad record keeping
- Substance abuse
- Failure to adhere to continuing education requirements.
Some instances of misconduct are obvious while others are less so. For example, you know you shouldn’t drink on the job, but what if you’re taking prescription pain medication pursuant to a doctor’s orders? What if you thought you had satisfied your continued learning requirements, but a few of those credit hours weren’t approved by the Board? What if you intended to act in the best interest of a patient by modifying records, but those modifications end up qualifying as falsification of records?
The line between approved conduct and misconduct isn’t always obvious, but the board won’t care if you’re operating with the best of intentions or if you’ve made a serious error in judgment. Either way, you’ll need to mount a serious defense to keep your license in good standing.
The Complaint Process
The complaint process is straightforward. In fact, it’s arguably too easy, and anyone can file a complaint against you just by filling out an online form. This means literally any person can lodge a complaint against a dental hygienist in New Mexico. Fortunately, it does require some validity to move forward, and the Board tries to keep frivolous complaints in check.
Under Title 16, Chapter 5, Part 16 of the New Mexico Board of Dental Health Care’s Statutes, Rules and Regulations, disciplinary proceedings can only be instituted by a sworn complaint. The requirement that a complaint be sworn is an important distinction. Essentially, the complaint must be written and sworn under oath. Only once the sworn complaint is filed can the Board of Dental Health Care open an investigation.
Most often, a patient or coworker will file a sworn complaint, but a board member or other dental hygienist could also file the complaint. When the sworn complaint is filed, it’s initially reviewed to make sure it has legs. You may not be notified of a complaint against you right away, but that doesn’t mean the Board isn’t already beginning a preliminary investigation. By the time you learn of the complaint against you, you may already be a step behind.
The Investigation Process
The investigation is an overwhelming ordeal. In many ways, it will feel like a criminal trial, but it isn’t. The Board can’t send you to jail but it can revoke or suspend your dental hygienist license. In New Mexico, the Uniform Licensing Act governs the investigatory process in a disciplinary hearing for a dental hygienist. You do not want to move forward through the investigation without a dental hygienist defense team.
Like a civil or criminal trial, you have a right to legal representation during the process. The biggest mistake you can make at this point is to forego professional defense. The disciplinary action may not seem as severe as a trial since you won’t end up in jail, but the consequences can be devastating and have lifelong consequences.
The formal investigation will occur after the preliminary investigation has demonstrated cause to continue. The baseline question the Board answers in determining whether to move forward is whether the allegations, if true, would constitute a rule violation.
During the formal investigation, investigators seek access to:
- Patient records
- Employment records or files
- Proof of continuing education
- Witness statements
- Police records
Investigators may reach out to you directly during the process. While it’s always best to work with a defense team when communicating with the investigators of your case, you cannot refuse to respond to them. Doing so may be grounds for additional disciplinary action.
If the investigators find sufficient evidence, they will issue a notice to the hygienist that describes the violation and possible disciplinary actions.
The Formal Hearing
A formal hearing is not automatic in New Mexico. If a dental hygienist is given notice of disciplinary action against them, they have a short time to request a hearing. Failure to request the hearing could be devastating, as the Board will proceed with the disciplinary charges against you without giving you much opportunity to respond.
Requesting the formal hearing is only one piece of the puzzle. Once you’ve requested it and a date has been set, you’ll need to prepare. Preparation for the formal hearing is a lot like preparing for a trial. You need to gather evidence supporting your case and try to determine what evidence the investigators have against you.
With the help of an experienced dental hygienist defense team in New Mexico, you’ll move through a pre-hearing discovery process, which will help you learn what information the investigators have found during their research. It’s critical to learn as much as possible so you can present the best evidence in support of your side of the story.
The hearing itself is held in front of the Board or sometimes a designated officer, and generally takes the following structure:
- Opening statements
- Presentation of evidence by the Board
- Presentation of evidence by the hygienists and their team
- Rebuttals
- Closing arguments
- Board deliberation
- Final Order
- Sanctions (if applicable)
It’s a mistake to think this process is informal. Although it isn’t a civil or criminal trial, there are still rules and procedural nuances that must be followed. Failure to navigate the hearing process, or the failure to request it at all, can have devastating consequences for dental hygienists in New Mexico.
The Outcomes of Disciplinary Action against Dental Hygienists in New Mexico
Your dental hygienist career in New Mexico hinges on the outcome of the investigation and sanctions against you. The most severe penalty is license revocation. The Board has full authority to revoke your New Mexico dental hygienist license for the most egregious of acts. Such misconduct can include gross negligence, fraud, and some criminal activities.
Often, the Board will opt to suspend your license rather than fully revoke it. License suspension is a temporary hold on your ability to practice. Sometimes the suspension will be for a specific term, or the suspension may be contingent on your ability to meet certain conditions. For example, if a dental hygienist’s misconduct is a result of a substance abuse issue, the license reinstatement may be conditioned upon the completion of a treatment program.
There are also disciplinary actions that don’t interrupt your ability to work and make a living. Probation is a type of sanction that allows the dental hygienist to continue working so long as they submit to monitoring related to whatever misconduct they were found to have committed.
Other punishments can involve:
- Fines
- Remedial training
- Practice restrictions or limitations
- Additional or supplemental continued education and training
In addition to the fines and punishments levied against you, you’ll also be subject to public reporting. The misconduct and related disciplinary action will become part of your professional record, which is kept on a public database accessible to potential employers.
Ultimately, the punishment is only a portion of the troubles caused by the investigation and disciplinary process against New Mexican dental hygienists. From beginning to end, the ordeal is costly, stressful, and has long term impacts on your professional record, even if the punishment is ultimately light. The best way to mitigate this reputational and costly damage is to work with a professional dental hygienist misconduct defense team as early as possible.
When to Appeal
If the Board issues a decision you feel is unfair or unjust, you can try to appeal it. Knowing when and how to file an appeal is important as it’s a procedurally complex process. You can’t file an appeal until the Board issues its final written order. Once that order is handed down, you’ll only have a limited time to file the petition to appeal. To complicate matters, the appeal petition is filed in the New Mexico district court, which is a completely different venue from the original investigation. While this might seem unnecessarily complicated, the rationale is that it’s fairer to have an independent judicial branch review the appeal.
The appeal is not a re-trying of the facts. Instead, the district court will perform a judicial review of the decision and sanctions against you to determine whether the Board appropriately applied the rules, laws, and its own authority. The judicial review won’t require the presentation of new evidence. Instead, the court will make sure the original evidence was appropriately reviewed within the relevant rules of law.
At the conclusion of the appeal, the district court will either agree with the Board, reverse its decision, or it may ask the Board to go back to the drawing Board.
Dos and Don’ts if You Receive a Complaint
If you receive notice that someone’s lodged a sworn complaint against you, don’t panic. There’s a basic list of dos and don’ts you can follow. The number one “DO” is to call a Professional License Defense Team in New Mexico.
In addition to contacting a legal team right away, you also want to:
- Read the notice and note all allegations and timelines for response.
- Locate and save all relevant records.
- Journal any helpful notes.
- Provide any requested information to the Board or investigators.
Additionally, you must not:
- Alter records to cover up the complaint allegations
- Put your head in the sand
- Reach out to the complainant
- Continue the misconduct
- Post anything on social media
The list goes on and on, but you don’t have to defend your dental hygienist license against the New Mexico Board of Dental Health Care alone. The process is complicated and intimidating. Often, it’s another straw on the camel’s back and comes at a time when you’re already dealing with a lot. If your license is threatened, contact The LLF National Law Firm. Our dedicated team can help. Call us at 888-535-3686 or fill out our online form today.