Most of the disciplinary actions -- 40% -- taken against U.S. dentists were due to gross negligence or repeated acts of clinical incompetence, according to a new study published on June 24 in the Journal of the American Dental Association.
The findings showcase the need for standardized reporting and targeted preventive education to protect patients and support professional accountability, the authors wrote.
“Dental disciplinary actions during the study period were dominated by preventable clinical and administrative failures,” wrote the authors, led by Dr. Yu-Yin Lin, MS, of the department of pediatric dentistry at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, AL.
Complete, publicly accessible data from 2017 to 2021 for California, Tennessee, New Jersey, Iowa, Minnesota, Maine, Kentucky, Nebraska, and South Dakota were reviewed. Researchers analyzed violations, penalties, state-level distributions, and temporal trends.
Between 2017 and 2021, there were 901 disciplinary cases against dentists, the authors wrote.
The top five reasons for dentists to be disciplined included:
- Gross negligence or repeated acts of clinical incompetence accounted for 340 (37.7%) cases.
- Incomplete documentation was attributed in 192 (21.3%) cases.
- Failing to meet continuing education requirements was cited in 165 (18.3%) cases.
- The lack of a license or falsifying an application for someone else factored into 96 (10.6%) cases.
- Insurance fraud was attributed in 72 (7.9%) cases.
An analysis revealed a dramatic link between administrative violations, specifically between incomplete documentation and lack of informed consent, the authors wrote.
Additionally, there were differences between the states.
For instance, Tennessee had the greatest number of license applications that clinicians had falsified for themselves (35.1%) and for staff members or associates (48.9%), they wrote.
In California, there was only one reported continuing education violation, but it had large proportions of failure to refer (92.1%), gross negligence (62.6%), and lack of informed consent (72.9%). The four disciplinary cases involving patient deaths were in California, the authors wrote.
In general, penalties included reprimands, practice restrictions, license revocations or suspensions, fines, and mandatory professional development, they wrote.
However, the study had limitations. The results may not be generalized to all locations in the state, because only nine states provided complete, publicly accessible records, the authors wrote.
“Dental disciplinary actions in the United States are dominated by preventable clinical and administrative failures, particularly gross negligence, inadequate documentation, and noncompliance with CE (continuing education) requirements,” Lin and colleagues wrote.
