Section 33.341. Duties of dentists who are not permitholders

(a) A dentist who does not possess a permit issued under this subchapter may not allow general anesthesia, deep sedation, conscious sedation or nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia to be administered on an outpatient basis in his dental office unless the following conditions are met:

(1) The Board receives prior notice of the first time that the dental office will be used for the administration of general anesthesia, deep sedation, conscious sedation or nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia.

(2) The dental office meets the appropriate equipment and facility requirements prescribed in § 33.340(a)(2), § 33.340a(a)(2) or § 33.340b(a)(2) (relating to duties of dentists who are unrestricted permitholders; duties of dentists who are restricted permit I holders; and duties of dentists who are restricted permit II holders) and the Board receives a written certification from the dentist to that effect.

(3) The general anesthesia, deep sedation, conscious sedation and nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia, are administered by one of the following:

(i) The holder of a permit under this subchapter or CRNA delegatee.

(ii) A physician as defined in § 33.331 (relating to definitions).

(4) Either the dentist who performs the dental procedure or the CRNA, physician or permitholder who administers the general anesthesia, deep sedation or conscious sedation possesses a current certification in ACLS.

(5) The nonpermitholder dentist receives a written certification from the permitholder that all monitoring equipment and equipment used to administer general anesthesia, deep sedation, conscious sedation and nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia is present in the nonpermitholder’s office, is properly installed, maintained and calibrated according to the equipment manufacturer’s guidelines, contains a fail-safe system and is in proper working condition prior to the administration of general anesthesia, deep sedation, conscious sedation or nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia, and that monitoring equipment is being used during the administration of general anesthesia.

(6) The nonpermitholder receives a written certification from the permitholder that the permitholder has satisfactorily completed a clinical evaluation and the equipment transported to the nonpermitholder dentist’s office for the administration of general anesthesia, deep sedation, conscious sedation or nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia by a permitholder has satisfactorily completed an inspection conducted by an approved peer evaluation organization under § 33.336b(a) (relating to approved peer evaluation organizations for administering clinical evaluations and office inspection), in accordance with the requirements of the AAOMS Manual and AAOMS Guidelines (OMS), ADA Guidelines or AAPD Guidelines, as applicable.

(b) A dentist shall submit to the Board a complete written report on a death or an incident requiring medical care and resulting in physical or mental injury that directly resulted from the administration of general anesthesia, deep sedation, conscious sedation or nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia in his dental office. The report shall be submitted within 30 days of the death or incident.

(c) A dentist’s failure to comply with this section will be considered unprofessional conduct and will subject the dentist to disciplinary action under section 4.1 of the act (63 P. S. § 123.1).

(d) Beginning April 1, 2005, and for all subsequent renewal periods, non-permitholder licensees who maintain offices in which general anesthesia, deep sedation or conscious sedation is administered, shall have completed 5 hours of Board-approved courses related to anesthesia. These 5 hours shall be credited toward the nonpermitholder licensee’s continuing education requirement under § 33.401(a)(1) (relating to credit hour requirements).

The provisions of this § 33.341 adopted July 8, 1988, effective July 9, 1988, 18 Pa.B. 3045; amended July 7, 1989, effective July 8, 1989, 19 Pa.B. 2953; amended May 13, 2005, effective May 14, 2005, 35 Pa.B. 2880. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (266045) to (266046).

Notation

Authority

The provisions of this § 33.341 issued under sections 11.2 and 11.3 of The Dental Law (63 P. S. § § 130c and 130d); amended under sections 3(o) and 11.2(a) of The Dental Law (63 P. S. § § 122(o) and 130c(a)).

Notes of Decisions

Notice

In the absence of a clause exempting from the notice requirements those who administered anesthesia prior to the effective date of the regulation or a clause stating that the regulation applied only to new practitioners, the State Board of Dentistry’s interpretation that the regulation applies to all dentists upon becoming effective is a reasonable interpretation of that regulation; the dentist was required to give notice the first time he used general anesthesia in his office after the effective date of the regulation. Watkins v. State Board of Dentistry, 740 A.2d 760 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1999).

Cross References

This section cited in 49 Pa. Code § 33.342 (relating to inspection of dental offices).