FYI:

News for Dentists and Dental Hygienists

A lot has been happening in our dental community in the summer of 2021. The state has incorporated two important actions that will affect the practice of dentistry going forward. Below is a short summary of these two events.

1. GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA SESSION 2021
    SESSION LAW 2021-95 SENATE BILL 146 passed

• An act to establish standards for the practice of tele-dentistry.
• To authorize properly trained dental hygienists to administer local dental anesthetics under direct supervision of a licensed dentist.
• To allow certain dental hygienists greater flexibility to practice without supervision of a licensed dentist.
• To allow licensure by credential for certain instructors.
• To enable representatives of the ECU School of Dental Medicine to serve on the NC Caring Dental Professionals board.

(To learn more, go to: www.ncleg.gov and search for “Senate Bill 146”.)

2. Department of Health and Human Service’s “S.T.O.P. Act” fully activated

In 2017, the Strengthen Opioid Misuse Prevention Act or “S.T.O.P. Act” was passed by the NC General Assembly. Now that the Controlled Substance Reporting System (CSRS) database has become fully operational, now is the time for full compliance.

As of 7-7-21, prescribers must:

• Query the CSRS before prescribing a target controlled substance (such as CL II, III, IV, V) to a patient.
• Insert the query results into the patient’s chart.

To learn more, go to: http://www.ncdentalboard.org/PDF/Prescribers%20Editorial.pdf

For questions, please call the NC Caring Dental Professionals at 800-230-3934 for assistance.