Arizona Board of Dental Examiners

The Board is charged with regulating approximately 5,000 dentists, dental hygienists, and denturists in Arizona. We found that it is generally effective in fulfilling its licensing and complaint duties. However, the Board needs to improve its procedures for ensuring that licensees take required corrective actions resulting from resolved complaints. The Board also needs to improve its handling of consent agreements and malpractice cases to ensure that the public is better informed. The Board should make information available to the public about the provisions of consent agreements used to resolve statutory violations. Further, the Board did not take disciplinary action in a few malpractice complaints from its unfounded concern that the incident would be double-reported in a national data bank.

The report also contains pertinent information addressing legislative and public concerns relating to holistic dentistry.