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Tabitha Campbell

Jody Williams

DHY 245

5/15/18

Missouri Dental Hygiene Practice Act

The Missouri Dental Hygiene Practice act is a documentation of regulatory laws provided

to ensure consistency within the profession of dental hygiene. It is in place to protect the public

from negligent and unlawful care. As clinicians we must hold ourselves accountable to all laws

and regulations provided within the act. Adherence to this documentation is critical to ensure the

well being of our clients, deviation from law is not only unethical but a punishable offence

resulting in possible fines, imprisonment or loss of licensure. Services a hygienist may not

perform in Missouri include diagnosis, or the interpretation of dental radiographs and treatment

planning, cutting of tooth structure, performing surgical procedures on hard and soft tissues

including the removal of teeth and the cutting and suturing of soft tissues. Hygienist are also not

allowed to bend an arch wire prior to ligation (Missouri Dental Association). Services a hygienist

may provide are oral hygiene instructions, conduct oral screenings, and apply fluoride without a

dentist being present. The hygienist may refer patients to be screened by the dentist for

diagnosis. In Missouri a hygienist may administer nitrous oxide analgesia if they have obtained

proof of completing a nitrous oxide analgesia course, they must also obtain a permit, issued by

the board (Missouri Dental Association). The hygienist may administer local anesthesia,

including infiltration and block anesthesia, if they have completed a local anesthesia course or

hold a Missouri Dental Board infiltration anesthesia permit (Missouri Dental Association).
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Upon Comparison of the regulations of the Missouri Dental Practice Act with the Iowa

Dental Practice Act I discovered that all of the afore mentioned regulations are the same as those

of the Iowa Dental Practice Act, this is a convenience to those who wish to move from one of

these states to the other. A list of expanded functions stated within the practice acts for dental

hygiene in both Missouri and Iowa are similar.

I chose to compare the Missouri Dental Hygiene Practice act with the Illinois Dental

Hygiene Practice act simply because it is a bordering state. Again, findings indicated vast

similarities within the regulations of the two acts. I did find it interesting that within the Illinois

practice act it went into detail about school-based program settings. The school-based oral health

care consists of oral prophylactic procedures, sealants, and fluoride treatments (Illinois Dental

Board). These dental hygiene services may be provided may be provided under general

supervision of a dentist. The hygienist is not allowed to perform administration or monitoring of

nitrous oxide or administration of local anesthetics within the school setting (Illinois Dental

Board). The dentist must personally examine and diagnose the patient to determine the services

to be performed. Any order for sealants must be implemented within 120 days after its issuance

from the dentist. Prophylactic procedures or fluoride treatments must be implemented within 180

days after its issuance (Illinois Dental Board). It was interesting to compare these stated and nice

to discover that each of these state’s acts are similar to one another.
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Works Cited:

“Missouri Dental Practice Act.” Missouri Dental Association | American Dental

Association, www.modental.org/member-center/missouri-dental-practice-act

“Dental Board.” Missouri Department of Agency, pr.mo.gov/dental.asp

Dentalboard.iowa.gov, dentalboard.iowa.gov/practitioners/dental-hygienists.

“Illinois Dental Board” http://www.isds.org/docs/