The State Board of Dental Examiners shall each year elect from their number a president, vice president and secretary-treasurer to serve for the coming year and until their successors are qualified. Only dentist members of the board may hold the offices of president and vice president. The board shall have a seal with appropriate wording to be kept at the offices of the board. The secretary and the executive director of the board shall be required to make bond in such sum and with such surety as the board may determine. It shall be the duty of the executive director to keep a complete record of the acts and proceedings of the board and to preserve all papers, documents and correspondence received by the board relating to its duties and office.
The board shall have the following powers and duties:
(a) To carry out the purposes and provisions of the state laws pertaining to dentistry and dental hygiene, and the practice thereof and matters related thereto, particularly Sections 73-9-1 through 73-9-117, together with all amendments and additions thereto.(b) To regulate the practice of dentistry and dental hygiene and to promulgate reasonable regulations as are necessary or convenient for the protection of the public; however, the board shall not adopt any rule or regulation or impose any requirement regarding the licensing of dentists that conflicts with the prohibitions in Section 73-49-3.(c) To make rules and regulations by which clinical facilities within institutions, schools, colleges, universities and other agencies may be recognized and approved for the practice of dentistry or of dental hygiene by unlicensed persons therein, as a precondition to their being excepted from the dental practice act and authorized in accordance with Section 73-9-3(g) and (h).(d) To provide for the enforcement of and to enforce the laws of the State of Mississippi and the rules and regulations of the State Board of Dental Examiners.(e) To compile at least once each calendar year and to maintain an adequate list of prospective dentist and dental hygienist appointees for approval by the Governor as provided for elsewhere by law(f) To issue licenses and permits to applicants when found to be qualified.(g) To provide for reregistration of all licenses and permits duly issued by the board.(h) To maintain an up-to-date list of all licensees and permit holders in the state, together with their addresses.(i) To examine applicants for the practice of dentistry or dental hygiene at least annually.(j) To issue licenses or duplicates and reregistration/renewal certificates, and to collect and account for fees for same.(k) To maintain an office adequately staffed insofar as funds are available for the purposes of carrying out the powers and duties of the board.(l) To provide by appropriate rules and regulations, within the provisions of the state laws, for revoking or suspending licenses and permits and a system of fines for lesser penalties.(m) To prosecute, investigate or initiate prosecution for violations of the laws of the state pertaining to practice of dentistry or dental hygiene, or matters affecting the rights and duties, or related thereto.(n) To provide by rules for the conduct of as much board business as practicable by mail, which, when so done, shall be and have the same force and effect as if done in a regular meeting duly organized.(o) To adopt rules and regulations providing for the reasonable regulation of advertising by dentists and dental hygienists.(p) To employ, in its discretion, a duly licensed attorney to represent the board in individual cases.(q) To employ, in its discretion, technical and professional personnel to conduct dental office sedation site visits, administer and monitor state board examinations and carry out the powers and duties of the board.(r) To adopt reasonable rules and regulations providing for dentist practice records retention under the following minimum standards: (i) Dental records shall be retained by a dentist in the original, microfilmed, or similarly reproduced form for a minimum period of ten (10) years from the date a patient is last treated by a dentist.(ii) Graphic matter, images, X-ray films, and like matter that were necessary to produce a diagnostic or therapeutic report shall be retained, preserved and properly stored by a dentist in the original microfilmed or similarly reproduced form for a minimum period of three (3) years from the date a patient is last treated by the dentist. Such graphic matter, images, X-ray film, and like matter shall be retained for a longer period when requested in writing by the patient.(iii) Dental records in their original, microfilmed, or similarly reproduced form shall be provided upon request to a parent or guardian of an unemancipated minor under eighteen (18) without the permission of such unemancipated minor.Codes, 1930, § 4300; 1942, § 8752; Laws, 1928, ch. 131; Laws, 1966, ch. 466, § 1; Laws, 1974, ch. 423; Laws, 1983, ch. 488, § 7; Laws, 1991, ch. 483, § 7; Laws, 1993, ch. 465, § 2; reenacted without change, Laws, 1997, ch. 541, § 7; reenacted and amended, Laws, 2002, ch. 524, § 7, eff. 6/30/2002.Amended by Laws, 2024, ch. (number not assigned at time of publication), SB 2873,§ 2, eff. 5/13/2024.Amended by Laws, 2015, ch. 461, HB 204, 3, eff. 7/1/2015.