SECTION 54.1-2700. Definitions  

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:

"Appliance" means a permanent or removable device used in a plan of dental care, including crowns, fillings, bridges, braces, dentures, orthodontic aligners, and sleep apnea devices.

"Board" means the Board of Dentistry.

"Dental hygiene" means duties related to patient assessment and the rendering of educational, preventive, and therapeutic dental services specified in regulations of the Board and not otherwise restricted to the practice of dentistry.

"Dental hygienist" means a person who is licensed by the Board to practice dental hygiene.

"Dentist" means a person who has been awarded a degree in and is licensed by the Board to practice dentistry.

"Dentistry" means the evaluation, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment, through surgical, nonsurgical, or related procedures, of diseases, disorders, and conditions of the oral cavity and the maxillofacial, adjacent, and associated structures and their impact on the human body.

"Digital scan" means digital technology that creates a computer-generated replica of the hard and soft tissues of the oral cavity using enhanced digital photography.

"Digital scan technician" means a person who has completed a training program approved by the Board to take digital scans of intraoral and extraoral hard and soft tissues for use in teledentistry.

"Digital work order" means the digital equivalent of a written dental laboratory work order used in the construction or repair of an appliance.

"License" means the document issued to an applicant upon completion of requirements for admission to practice dentistry or dental hygiene in the Commonwealth or upon registration for renewal of license to continue the practice of dentistry or dental hygiene in the Commonwealth.

"License to practice dentistry" means any license to practice dentistry issued by the Board.

"Maxillofacial" means pertaining to the jaws and face, particularly with reference to specialized surgery of this region.

"Oral and maxillofacial surgeon" means a person who has successfully completed an oral and maxillofacial residency program, approved by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association, and who holds a valid license from the Board.

"Store-and-forward technologies" means the technologies that allow for the electronic transmission of dental and health information, including images, photographs, documents, and health histories, through a secure communication system.

"Teledentistry" means the delivery of dentistry between a patient and a dentist who holds a license to practice dentistry issued by the Board through the use of telehealth systems and electronic technologies or media, including interactive, two-way audio or video.

1950, p. 983, § 54-200.1; 1970, c. 639; 1972, c. 805; 1988, c. 765; 2001, c. 662 ; 2013, c. 662 ; 2020, cc. 662 , 662 .