The State Board of Dental Examiners (Board) adopts an amendment to 22 TAC §114.12, concerning the continuing education requirements applicable to registered dental assistants. This amendment to the existing rule will clarify the continuing education requirements applicable to registered dental assistants and the requirements applicable to the courses. This rule amendment is being adopted with changes to the proposed text as published in the June 22, 2018, issue of the Texas Register (43 TexReg 4013). The changes to the published text are as follows:

In subsection (a), the sentence "At least three (3) of these six (6) hours must be clinical continuing education" is being added to the subsection.

The Texas Dental Association submitted a comment regarding this rule, requesting the addition of "clinical" to the continuing education requirements imposed on registered dental assistants, in order to ensure that dental assistants keep their clinical skills current and are educated about scientific evidence-based patient care. The Board agrees with the substance of this comment, and has revised the requirements of subsection (a) to reflect the requested clinical requirement.

This rule is proposed under Texas Occupations Code §254.001(a), which gives the Board authority to adopt rules necessary to perform its duties and ensure compliance with state laws relating to the practice of dentistry to protect the public health and safety, and Texas Occupations Code §265.008, which directs the Board to adopt rules establishing continuing education requirements for registered dental assistants.