A U.S. judge ruled in favor of the American Academy of Implant Dentistry (AAID), finding that the South Dakota State Board of Dentistry’s advertising rule is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment right to free speech.
The AAID and Dr. Edward Kusek, an American Board of Oral Implantology/Implant Dentistry diplomate for 40 years in South Dakota, sued the state dental board, its individual members, and the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office, claiming its 2023 rule that restricts how dentists use the term "specialist" was unconstitutional.
“Defendants are permanently enjoined from enforcing South Dakota Administrative Rule 20:43:04:01 against plaintiffs to the extent it prohibits them from advertising as specialists or using the terms ‘specialist’ or ‘specialty’ to describe an area of dental practice not recognized as a specialty under the American Dental Association, or otherwise enforcing any provision of South Dakota law inconsistent with this opinion,” according to a U.S. District Court for South Dakota, Southern Division, decision dated July 20.
In 2023, the board adopted a rule requiring dentists to have completed at least two years of postdoctoral residency training to advertise as specialists.
Dentists were to avoid advertising or representing themselves as specialists to prevent “any implication that another dentist associated with the same practice or entity is a specialist, unless that dentist meets the requirements of this section. Declaration to the public of a specialty practice or the inference of specialty status not authorized by this section is engaging in false or misleading advertising,” according to the South Dakota dental board’s rule.
