Dental Assistant Requirements in Kentucky: Registration, X-Ray Rules & Allowed Duties

The regulation defines a single credential: the dental assistant, described as a person directly involved with the care and treatment of a patient under a dentist's direct supervision who performs reversible procedures delegated by a Kentucky-licensed dentist.

The regulation also defines coronal polishing as the final stage of a dental prophylaxis on the clinical crown of the tooth after a dentist or hygienist has verified there is no calcareous material.

It is the supervising dentist, not the assistant, who registers each dental assistant in the practice on the Application for Renewal of Dental Licensure.

The assistant must maintain CPR certification meeting or exceeding American Heart Association guidelines, which the dentist keeps on file, and the dentist must keep a statement of the assistant's competency in delegated procedures from the Delegated Duties List.

The statute separately requires the registration to be continuously displayed in a conspicuous place in the licensee's office.

A dental assistant must be under a Kentucky-licensed dentist's direct supervision at all times while performing patient care and treatment, and the supervising dentist accepts sole responsibility for the assistant's actions.

The statute similarly requires a registered dental assistant to practice under the supervision, order, control, and full responsibility of a licensed dentist.

Neither source defines a general-supervision tier for dental assistants.

A supervising dentist may assign a registered dental assistant only procedures that do not require the professional competence of a licensed dentist or licensed dental hygienist.

Coronal polishing is allowed if the assistant uses a rubber cap on a slow-speed rotary handpiece or dental hygiene cordless polisher, has received a certificate from a board-approved instructor for a course developed by the board and Kentucky dental educators, and that course covered didactic, preclinical, and clinical training plus competency testing.

The regulation separately requires an eight-hour CODA-accredited coronal polishing course with a 75 percent written exam and a supervised clinical competency exam performed on a live patient.

A licensed dentist may delegate taking radiographs to a registered dental assistant who has completed board-approved training in radiography technique and safety, and the completion certificate must be kept by the supervising dentist and made available to the board on request.

The regulation spells out that training as ten hours total: a six-hour dental radiography safety course and a four-hour dental radiography technique course, or alternatively four hours of in-office technique instruction under the dentist's employment and supervision.

A registered dental assistant may start intravenous access lines only under the direct supervision of a dentist who holds a sedation or anesthesia permit issued by the board, and only after completing a board-approved course covering patient safety techniques, patient anatomy and physiology, techniques for starting and maintaining an IV access line, and appropriate methods of discontinuing one.

The supervising dentist must keep the completion certificate in the assistant's personnel file.