New State requirements for dental technicians

Recently, there has been a major change to the South Carolina Code of Laws governing the regulations and registration of dental technicians and dental technological work.

This year, the SCDLA proposed an amendment to the SC General Assembly that incorporates new certification requirements, including registration for out-of-state dental technicians who want to do business in South Carolina. The amendment was passed on Wednesday, June 4, 2008, and will be in force six months from that date. This lead time will allow for the dissemination and implementation of the new requirements and provide ample time for registration of dental technicians who may be providing dental technological work for South Carolina dentist.

While most of the existing requirements for dental technicians and the registration process remain unchanged, the amendment requires registration of out-of-state dental technicians who manufacture dental prosthetics based on a prescription from South Carolina Dentist. These new requirements received the full support and endorsement of the S. C. Dental Association and the National Association of Dental Laboratories.

Some of the main points of the new and additional requirements are:

Requires out-of-State dental technicians desiring to perform dental technological work for S. C. dentist to register with the S. C. State Board of Dentistry.
Prescriptions issued to dental technicians by S. C. dentist must reflect registration number of the technician as issued by S. C. State Board of Dentistry.
Copy of the prescription issued must be returned to dentist with information and certification reflecting –
- Country of origin where the dental technological work was performed, in whole or part, and
- List of all materials, including percentage of each ingredient used in the fabrication of the dental device, along with the name, address and certificate (registration) number of the person or organization authorized to manufacture the dental device.

Currently there are only three States that require some degree of registration for dental technicians; however, with these new requirements, South Carolina will set the standards for dental technicians and dental laboratory technology for the rest of the country and will go far in countering the flow of prosthetics from overseas, and will assist the dentist in providing the very best patient protection.

With the merits of these requirements, the National Association of Dental Laboratories will use these standards as a model for the country. Additionally, the American Dental Association is also reviewing the South Carolina requirements as a possible recommendation to other States.

Information on these new regulations along with requirements for dental technician registration process can be found on the SC State Board of Dentistry website.

Please contact us if you have any questions.