Dental hygienist licensing board
- Section 2 establishes that the Board of Dental Examiners created under Republic Act No. 417, as amended, shall be the examining and licensing board for dental hygienists.
- Section 3 provides that the Secretary of the Boards of Examiners appointed under Act No. 4007, as amended by Republic Act No. 546, shall also serve as Secretary of the Board of Dental Examiners for dental hygienist examinations and registration, and shall keep all records and minutes of Board deliberations under the Act, including examination papers.
- Section 4 sets compensation: each Board member receives a fee not exceeding five pesos per capita of candidates examined under the Act.
- Section 5 grants the Board the same powers vested in it by the Dental Law, and allows it to adopt rules and regulations to carry out the Act subject to President approval and the advice and consent of the Commissioner of Civil Service.
- Section 5 requires the Board to submit an annual report to the President after each fiscal year, detailing proceedings and recommendations to improve dental hygienist practice standards.
Certificate of registration requirement
- Section 6 prohibits practice as a dental hygienist in the Philippines without a valid certificate of registration as a registered dental hygienist issued by the Board.
- Section 13 provides that the license/certificate is issued after passing the examination and remains in force until the annual registration fee becomes due, and thereafter so long as the registrant complies with the Act’s annual registration fee requirement.
What a dental hygienist may do
- Section 7 defines rendering dental hygienist services as removing calcific deposits, accretion, and stains from exposed tooth surfaces, performing surface application of medicaments for prevention and control of dental caries, and doing helpful duties in patient reception and care.
- Section 7 includes assisting in sterilization of instruments and rendering assistance to the dentist at the chair or in the laboratory as part of dental hygienist work.
- Section 7 prohibits dental hygienists from performing operations on the teeth or tissues of the mouth that only qualified dental practitioners may do under Republic Act No. 417, as amended.
- Section 7 requires dental hygienists to work under the supervision of a registered dentist.
- Section 7 allows employment by dentists, schools, public institutions, or commercial firms, but does not authorize any dental hygienist to perform any work in the mouth without direct supervision of a licensed dentist.
- Section 7 treats the definition as covering services “with or without compensation,” tying coverage to the nature of services rather than payment.
Examination rules and coverage
- Section 8 requires all applicants for registration as dental hygienists to pass an examination given by the Board of Dental Examiners on the second Tuesday of June and December of each year in Manila, or at other places the Board deems necessary and expedient, subject to approval of the Commissioner of Civil Service.
- Section 9 requires admission to the examination only if the applicant establishes to the Board’s satisfaction that the applicant:
- is a citizen of the Philippines;
- is at least eighteen years of age;
- is of good moral character and reputation;
- is not suffering from any contagious disease and is physically fit to perform services as a dental hygienist;
- has finished a standard four-year high school nurse or its equivalent in a government-recognized school; and
- has graduated with the title of graduate dental hygienist (G.D.H.) or its equivalent, after completing a dental hygienist course of at least two years and of a standard or scope duly approved by the Board from a legally incorporated dental college or university, dental infirmary, or other institution of equal standing, duly accredited and recognized by the government.
- Section 10 sets the examination scope to include fundamentals in chemistry, physiology, pharmacology, anatomy, histology, bacteriology, radiography, principles of nursing and first aid, hygiene and preventive, dentistry, dental health education, ethics and economics, dental assisting, and such other subjects the Board deems necessary, plus a performance test adequately covering the field of dental hygienists.
- Section 11 sets passing ratings: the candidate must obtain a general rating of seventy-five percent in the written test and seventy-five percent in the performance test, with no rating below sixty percent in any subject or practical exercise.
Results, registration issuance, and Board reporting
- Section 12 requires the Board to report examination results to the Commissioner of Civil Service within one hundred and twenty days after the examination.
- Section 12 requires the Commissioner of Civil Service to submit the results to the President of the Philippines for approval, with the Commissioner’s recommendation.
- Section 13 requires that after satisfactorily passing, the applicant shall be issued a license as a dental hygienist that shows the registrant’s full name, has a serial number, and is signed by the members of the Board and attested by the secretary of the Board.
- Section 14 provides that grounds/procedures for refusal to issue licenses, and for revocation and suspension, and for re-issuance of revoked certificates and replacement of lost ones are the same as those provided in the Dental Law for dentist certificates of registration.
Prohibited conduct and criminal penalties
- Section 15 makes it a misdemeanor to practice as a dental hygienist without a license or certificate of registration issued under the Act and without a certificate of health executed at least once a year by a medical officer of the government.
- Section 15 makes it a misdemeanor to present or use as one’s own the certificate of registration of another.
- Section 15 makes it a misdemeanor to give false or forged evidence to the Board in obtaining a certificate of registration.
- Section 15 makes it a misdemeanor to impersonate any registrant, whether by same or different name.
- Section 15 makes it a misdemeanor to use a revoked or suspended certificate of registration.
- Section 15 makes it a misdemeanor to assume, use, or advertise any title or letters or description that tends to convey the impression that one is a dental hygienist without holding a valid certificate of registration from the Board.
- Section 15 provides that any person violating any provision of the Act is guilty of misdemeanor and, upon conviction, is punished by a fine of not less than one thousand pesos nor more than five thousand pesos, or imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than five years, or both, at the court’s discretion.
Enforcement, supervision liability, fees
- Section 16 imposes on all duly constituted law enforcement officers of the National Government and provincial, city, or municipal governments the duty to enforce the Act and prosecute violators.
- Section 16 makes the Secretary of Justice the legal adviser of the Board and mandates legal assistance necessary to carry out the Act.
- Section 17 empowers the Board to revoke or suspend the license of any dental hygienist who violates the Act.
- Section 17 empowers the Board to revoke or suspend the license of any registered dentist who permits a dental hygienist under supervision to perform any operation in the patient’s mouth other than that permitted under the Act.
- Section 18 fixes charges and fees as follows:
- examination fee: thirty pesos;
- registration fee: ten pesos;
- annual registration fee: two pesos;
- duplicate certificate fee: ten pesos.
Funding, repeals, and scope
- Section 20 appropriates two thousand pesos out of funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be disbursed by the Commissioner of Civil Service under the Act.
- Section 20 requires that all sums collected under the Act be paid into the National Treasury as part of the general funds.
- Section 20 allows a first-year exception: during the first twelve months of operation, any portion of collected sums may be used to cover disbursements in excess of the appropriated amount.
- Section 21 repeals all laws, parts of laws, orders, ordinances, or regulations in conflict with the provisions of the Act as they pertain to the practice of dental hygiene.
- Section 19 provides that the Act shall not affect or prevent the practice of other legally established professions in the Philippines.