Legislative Info
Colorado Laws and Regulations:
Colorado Dental Practice Act – effective September 2022
Colorado Dental Board Rules and Regulations – effective January 9, 2023
CODHA Fact Sheets for Dental Hygienists:
Colorado RDH Scope of Practice Info Sheet – Updated July 2021
Fact Sheet 2020 – January 2020
June 2023 Update
As you may have heard, the Colorado Dental Association had their House of Delegates on June 8-10, 2023. Much of the discussion revolved around the workforce shortages and struggles that dentists are having in hiring dental hygienists.
The CDA House of Delegates overwhelmingly passed resolution #32-23 with a 72-17 vote. The resolution states that CDA will develop and submit a Sunrise Review application to expand the dental assistant scope of practice by December 2023 that should include scope, supervision, training, and any licensing requirements to allow for dental assistants to do periodontal probing and calculus removal under direct supervision of a dentist.
Read more about what CODHA is doing and how you can get involved.
2023 Legislation
Colorado
- SB23-002 – Medicaid Reimbursement For Community Health Services – PASSED
- SB23-031 – Improve Health-care Access For Older Coloradans – PASSED
- HB23-1116 – Contracts Between Carriers And Providers – PASSED
- SB23-179 – Dental Plans Medical Loss Ratio – PASSED
- Unintroduced bill – Regarding Interstate Compact for Dentists and Dental Hygienists Licensure – To Be Introduced in the 2024 Legislative Session
Other States
Recent Legislation
- Dental Therapy Legislation: SB 22-219
- Signed into law in June 2022
- Allows licensure and regulation of dental therapists.
- Peer Health Assistance Legislation: SB 22-058
- Signed into law in June 2022
- Creates a peer health assistance program for dental hygienists.
- This program already existed for dentists, physicians, nurses, veterinarians, mental health professionals, and more.
- Sunset Bill: Interim Therapeutic Restorations and Silver Diamine Fluoride: SB 21-102
- Signed into law in April 2021
- Allows dental hygienists to apply silver diamine fluoride under their limited prescriptive authority without supervision of a dentist.
- Allows course for silver diamine fluoride to be taught as an on-demand course.
- Removes the number of hours of practice required for a dental hygienist to obtain an ITR permit.
- Expands the number of dental hygienists a dentist can supervise for ITR.
- Removes geographic limitations to where a supervising dentist can be located for ITR supervision.
- Reorganization of the Dental Practice Act: HB 20-1056
- Sign into law in March 2020
- Served to reorganize the Dental Practice Act to increase the readability for licensees. The bill did not change any scope of practice, but will help dental providers be able to find the information that applies to them.
- Silver Diamine Fluoride: HB 18-1045
- Dental Hygiene “Clean-Up” Bill: HB 17-1010
- Introduced to the Colorado House of Representatives on January 11, 2017
- Passed unanimously through the House Health, Insurance, and Environment Committee on January 24, 2017
- Created as the result of task force meetings involving CDA and CDHA
- Removes limiting language in Practice Act regarding laser use by dental hygienists and allows the Colorado Dental Board to promulgate rules allowing dental hygienists to utilize lasers to the full extent of our scope of practice
- Clarifies language regarding placement of therapeutic agents as part of the Limited Prescriptive Authority for Dental Hygienists
- Allows hygienists who are practicing in unsupervised settings to obtain and administer emergency drugs subject to the collaborating dentist and future Dental Board rules
- Read the full bill HERE
- Download the revised version of Rule XXIV HERE
- Interim Therapeutic Restoration Draft Bill: HB15-1309
- Passed through the House and Senate as of May 6, 2015!
- Read the full bill HERE
- Read the Rules and Regulations document above to see full details of training and certification requirements.
- ITR Permit Course will be offered on January 6, 2017 at Community College of Denver. For more information, visit www.ccd.edu
- To apply for an ITR Permit, visit the Colorado Dental Board’s website.
- Sunset Practice Act Bill: HB 14-1227
- Senate Bill 15-031: Killed In Committee
- Would have allowed reciprocity for anyone licensed for any profession in any state to practice in Colorado for one year without applying for Colorado license. CDHA opposed this bill via our lobbyists
- Senate Bill 14-004: Community College 4-Year Degree
- The bill allows the State Board of the Community Colleges and Occupational Education (state Board) to seek approval from the Colorado Commission on higher education (CCHE) for technical, career, and workforce development Bachelor of Applied Science Degree programs that may be offered at Community Colleges within the state system. **BAS programs must meet the criteria set forth in the Bill.
OSHA Training Requirements
- Annual OSHA Training is required by the United States Department of Labor. Please review the documents below to understand the requirements.
The Colorado Dental Board is the regulatory agency of the dental hygiene profession. See the website to review your legal requirements for maintaining your license and your practice. Encourage consumers to look up licensing information of the dental hygienists and dentists in the dental office where they are considering treatment.
For information about the Colorado Dental Board, applications, and full updated documents, please visit