RESULT OF "YES" VOTE: "Yes" vote changes current law to allow licensed denturists to install partial dentures to replace missing teeth; authorizes denturists' joining cooperative business ventures with dentists.
RESULT OF "NO" VOTE: "No" vote retains current law allowing denturists to install full dentures, prohibiting partial dentures (removable replacement teeth), allowing restrictions on dentist-denturist cooperative business ventures.
SUMMARY: Current law allows both dentists and licensed denturists to install removable full upper or lower prosthetic dental appliances (dentures) in the human mouth. Current law prohibits licensed denturists from installing partial upper or lower dentures or removable replacement teeth. Current law allows only dentists to install partial upper or lower dentures that replace individual teeth with permanent or removable dental appliances. Current law allows restrictions on cooperative business or professional ventures between dentists and denturists. This measure would change current law (1) by allowing licensed denturists to install removable upper or lower partial dentures to replace missing natural teeth and (2) by authorizing dentists and licensed denturists to cooperate and maintain mutually agreeable business and professional associations, with each responsible for own area of expertise.
ESTIMATE OF FINANCIAL IMPACT: No financial effect on state or
local government expenditures or revenues.
Whereas: Since the passage of the Oregon Denturist Initiative of 1978, Oregon seniors have had the opportunity to go to licensed independent denturists to purchase their dentures;
Whereas: Oregon seniors and other denture consumers have paid a far greater prices to purchase dentures from a dentist then from a denturist;
Whereas: Oregon licensed denturists are not currently allowed to provide partial dentures directly to the public;
Whereas: Oregon dentists and denturists are not currently allowed to maintain any cooperative business or professional association based on their respective areas of expertise;
Whereas: Many lower and middle-income seniors and other low-income consumers are having great difficulty affording partial dentures;
Whereas: Denturists in neighboring Washington state, Montana, and all of Canada have been successfully dispensing partial dentures to public without any major problems for years; and
Whereas: Oregon licensed denturists should have the right to: 1) provide the public access to low-cost full or partial upper or lower dentures and 2) maintain any mutually agreeable business or professional association with dentists for the benefit of the public.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 680.500 is amended to read:
680.500. As used in ORS 680.500 to 680.572, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1) "Board" means the policy-making body known as the State Board of Denture Technology.
(2) "Denture" means any removable full and/or partial upper or lower prosthetic dental appliance to be worn in the human mouth to replace any missing natural teeth.
(3) "Denturist" means a person licensed under ORS 680.500 to 680.572 to engage in the practice of denture technology and who is authorized within their scope of practice to provide to the public full or partial upper or lower dentures to be worn in the human mouth.
(4) "Health Licensing Office" means the agency of oversight.
(5) "Practice of denture technology" means:
(a) Constructing, repairing, relining, reproducing, duplicating, supplying, fitting or altering any denture in respect of which a service is performed under paragraph (b) of this subsection; and
(b) The taking of impressions, bite registrations, try-ins, and insertions of or in any part of the human oral cavity for any of the purposes listed in paragraph (a) of this subsection.
SECTION 2. Section 3 of this Act is added to and made a part of ORS 680.500 to 680.572.
SECTION 3. A dentist, as defined in ORS 679.010, and a denturist may cooperate and maintain any business or professional association that is mutually agreeable with each being responsible for their respective area of expertise.
NOTE: Boldfaced type indicates new language; [brackets and italic] type indicates deletions or comments.