Bill Text: NY S05727 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Provides that a dental hygienist shall not administer local block anesthesia without a certificate and except under the personal supervision of a dentist and in conjunction with the performance of dental hygiene procedures authorized by law and in accordance with regulations promulgated by the commissioner.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-28 - REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION [S05727 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-S05727-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5727

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    February 28, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  HARCKHAM,  COONEY, WEBB -- read twice and ordered
          printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Higher
          Education

        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to local block anesthesia

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 6605-b of the education law, as  added  by  chapter
     2  437  of  the laws of 2001 and subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 198 of
     3  the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
     4    § 6605-b.    Dental    hygiene    restricted    local     infiltration
     5  anesthesia/nitrous  oxide  analgesia certificate.  1. A dental hygienist
     6  shall not administer or monitor nitrous oxide analgesia or local  infil-
     7  tration  anesthesia  in  the practice of dental hygiene without a dental
     8  hygiene restricted local infiltration anesthesia/nitrous oxide analgesia
     9  certificate and except under the personal supervision of a  dentist  and
    10  in accordance with regulations promulgated by the commissioner. Personal
    11  supervision,  for  purposes  of this section, means that the supervising
    12  dentist remains in the dental office where the local infiltration  anes-
    13  thesia   or  nitrous  oxide  analgesia  services  are  being  performed,
    14  personally authorizes and prescribes the use of local infiltration anes-
    15  thesia or nitrous oxide analgesia for the patient and, before  dismissal
    16  of  the  patient, personally examines the condition of the patient after
    17  the use of local infiltration anesthesia or nitrous oxide  analgesia  is
    18  completed.  It  is  professional  misconduct  for  a  dentist to fail to
    19  provide the supervision required by this section, and any dentist  found
    20  guilty  of  such  misconduct  under the procedures prescribed in section
    21  sixty-five hundred ten of this title shall be subject to  the  penalties
    22  prescribed in section sixty-five hundred eleven of this title.
    23    2.    Dental  hygiene block anesthesia certificate. A dental hygienist
    24  shall not administer or monitor block  anesthesia  in  the  practice  of
    25  dental  hygiene  without  a dental hygiene restricted local infiltration

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00803-01-5

        S. 5727                             2

     1  anesthesia/nitrous oxide analgesia  certificate  and  a  dental  hygiene
     2  block  anesthesia  certificate and except under the personal supervision
     3  of a dentist authorized  by  law  and  in  accordance  with  regulations
     4  promulgated  by  the commissioner. Personal supervision, for purposes of
     5  this section, means that the supervising dentist remains in  the  dental
     6  office   where  the  block  anesthesia  services  are  being  performed,
     7  personally authorizes and prescribes the use of block anesthesia for the
     8  patient and, before dismissal of the patient,  personally  examines  the
     9  condition of the patient after the use of block anesthesia is completed.
    10  It  is  professional  misconduct  for  a  dentist to fail to provide the
    11  supervision required by this section, and any dentist  found  guilty  of
    12  such  misconduct  under  the procedures prescribed in section sixty-five
    13  hundred ten of this title shall be subject to the  penalties  prescribed
    14  in section sixty-five hundred eleven of this title.
    15    3.  The  commissioner shall promulgate regulations establishing stand-
    16  ards and procedures for the issuance of such [certificate] certificates.
    17  Such standards shall require completion of an educational program and/or
    18  course of training or experience appropriate  to  each  certificate  and
    19  sufficient  to ensure that a dental hygienist is specifically trained in
    20  the administration and monitoring of nitrous oxide analgesia  and  local
    21  infiltration anesthesia or is specifically trained in the administration
    22  and  monitoring  of  block anesthesia, the possible effects of such use,
    23  and in the recognition of and response to possible emergency situations.
    24    [3.] 4. The fee for a dental  hygiene  restricted  local  infiltration
    25  anesthesia/nitrous  oxide  analgesia  certificate  shall  be twenty-five
    26  dollars and the fee for a dental hygiene  block  anesthesia  certificate
    27  shall be twenty-five dollars and shall be paid on a triennial basis upon
    28  renewal  of  such certificate. A certificate may be suspended or revoked
    29  in the same manner as a license to practice dental hygiene.
    30    § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 6606 of the education law, as amended by
    31  chapter 239 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
    32    1. The practice of the profession of dental hygiene is defined as  the
    33  performance  of  dental services which shall include removing calcareous
    34  deposits, accretions and stains from the exposed surfaces of  the  teeth
    35  which  begin  at  the  epithelial attachment and applying topical agents
    36  indicated for a complete dental prophylaxis, removing cement, placing or
    37  removing rubber dam, removing sutures, placing  matrix  band,  providing
    38  patient  education,  applying  topical  medication, placing and exposing
    39  diagnostic dental X-ray films, performing topical fluoride  applications
    40  and  topical  anesthetic  applications,  polishing teeth, taking medical
    41  history, charting caries, taking impressions for  study  casts,  placing
    42  and   removing  temporary  restorations,  administering  and  monitoring
    43  nitrous oxide analgesia and administering and  monitoring  local  infil-
    44  tration  and  administering  and monitoring block anesthesia, subject to
    45  certification in accordance with section  sixty-six  hundred  five-b  of
    46  this  article,  and any other function in the definition of the practice
    47  of dentistry as may be delegated by a  licensed  dentist  in  accordance
    48  with regulations promulgated by the commissioner. The practice of dental
    49  hygiene may be conducted in the office of any licensed dentist or in any
    50  appropriately  equipped  school  or  public institution but must be done
    51  either under the supervision of a licensed dentist or, in the case of  a
    52  registered dental hygienist working for a hospital as defined in article
    53  twenty-eight  of  the  public  health  law,  pursuant to a collaborative
    54  arrangement with a licensed and registered  dentist  who  has  a  formal
    55  relationship  with  the  same  hospital  in  accordance with regulations
    56  promulgated by the department in consultation  with  the  department  of

        S. 5727                             3

     1  health.  Such  collaborative  arrangement shall not obviate or supersede
     2  any law or regulation which requires identified services to be performed
     3  under the  personal  supervision  of  a  dentist.  When  dental  hygiene
     4  services are provided pursuant to a collaborative agreement, such dental
     5  hygienist  shall  instruct  individuals  to visit a licensed dentist for
     6  comprehensive examination or treatment.
     7    § 3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become  a
     8  law.
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