2006 Code of Virginia § 54.1-2718 - Practicing under firm or assumed name

54.1-2718. Practicing under firm or assumed name.

A. No person shall practice, offer to practice, or hold himself out aspracticing dentistry, under a name other than his own. This section shall notprohibit the practice of dentistry by a partnership under a firm name, or alicensed dentist from practicing dentistry as the employee of a licenseddentist, practicing under his own name or under a firm name, or as theemployee of a professional corporation, or as a member, manager, employee, oragent of a professional limited liability company or as the employee of adental clinic operated as specified in subsection A of 54.1-2715.

B. A dentist, partnership, professional corporation, or professional limitedliability company that owns a dental practice may adopt a trade name for thatpractice so long as the trade name meets the following requirements:

1. The trade name incorporates one or more of the following: (i) a geographiclocation, e.g., to include, but not be limited to, a street name, shoppingcenter, neighborhood, city, or county location; (ii) type of practice; or(iii) a derivative of the dentist's name.

2. Derivatives of American Dental Association approved specialty boardcertifications may be used to describe the type of practice if one or moredentists in the practice are certified in the specialty or if the specialtyname is accompanied by the conspicuous disclosure that services are providedby a general dentist in every advertising medium in which the trade name isused.

3. The trade name is used in conjunction with either (i) the name of thedentist or (ii) the name of the partnership, professional corporation, orprofessional limited liability company that owns the practice. The owner'sname shall be conspicuously displayed along with the trade name used for thepractice in all advertisements in any medium.

4. Marquee signage, web page addresses, and email addresses are notconsidered to be advertisements and may be limited to the trade name adoptedfor the practice.

(Code 1950, 54-184; 1970, c. 639; 1975, c. 479; 1988, c. 765; 1992, c. 574;2004, c. 48; 2005, cc. 505, 587.)