As the eighth-largest city in Florida, Tallahassee is an excellent place to build or advance your dentistry career. Tallahassee is a vibrant small city that is Florida’s state capital. Subsequently, Tallahassee is home to numerous state professional associations like the Florida Bar and the Florida Board of Nursing, and other state government offices. Situated just north of Apalachee Bay on the Gulf Coast and southwest of Valdosta, Georgia, the City of Tallahassee and the surrounding regions are rich with breathtaking state parks and lakes. With a lively local economy centered around state and local government, major public universities, and the healthcare sector, Florida dentists will have no problems finding employment or dental practice opportunities in and near Tallahassee.
Small and large regional dental practices can be found throughout the Tallahassee and Gulf Coast areas, in addition to opportunities with the state government, research settings, dental schools, and forming your own practice where you choose. Regardless of how you choose to set up your dental career in Tallahassee, you will have no shortage of opportunities. However, you may run into workplace issues or snags running a dental practice that can put your hard-earned dentistry license in jeopardy.
The LLF National Law Firm advocates for dental professionals nationwide. Our experienced Professional License Defense Team represents dentists throughout the Florida Panhandle, Gulf Coast, and Tallahassee area. 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 Tallahassee Dentists?
Dentists in Florida are governed by the Florida Board of Dentistry, a state agency headquartered in Tallahassee. The Florida Board of Dentistry consists of 11 members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Florida State Senate, of which nine professional members are seven dentists actively engaged in clinical practice, plus two dental hygienists, and two public members employed in fields unrelated to dentistry.
The Florida Board of Dentistry oversees dentists, dental hygienists, and dental radiographers who practice in Florida, in addition to out-of-state practitioners who provide telehealth services to Florida dental patients. The board also oversees dental laboratories and mobile dental clinics.
Employment Opportunities for Dentists In and Near Tallahassee
Tallahassee is best known as a college town with college students comprising almost one quarter of the entire Tallahassee area’s population. The City of Tallahassee is home to three major public universities: Florida A&M University, Florida State University, and Tallahassee State College. Florida State University has a dental school, providing a pathway for Florida dentists who’d like to teach the next generation of dental professionals. The university also has its own on-campus dental practice, FSU Morgan Dental, that serves a large number of patients.
The State of Florida is the largest employer in the area, with almost 28,000 state employees working in the City of Tallahassee. Such a large bloc of people with stable employment and excellent benefits provides a prime opportunity to form your own practice in general dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, oral surgery, and other specialties throughout the capital and Gulf Coast regions. There are also numerous large and regional dental practices you can join. Additionally, dentists can find employment with the State of Florida right within the capital region, such as the Florida Department of Health’s Division of Medical Quality Assurance (MQA). This division includes the Board of Dentistry itself, but the MQA also offers investigative jobs to dental professionals separate from the board.
If you are more interested in working in research settings, Tallahassee also attracts scientists and dental professionals to its laboratories. Florida State University is home to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in addition to its dental college, providing solid research opportunities for dentists who are more interested in trials and laboratory work rather than day-to-day practice.
Threats to Your Dentist License in Tallahassee
Dentists who practice in Florida must abide by the standards of practice and professional conduct set by the state dental board, in addition to the Florida Dentistry Practice Act.
If you are accused of poor conduct, the state dental board takes these allegations of misconduct very seriously. Public safety is the board’s top priority, even if your accusations are paperwork-related and not clinical. Here are some of the most imminent threats to your dentist’s license in the Tallahassee area:
Hiring Unlicensed Dental Hygienists
The state dental board deems it grounds for discipline to knowingly hire or supervise an individual who claims to be a dental hygienist but does not have active licensure through the Florida Board of Dentistry. Even if you are not the dentist who hired the dental hygienist, you may be held liable. It is crucial to vet dental hygienists’ licenses prior to hiring them.
Serving as an Expert Witness Without Certification
Florida dentists are permitted to serve as expert witnesses in legal proceedings within the state of Florida. However, you must obtain a certificate from the state dental board before you can do so. If you do not have this certificate prior to providing expert witness services, you may face board inquiries and fines.
Improper Dental Advertising
Under Florida law, dentist advertisements cannot contain false, fraudulent, or misleading information. TV, print, and online ads cannot include content that is designed to appeal to the viewer’s fears. The quality of dental services cannot be compared to other dental practices, and no laudatory statements can be made about any individual dentist or group of dentists. Dentist ads in Florida also cannot contain any information about fees. If your digital and traditional advertising violates these rules, you may face sanctions.
Allegations of Unprofessional Conduct
Anyone can file a complaint against you with the state dental board. This party is usually the patient or their family, but complainants can also be your co-workers, employers, insurance company representatives, witnesses, and concerned citizens. Complaints may be strictly clinical, but they can also be complaints regarding professional misconduct. Unprofessional conduct has a wide breadth and can be incredibly subjective.
Accusations of unprofessional conduct can include, but are not limited to:
- Inappropriate Behavior: Even if a patient isn’t sedated when they get into the chair, they are put into an extremely vulnerable position. This is especially true if they are alone with you. The patient may ask for their family member or friend to stay with them for comfort. If you refuse, the patient may feel you don’t respect their safety, and this also increases the likelihood of being accused of nonconsensual touching during the procedure.
- Unauthorized Services: Dental insurance is often woefully inadequate for covering all of a patient’s medically necessary procedures. Subsequently, dental billing and the amount of services received can be very confusing for patients to navigate. They may accuse you of performing unauthorized services or billing them for services they did not receive.
- Drug or Alcohol Use: Recreational drug and alcohol use does not necessarily violate the Florida Board of Dentistry’s standards of conduct. If you are experiencing difficulty with substance addiction, however, you may face severe sanctions if it interferes with your ability to safely interact with the public. The state dental board will consider participation in impaired practitioner programs to possibly lessen the severity of any discipline.
Administrative Challenges
If you are a new dentist in Tallahassee, or you earned your license in another state and are considering moving to the capital region, you might run into administrative challenges that can result in a board inquiry.
- Documentation Issues: The largest employers for dentists in the Tallahassee area are the State of Florida and Florida State University. You may also work in healthcare organizations, research facilities, and small, medium, and large dental practices in addition to your own practice. Practicing in multiple settings can result in a concerned letter from the state dental board if multiple employers are creating what looks like an unusual amount of administrative inquiries.
- Required Permits: The Florida Board of Dentistry requires additional permits for sedation and anesthesia. Lacking valid permits while administering anesthesia to patients can result in significant disciplinary actions.
- Continuing Education Requirements: All Florida dentists must earn a specific amount of continuing education credits throughout the year, with very few exemptions. Your dentist license is at risk if you cannot produce proof of sufficiently meeting your continuing education requirements.
- Out-of-State Licensure Issues: Neither Florida nor neighboring Georgia and Alabama participates 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. Tallahassee is extremely close to Georgia, and about two hours from Alabama where there are major shortages of dental professionals. If you wish to practice in these states, submitting your qualifications isn’t as seamless as in states that participate in the compact. You may need to meet additional requirements to be allowed to practice dentistry there.
Dentist Discipline Process in Tallahassee
The Florida Board of Dentistry takes public safety and adherence to state laws seriously. Disciplinary proceedings begin with filing a complaint.
- Complaint: A party files a complaint against you with the Florida Department of Health, typically through their online complaint portal. The MQA within the Department of Health reviews the complaint, starting with the Consumer Services Unit (CSU).
- CSU Review: CSU staff review the complaint and determine if it has legal substance to escalate. CSU tends not to view billing and fee disputes and poor bedside manner as legally sufficient. They will dismiss complaints that are legally insufficient or escalate them to the investigation stage. In most cases, legally sufficient complaints are forwarded to the appropriate division in the Investigative Services Unit (ISU) although CSU may mediate and conduct the investigation for minor violations. Major violations go to ISU.
- Investigation: The ISU is staffed by professional investigators and medical and dental subject matter experts, including dentists. If a complaint escalates to an ISU investigation, it is assigned to an investigator. The investigator will prioritize complaints that pose an imminent threat to public safety, but otherwise try to investigate the complaint as timely as possible. The investigator then asks the complainant for more information and obtains records, documents, evidence, and interviews for necessary information. The investigator may also draft and serve subpoenas for this purpose. When the investigation concludes, the investigator writes a report of their findings and forwards it to the Prosecution Services Unit (PSU) for legal review.
- Legal Review: If any legal violations are identified in the investigation, PSU attorneys will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed with sanctions. They will make a recommendation to the Board of Dentistry, and the Board may agree or disagree with it. In cases where public health is at immediate risk, PSU will call a Probable Cause Panel with two or three board members to discuss the matter and make a recommendation.
- Discipline: Depending on the severity of the violation and PSU’s recommendation, the Board of Dentistry may hand down a decision or call for an adjudication hearing to decide on the sanctions.
Tallahassee dentists facing disciplinary issues can usually resolve them at the MQA level before they even reach the Board. It is relatively rare for dentists to face a board hearing or go before an administrative law judge. Negotiations for lesser disciplinary actions can include reduced fines, extended deadlines for required paperwork, and other lighter sentences. You may be required to engage in remedial education, rehabilitative treatment, or temporary supervision as conditions of your offer.
Once you are aware that a complaint has been filed against you, you should arrange your representation right away. You don’t want to go at this alone. The LLF National Law Firm is your staunch advocate at every step of the complaint and investigation processes.
How the Professional License Defense Team Can Protect Your Dentist License in Tallahassee and Bainbridge
When you become aware that someone has filed a complaint against you, you may fear the worst. If you must respond to the Department of Health or Board of Dentistry, though, you do not want to represent yourself even if your case seems open-and-shut.
Health departments and state dental boards do not presume your innocence, unlike a traditional courtroom. Public safety is their top priority, and they take legally sufficient patient complaints very seriously. Professional license defense is a nuance-rich practice area that strives to negotiate the best possible outcome for your case, including comprehensive representation at every step of the process from written responses to board hearings.
Retaining experienced representation is the first crucial step to take to protect your future. If you are a dentist in the Tallahassee area, the LLF National Law Firm will advocate for the career you worked very hard to attain. Call us today at 888-535-3686 or reach out via our online contact form.