BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	S.B. 430
85R6458 EES-D	By: Rodr�guez
	Health & Human Services
	3/2/2017
	As Filed

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

Since as early as 1971, dental hygienists have been permitted to administer local anesthesia under the supervision of a dentist in other states, Washington D.C., and the military. Texas is one of only six states that do not allow dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia.

Local anesthesia administration is the numbing of gums and teeth in a specific area of the mouth where scaling and root planing are necessary and where the procedures will cause pain if the tissues are not anesthetized. When treating patients with serious gum disease, anesthesia is necessary to provide complete and compassionate care. In Texas, the dentist must administer the anesthesia and often this means that a patient is inconvenienced and must wait. A dentist should have the option of allowing a hygienist, who is educated in administering local anesthesia, to perform the procedure. This would allow better delivery of care for patients.

S.B. 430 seeks to address this issue by amending current law relating to the acts a dentist may delegate to a dental hygienist to include the administration of a local anesthetic agent.

As proposed, S.B. 430 amends current law relating to the regulation of the practice of dental hygiene.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners in SECTION 3 of this bill.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 258.001, Occupations Code, as follows:

Sec. 258.001. New Heading: DELEGATIONS. (a) Creates this subsection from existing text. Makes a nonsubstantive change.

(b) Authorizes a dentist to delegate to a dental hygienist the authority to administer a local anesthetic agent only if the procedure is the administration of a local anesthetic agent under Section 262.002(a)(6), the dental hygienist has passed a certification examination approved by the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners (TSBDE), and the dental hygienist has completed a course approved by TSBDE to train dental hygienists to administer local anesthetic agents, or the dental hygienist has been licensed in good standing within the past year to administer local anesthetic agents by a branch of the United States armed forces or by another state. Redesignates Paragraphs (A)-(C) as Subdivisions (1)-(3). Makes nonsubstantive changes.

SECTION 2. Amends Section 262.002(a), Occupations Code, to include that a person practices dental hygiene if the person administers intraoral block or infiltration anesthesia under the authorization and direct supervision of a dentist. Makes nonsubstantive changes. �

SECTION 3. (a) Requires TSBDE, not later than January 1, 2018, to prescribe by rule the requirements for a course to train dental hygienists to administer local anesthetic agents and develop a procedure for the approval of such courses.

(b) Requires that a rule adopted under Subsection (a) require that a course be offered in a classroom setting at an educational institution accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association.

SECTION 4. Effective date: September 1, 2017.