After licensing qualified dentists, hygienists, and dental assistants, the California Dental Board remains active to ensure the public receives safe, quality services. If a mistake happens or the public complains about the professionalism or competence of a licensed professional, the board will not hesitate to take action. This could put their career and livelihood at risk.
Whether you are a licensed dentist, dental hygienist, or assistant, you should fight for your license when that happens. A license attorney can help you develop a defense strategy to avoid a harsh disciplinary action that will affect your livelihood, like the suspension or revocation of your license. If this happens in Santa Cruz, you can partner with our team of skilled license attorneys at Santa Cruz License Attorney. We will also defend your rights and your best interests throughout the administrative process.
Reasons to Defend Your Dentist, Dental Hygienist, or Dental Assistant License
If you have already trained and built a career in the dental industry, you must do whatever it takes to protect it. A bad reputation, mistakes, or carelessness can cost you your career in an instant. The Dental Board takes any complaint it receives from the public about a dental professional very seriously. If an allegation is true, and there is evidence that your actions put the public at risk, the board can cancel your license. This will mark an end to a career that has cost you a lot of money, time, and effort to build. License suspensions are also serious, because you lose your livelihood for months or years.
Here are reasons to fight for your dental license:
To Avoid Losing Your License
One single mistake is enough to lose your dental license in California. If the mistake occurred due to gross negligence, and someone was seriously injured or killed, the Dental Board will quickly take action to prevent a similar issue from happening again in the future. This can result in license suspension or revocation, depending on the circumstances of the case.
Although a suspension is usually temporary, it halts your career and prevents you from earning a living for several months or years. You must also go through an intensive and extensive process to reinstate your license after the suspension.
You can avoid all this by defending your license once a complaint is brought against you. The board allows you a chance to defend yourself with evidence before or during the administrative hearing. You can do this with the assistance of a competent license attorney.
To Avoid Probation
License probation is another type of action the Dental Board takes against dental professionals who violate their code of ethics or engage in criminal acts. The board can use this action before or after its investigation. Although you continue working while on probation, your services are usually limited. The board also sets other restrictions and conditions that you must abide by until the probation is lifted.
You can fight probation with the assistance of an attorney to continue serving your patients smoothly. You will also earn your living easily as before, regardless of the allegations against you. If you prove that you are still a reliable and professional dentist, dental assistant, or hygienist, the board can dismiss the allegation and allow you to continue with your work.
To Protect Your Professional Reputation
Your reputation in the dental industry is very important. This is what patients consider before contacting you for help. After licensing, you build your reputation slowly through good work and success stories until you become one of the most renowned dentists, dental assistants, or hygienists in your area. Sadly, your reputation is at risk if someone complains about your professionalism or competence. This can affect your relationship with current patients and your ability to attract future patients.
When an allegation is brought against you, you should act fast to protect your professional reputation. This is what will keep you in business for years. With your attorney’s help, you can fight the allegation and any action by the board that can ruin your reputation.
To Avoid a Substantial Fine
A fine is one of the disciplinary actions the Dental Board may impose on dental professionals accused of unprofessionalism or misconduct. In most cases, the board imposes a substantial fine to ensure that a dentist who violates its code of conduct pays dearly for their mistakes. Fines are mainly accompanied by public citations, which can also ruin your reputation. While fighting the public citation, your attorney can also help you fight for a favorable fine. A substantial fine may cause significant damage to your financial situation, especially if you do not have sufficient funds.
To Save Your License
Your license as a dentist, dental assistant, or hygienist did not come easily. You must have trained for years and passed difficult exams to be considered eligible for certification. This alone must have cost you a lot of money, time, and effort. You must also have worked hard to meet the Dental Board’s licensing criteria. This, too, should have cost you considerable time and money. These alone are enough reasons to fight for your license against suspension, probation, or revocation.
However, remember that the board will not hesitate to take stern disciplinary action against you, including canceling your license, if you are not deemed fit to serve in the dental industry. For this reason, you should engage a skilled license attorney immediately after learning that your license is at risk. They will find loopholes in the board’s case or other ways to fight a serious disciplinary action.
Allegations That Can Ruin Your Dental Career in California
Remember that the Dental Board is always open to complaints and suggestions to ensure that licensed professionals are serving the public interests as they should. Here are possible allegations that can ruin your dental career by causing the board to take serious action against your license or reputation:
Clinical Negligence
Negligence is a serious violation in your profession as a dentist, assistant, or hygienist. You can be accused of clinical negligence in the following circumstances:
- If you are negligent in treating a patient and your actions cause them to sustain a serious injury, like permanent nerve damage. This can happen during injections, extractions, or failed dental restorations.
- When you fail to diagnose a patient on time for serious conditions like dental decay, gum disease, or oral cancer, you can cause them to suffer a serious illness or death.
- When you make serious procedural errors, like extracting the wrong tooth, leaving an instrument in the mouth, or leaving a broken file when performing root canal therapy.
- When you fail to sterilize your tools as required, you cause your patients to suffer serious infections.
- When you are not careful enough when administering anesthesia, this can happen if you administer an incorrect dosage, fail to monitor your patients’ vital signs after sedating them, or make any other sedation error that could cause serious brain injury or death.
Dishonesty and Fraud
Cases of dishonesty and fraud are also common in dentistry. These can happen in the following circumstances:
- When you charge a patient’s insurance provider for treatments you have not rendered
- When you submit forged insurance claims to an insurance provider
- When you falsify or destroy your patient’s record to cover up a mistake
- If you falsify your qualification, experience, or CV in job applications to get a job you are not qualified for.
Sexual Misconduct
You also risk losing your career in the field of dentistry if you are accused of sexual misconduct. This allegation can happen under the following circumstances:
- You engage in sexual misconduct with your patients, including sexually harassing or abusing a patient. This mainly happens when a patient is sedated.
- Sexual harassment, or abuse of your staff, including verbal or non-verbal actions that make your work environment toxic or hostile
- Your workers can also accuse you of intimidation
Regulatory and Ethical Violations
The Dental Board can also take action against you if you engage in any of the following:
- Overtreating your patients or overprescribing medication or procedures for financial gain
- Abandoning your patients in the middle of treatment without referring them
- Offering substandard care or continuously making mistakes that affect the oral or general health of your patients
Inadequate Supervision
When you hire assistants to help you in your dental office, you must ensure that they are qualified and licensed for the work they are hired for. It is a serious violation to hire an unlicensed or unqualified practitioner to save money by underpaying them. Additionally, you can face serious problems with the board if you allow an unqualified assistant to perform a procedure that requires adequate training and experience.
Possible Consequences of Those Allegations and How an Attorney Can Help
When the Dental Board receives a complaint about a dentist, dental assistant, or hygienist, it makes one of two decisions: to dismiss an unsubstantiated allegation or to pursue the matter and file a formal complaint. If the board makes the latter decision regarding a complaint brought against you, it can investigate it first to determine its authenticity and gather sufficient evidence. If, in the course of investigation, the board does not find enough evidence to file a formal complaint, it will dismiss the case. However, if there is sufficient evidence of your unprofessional conduct, the board will hold a hearing to determine the best discipline for you.
An attorney can fight the allegation from the beginning, or negotiate for a dismissal or settlement before the board completes its investigation. If this does not work, and the matter is brought to an administrative hearing, your attorney must prepare to defend you and fight for your best interests. Here are possible results of an administrative hearing and how an attorney can help:
Suspension or Revocation of Your License
Having a professional license does not mean that you get to keep it for life. You can lose your license sooner rather than later if you fail to deliver quality, safe, and professional services to your patients. The board only licenses you to serve public interests. If this does not happen, your license can be canceled at any time.
Suspensions and revocations are rare, but they occur when you act negligently, thereby putting your patients’ lives at risk. Your attorney can present evidence to counter the allegation or convince the board to issue a more lenient resolution.
License Probation
This is very common in dentistry. When a dentist’s license is on probation, they work under the board’s strict supervision. The board also sets probation conditions for the dentist to adhere to. If you violate probation or make another mistake while on probation, the board can suspend or revoke your license.
Your attorney can fight probation if it is not in your best interests. They can negotiate for favorable probation conditions to make it easier for you to abide by them.
Public Reprimand or Citations
These are very common, especially for minor violations that do not result in injuries or death. However, they, too, can affect your livelihood by damaging your reputation. Remember how important your professional reputation is. When a citation or reprimand is issued publicly, it can cause permanent damage to your reputation. This will, in turn, affect how easily you find work or patients.
Your attorney can fight any action by the board that damages your reputation. They can recommend any other disciplinary action that will protect the reputation you have built over the years.
Find Skilled License Defense Services Near Me
Licensed dentists, dental assistants, and hygienists in Santa Cruz must continually provide safe and professional services to avoid trouble with the Dental Board. If a patient is injured or unsatisfied, they can file a complaint with the board. A complaint like that can affect your reputation and livelihood. However, you can fight for a reasonable outcome with the assistance of a license defense attorney.
Our skilled attorneys at Santa Cruz License Attorney are always ready to help in situations like those. We understand how much your career means to you and your dependents. We can review the case and develop a defense strategy to protect your career and reputation. For more information about our services, contact us at 831-770-6474.
