| (a) Once an official investigation commences, board
staff shall notify the complainant and respondent of the filing of
the complaint and the commencing of the official investigation. The
complainant and the respondent shall receive notice of the complaint's
status, at least quarterly, until final disposition of the complaint,
unless such notice would jeopardize an investigation.
(b) The official investigation of a complaint may include
referral to a panel of experts for review.
(c) As of September 1, 2016, board staff shall classify
each filed complaint into one or more of the following allegation
categories:
(1) Standard of Care: failure to treat a patient according
to the standard of care in the practice of dentistry or dental hygiene.
(2) Sanitation: failure to maintain the dental office
in a sanitary condition.
(3) Dishonorable Conduct: unprofessional or dishonorable
conduct, including conduct identified in §108.9 of this title
(related to Dishonorable Conduct).
(4) Administrative: failure to comply with administrative
requirements of the Act or board rules.
(5) Business Promotion: failure to comply with the
requirements of the Act or board rules relating to advertising and
referral schemes.
(6) Practicing Dentistry without a License.
(7) Non-compliance: failure to comply or timely comply
with an Order or Remedial Plan issued by the board.
(d) Board staff shall assign each filed complaint a
priority classification, as follows:
(1) Priority 1 includes allegations of dental treatment
causing serious patient harm, impairment, serious criminal activity,
inappropriate contact with a patient, and other allegations determined
by the Director of Investigations to require an expedited investigation
or consideration of temporary suspension pursuant to §263.004
of the Act.
(2) Priority 2 record-keeping violations, administrative
violations, allegations of practicing dentistry without a license
that do not allege serious patient harm, and other allegations that
do not allege serious patient harm.
(3) A complaint's priority classification may be changed
following approval of the Director of Investigation or the Dental
Director.
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