The State Board of Dental Examiners adopts amendments to §108.8, relating to Records of the Dentist. The amended section is adopted with changes to the proposed text as published in the May 21, 2010, issue of the Texas Register (35 TexReg 3932) and will be republished.

The amendments were proposed to clarify records requirements and specifically spell out the implicit requirement of dentists to provide diagnostic quality x-rays and legible records in response to requests from patients and the State Board of Dental Examiners. The amendments do not substantively change the records requirements for dentists, but integrate language that better reflects current interpretation of the section.

The Board received one comment from the Texas Dental Association (TDA) regarding the amendments. TDA states: "The amended language in §108.8(e)(1) requires a dentist maintaining dental records to 'personally maintain' the records. As written, the quoted language 'personally maintain' appears to prohibit the dentist from delegating day-to-day record keeping duties such as data entry to staff members."

The Board responds that it did not intend to change the rule to prohibit dentists from delegating record keeping duties to auxiliaries. The Board will remove the term "personally" from the amended section.

The amended section is adopted under Texas Government Code §§2001.021 et seq., and Texas Occupations Code §254.001, which provides the Board with the authority to adopt and enforce rules necessary for it to perform its duties.

The adopted section affects Texas Occupations Code, Title 3, Subtitle D, and Texas Administrative Code, Title 22, Part 5.