TITLE XXX
OCCUPATIONS AND PROFESSIONS

CHAPTER 317-A
DENTISTS AND DENTISTRY

Examinations and Licenses

Section 317-A:20

    317-A:20 Practice of Dentistry. –
I. A person shall be regarded as practicing dentistry within the meaning of this chapter who:
(a) Uses or permits to be used, directly or indirectly, for profit or otherwise, for that person or for any other person, in connection with the person's name, the word "dentist", or "dental surgeon", or the title "D.D.S." or "D.M.D.", or any other words, letters, titles, or descriptive matter, personal or not, which directly or indirectly imply the practice of dentistry;
(b) Owns, leases, maintains, or operates a dental business in any office or other room or rooms where dental operations are performed, or directly or indirectly is manager, proprietor, or conductor of the same;
(c) Directly or indirectly informs the public in any language, orally, in writing, or in printing, or by drawings, demonstrations, specimens, signs, or pictures that the person can perform or will attempt to perform dental operations of any kind;
(d) Undertakes, by any means or method, including by use of electronic media, gratuitously or for a salary, fee, money, or other reward paid or granted directly or indirectly to that person or to any other person, to diagnose or profess to diagnose, to treat or profess to treat, or prescribe for or profess to prescribe for any of the lesions, diseases, disorders, or deficiencies of the human oral cavity, teeth, gums, maxilla, or mandible or adjacent associated structures;
(e) Supervises a dentist within the scope of the practice of dentistry;
(f) Except on the written prescription of a duly licensed dentist and by the use of impressions or casts made by a duly licensed and practicing dentist, directly or indirectly by mail, carrier, personal agent, or by any other method, furnishes, supplies, constructs, reproduces, or repairs prosthetic dentures, bridges, appliances, or other structures to be used and worn as substitutes for natural teeth, or adjusts the same;
(g) Administers dental anesthetics, either general or local; or
(h) Dispenses teeth whitening agents or undertakes to whiten or bleach teeth by any means or method, unless the person is dispensing or using a product that may be purchased over the counter for the person's own use, or is authorized under rules adopted by the board to engage in such activities without being a licensed dentist.
II. (a) Any dentist or dental facility who wishes to administer general anesthesia, deep sedation, or moderate sedation shall apply to the office of professional licensure and certification for the appropriate permit and pay an application fee.
(b) The office shall require the documentation of competence according to the rules adopted under RSA 317-A:12, XII-a(f) and RSA 317-A:12, XII-a(h) before issuing such a permit.
(c) The rules of the board shall require an appropriate number of hours of continuing education as a condition for issuing or reissuing such a permit.
III. Nothing in this section shall prevent:
(a) Physicians or surgeons licensed under RSA 329 from practicing dentistry incidental to their practice of medicine.
(b) Students from Commission on Dental Accreditation accredited schools from practicing in hospitals or other institutions under the supervision of a faculty member of a Commission on Dental Accreditation accredited school who is also licensed under this chapter.
(c) A health care charitable trust, as defined under RSA 7:32-d, V, from owning, leasing, maintaining, or operating a dental clinic where dental operations are performed, provided:
(1) The health care charitable trust is a not-for-profit corporation under RSA 292 and section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code;
(2) The health care charitable trust complies with the provisions of RSA 7:19 through RSA 7:32-l; and
(3) The practice of dentistry conducted under the authority of the health care charitable trust shall be under the supervision of a dentist licensed by the board. The health care charitable trust shall notify the board in writing of the name and location of the dental clinic and the name of the supervising dentist, and shall notify the board within 30 days of any change of the supervising dentist.
(d) Graduates from a Commission on Dental Accreditation accredited school from practicing in a Commission on Dental Accreditation accredited residency program under the supervision of a dentist holding an active license issued by the board for the duration of the residency program.
(e) A consultant, who does not have a license issued by the board or by the New Hampshire board of medicine, from providing a consulting or expert opinion to a New Hampshire licensed dentist regarding a patient, if the consultant is a legally licensed physician or dentist in another state or Canada and has no contact with the patient. The New Hampshire licensed dentist shall bear responsibility for patient diagnosis and treatment.
IV. Such things as the board shall determine to be "dental hygiene" under RSA 317-A:12 or RSA 317-A:21-c shall not be deemed to be the practice of dentistry within the meaning of this section.

Source. 1971, 364:1. 1996, 102:3. 1997, 204:6. 2000, 5:22. 2004, 163:1. 2005, 42:3, 4. 2008, 43:1. 2010, 139:3-5, 8, eff. Aug. 13, 2010. 2018, 188:3, eff. Aug. 7, 2018; 316:11, eff. Aug. 24, 2018. 2023, 215:5, eff. Oct. 3, 2023. 2024, 327:55, eff. July 1, 2024.