Major Legislative Updates for 2022
Public Health Dental Hygienist (Bill SB 3122)
- Senator Melinda Bush is our sponsor for this bill
- Currently, PHDHs can practice in:
- FQHC
- State or local public health facility
- Head Start
- WIC facility
- certified school-based health center or school-based oral health program
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IDHA is lobbying to include nursing homes to the PHDH setting
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IDHA created a video to promote the benefits and education required to receive PHDH certificate. The video is an informational video to educate our profession, community members, and legislators. Click here to watch the PHDH video and share with others!!
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For more information on the bill, click here
Teledentistry (Bill SB3190)
- Senator Mattie Hunter is our sponsor for this bill
- Last year, dentists proposed a bill that changed teledentistry. The new definition includes dentists only, meaning dental hygienists and assistants cannot practice teledentistry and want to remove the term, "patient care," which would eliminate patient care and only use teledentistry for patient education.
- To counteract this bill, our intent is to draw attention to the increasing use of teledentistry and patient care, especially during COVID. Our proposed bill will strengthen the dental hygiene practice and teledentistry.
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For more information on the bill, click here.
ISDS Proposed Bills: (HB4501 & SB3168)
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Due to the small shortage in the dental hygiene workforce in Illinois, two bills (one in the House and one in the Senate) have been proposed to alter our Dental Practice Act/Law to allow dental assistants to scale patients 19 years old and under in any setting. Help us stop these bills from passing! Take action and spread the word! Contact your legislators!
- If you missed the original email blast from IDHA on January 16th, PLEASE send the following email opposing these bills (see link below on how to find who your legislators are):
In order to be licensed in Illinois, dental hygienists must graduate from a nationally accredited dental hygiene program. These programs include rigorous clinical and didactic education and training for the knowledge and treatment of oral and systemic diseases that affect the whole body. Dental hygienists must pass multiple board exams, be licensed, and are required to complete annual continuing education courses.
In contrast, dental assistants are not required to have any formal education, complete any continuing education courses, or hold a license. These bills suggest that a one time training would make dental assistants proficient to treat children, teens, and adults.
Allowing dental assistants who only obtain a certification from a 16 hour weekend course to scale teeth, without being licensed or regulated in any way by the Board of Dentistry, would be dangerous and unnecessary!
Your help is needed to protect the public by opposing these bills!
Sincerely,
<Sign your name here>
A few additional FYIs:
- When you read through the bills, the underlined words are the proposed changes.
- The words with slashes are words to omit from the bill.
- Fact Sheets for both bills will be coming soon to share as we contact legislators asking for support.
- We gained great momentum and buzz around the important role of dental hygienists regarding ISDS comments. We must continue to share factual information on social media for a professional presence.
- In order to initiate the greatest change, we MUST contact our legislators!
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Click here for guidance from the American Dental Education Association on how to do this.
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To find your state legislator and representatives, click here
