To: All VDHA members
From: The VDHA Executive Board
Subject: Professional Regulation
Dear Members;
Recently the lobbyist for the Vermont Dental Hygienists’ Association, provided testimony to the Government Operations Committee (GOC) at the State House indicating the need for an investigation into reconfiguring the Board of Dental Examiners (BDE), and/or forming a separate Dental Hygiene Committee to oversee dental hygiene issues brought before the BDE. For those of you who are unaware, the BDE consists of 9 members (5 dentists, 2 hygienists, and 2 public members) and is responsible for overseeing the dental profession in our state. VDHA feels that, in light of the fact there are almost twice as many hygienists in the state as dentists, we are inadequately represented on the BDE.
After listening to our lobbyists’ testimony, the Committee voted 5-0 to create a task force to further investigate this issue. Following this vote, the legislature added the following wording to the OPR bill: “the director of the Office of Professional Regulation shall file a report with the general assembly by January 1, 2010 that recommends whether to restructure the BDE to improve the regulation of dental hygienists”.
VDHA will keep you all updated on any further developments as they occur and as always, we thank you for your support.
Sheila Bannister, RDH
President,
_____________________________________________________________________________
To: VDHA Members
From: VDHA Executive Board/Legislative Committee
The Legislative Committee and Executive Board members would like to inform you of a recent development. On Thursday, January 14, 2009 we were invited to attend a meeting called by the Chair of the Government Operations Committee, Senator Jeanette White, regarding the practice of dental hygiene in Vermont. Senator White is extremely concerned about the inability of Vermonters to access dental care. She informed us that her intention is to introduce a legislative bill during this year’s session to allow for direct access of dental hygiene services by the public. In addition, she plans to introduce legislation to develop a Dental Hygiene sub-committee of the Vermont Board of Dental Examiners through which all decisions regarding dental hygiene practice will be made.
Obviously this is an exciting time for dental hygiene in Vermont and VDHA will keep you apprised of developments as they occur. If you have any questions or comments please contact us at sbannister@vtc.edu
As always, thank you for your support
Sheila Bannister, RDH
_____________________________________________________________________________
To: All members of Vermont Dental Hygienists’ Association
From: VDHA Executive Board
Date: December 15, 2008
Subject: Legislation to eliminate Rule 6.7
initiated by the Vermont Board of Dental Examiners
After hearing testimony from a representative of the Vermont Dental Hygienists’ Association at the December 10th Board of Dental Examiners Meeting, the Board voted unanimously to initiate legislation to eliminate Rule 6.7. This is the rule that allowed an Alabama preceptor trained hygienist to be granted a Vermont dental hygiene license after practicing in Alabama for over 5 years and having 1200 hours of experience. Due to Rule 6.7, the individual was not required to be a graduate of an accredited dental hygiene educational program.
If legislation is successful, there will be only two methods for earning a dental hygiene license in Vermont in the future. These will be by examination or by endorsement. VDHA recommends that everyone periodically review the Rules and Regulations for the profession of dental hygiene by going to www.vdha.org and clicking on the “Licensing in Vermont” link. Information for dental hygiene can be found in Section 6 of the document.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at sbannister@vtc.edu, and please watch your email for our Vermont survey which will be sent to you directly through ADHA in the next day or two. We ask that you take five minutes to respond to the survey so that we may better serve you.
Thank you for your support,
Sheila Bannister
President/ Vermont Dental Hygienists’ Association