2012 Wyoming Statutes
TITLE 33 - PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS
CHAPTER 15 - DENTISTS AND DENTAL HYGIENISTS
33-15-128. Definitions.

(a) As used in this act:

(i) "Board" means the Wyoming board of dental examiners established by this act;

(ii) "Dentistry" means the healing art practiced by a dentist which is concerned with the examination, diagnosis, treatment, planning and care of conditions within the human oral cavity and its adjacent tissues and structures;

(iii) "Dentist" means a person who performs any intraoral and extraoral procedure required in the practice of dentistry and to whom is reserved:

(A) The responsibility for final diagnosis of conditions within the human mouth and its adjacent tissues and structures;

(B) The responsibility of the final treatment plan of any dental patient;

(C) The responsibility for prescribing drugs which are administered to patients in the practice of dentistry;

(D) The responsibility for overall quality of patient care which is rendered or performed in the practice of dentistry regardless of whether the care is rendered personally by the dentist or by a dental auxiliary; and

(E) Other specific services within the scope of the practice of dentistry.

(iv) "Dental" means pertaining to dentistry;

(v) "Dental hygienist" means a person who is supervised by a dentist and is licensed to render the educational, preventive and therapeutic dental services defined in this act, as well as any extraoral procedure required in the practice of a dental hygienist's duties;

(vi) "Dental assistant" means a person who is supervised by a dentist and renders assistance to a dentist, dental hygienist, dental technician or another dental assistant as described in this act;

(vii) "Dental laboratory" means an enterprise engaged in making, repairing, providing or altering oral prosthetic appliances and other artificial materials and devices which are returned to the dentist and inserted into the human mouth or which come into contact with its adjacent structures and tissues;

(viii) "Dental laboratory technician" means a person who, at the direction of a licensed dentist, makes, provides, repairs or alters oral prosthetic appliances and other artificial devices which are inserted into the human mouth or which come into contact with the human mouth and its adjacent tissues and structures. A dental technician is a dental prosthetic auxiliary working under the supervision of a licensed dentist;

(ix) "Dental auxiliary" means any person who works under the supervision of a dentist and who provides dental care services to a patient;

(x) "Supervision" of a dental auxiliary means the act of directing or overseeing duties performed by a dental auxiliary, as defined by rules and regulations of the board;

(xi) Repealed By Laws 2007, Ch. 210, 3.

(xii) "Proprietor" includes any person who:

(A) Employs dentists, dental hygienists or dental auxiliaries in the operation of a dental office, except as defined in this act; or

(B) Places in the possession of a dentist, dental hygienist or dental auxiliary or other agent such dental material or equipment as may be necessary for the management of a dental office on the basis of a lease or any other agreement for compensation for the use of such material, equipment or offices; or

(C) Retains the ownership or control of dental equipment or material or office and makes the same available in any manner for the use by dentists, dental hygienists, dental auxiliaries or any other agents, excepting that nothing in this subparagraph shall apply to bona fide sales of dental equipment or material secured by a chattel mortgage or retain-title agreement or the loan of articulators.

(xiii) "Expanded duties" means those patient's services which are beyond those regularly practiced by dental hygienists or dental technicians or other dental auxiliary functions and which require additional education which shall be approved by the board of dental examiners of Wyoming and are to be performed under the direct supervision of a licensed dentist;

(xiv) "Specialty" means a special area of dental practice for ethical specialty announcement and limitation of practice which are dental public health, endodontics, oral pathology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral and maxillofacial radiology and any other specialty area recognized by the board of dental examiners of Wyoming;

(xv) "Radiograph" means the film used with an x-ray machine and includes the product of a film exposed by an x-ray machine;

(xvi) "X-ray machine" means an assemblage of components for the controlled production of x-rays. It includes at a minimum an x-ray high voltage generator, an x-ray control, a tube housing assembly, a beam limiting device and the necessary supporting structures;

(xvii) "This act" means W.S. 33-15-101 through 33-15-133 and may be cited as the "Wyoming Dental Practice Act".