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Volume 51, No. 20

B.C. Reg. 276/2008

The British Columbia Gazette,

Part II

October 21, 2008

B.C. Reg. 276/2008 , deposited October 15, 2008, pursuant to the HEALTH PROFESSIONS ACT [Section 12 (2)]. Ministerial Order M236/2008, dated October 10, 2008.

I, George Abbott, Minister of Health Services, order that, effective October 17, 2008, the attached Dental Hygienists Regulation is made.

— G. ABBOTT, Minister of Health Services.

DENTAL HYGIENISTS REGULATION

Contents

Definitions

College name

Reserved title

Scope of practice

Restricted activities

Limits or conditions on services

Patient relations program

Health profession corporations

Definitions

1 In this regulation:

"Act" means the Health Professions Act ;

"dentist" means a person authorized under the Dentists Act to practise dentistry;

"facility" means

(

a) a community care facility or an assisted living residence licensed or registered under the Community Care and Assisted Living Act ,

(

b) a hospital designated under the Hospital Act , or

(

c) a Provincial mental health facility designated under the Mental Health Act

that provides residential care to persons unable to readily access dental services in the community.

College name

2 The name "College of Dental Hygienists of British Columbia" is the name of the college established under

section 15 (1) of the Act for dental hygiene.

Reserved title

3 The title "dental hygienist" is reserved for exclusive use by registrants.

Scope of practice

4 Subject to the bylaws, a registrant may assess the status of teeth and adjacent tissues and provide preventive and therapeutic dental hygiene care for teeth and adjacent tissues.

Restricted activities

5 No person other than a registrant may

(

a) perform supragingival and subgingival scaling, subgingival debridement or root planing, or

(

b) administer oral local anaesthetic.

Limits or conditions on services

(1) No registrant may practise dental hygiene unless all of the following conditions are met:

(

a) prior to or during an initial appointment, the client is examined by a dentist;

(

b) at the time of any subsequent appointment, the client has been examined by a dentist within the previous 365 days or within such shorter time as is necessary or appropriate in accordance with good dental hygiene practice or good dental practice;

(

c) dental hygiene care is provided in accordance with any specific and appropriate instructions that may be given by a dentist.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a registrant

(

a) providing non-clinical services in a public health program, or

(

b) practising in a facility or class of facility approved by the board, if the registrant

(

i) meets the additional qualifications established in the bylaws, and

(ii) complies with subsection (3).

(3) A registrant practising dental hygiene in a facility must

(

a) advise the client to see a dentist if the client has not been examined by a dentist within the previous 365 days, and

(

b) notify the College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia as soon as it is apparent that dental services cannot be arranged for clients in a facility.

(4) No registrant may administer oral local anaesthetic except

(

a) in circumstances where a dentist is on the site and immediately available, or

(

b) in a facility if the anaesthetic has been authorized by a medical practitioner or a dentist and a person qualified to act in a medical emergency is immediately available.

Patient relations program

7 The college is designated for the purposes of

section 16 (2) (

f) of the Act.

Health profession corporations

Part 4 of the Act applies to dental hygiene.

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