Bill Text: CA AB873 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Dentistry: dental assistants: infection control course.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-20 - From printer. May be heard in committee March 22. [AB873 Detail]

Download: California-2025-AB873-Introduced.html

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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 873

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Introduced by Assembly Member Alanis

February 19, 2025

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An act to amend Section 1750 of, and to repeal Section 1755 of, the Business and Professions Code, relating to healing arts, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 873, as introduced, Alanis. Dentistry: dental assistants: infection control course.

Existing law, the Dental Practice Act, establishes the Dental Board of California to license and regulate the practice of dentistry, including the licensure and regulation of dental auxiliaries, including, among others, dental assistants, as defined, and sets forth duties and functions that those dental auxiliaries are authorized to perform.

Existing law establishes various requirements for courses in infection control for certain unlicensed dental assistants and requires an unregistered dental assistant not enrolled in a board-approved program for registered dental assisting or an alternative dental assisting program, as specified, to complete a certification course, as specified.

This bill would repeal those requirements for courses in infection control for certain unlicensed dental assistants.

Existing law provides the employer of a dental assistant is responsible for ensuring that the dental assistant has successfully completed the above course prior to performing any basic supportive dental procedures involving potential exposure to blood, saliva, or other potentially infectious material.

This bill would, instead, provide that the employer of a dental assistant is responsible for ensuring that a dental assistant who has been in continuous employment for 90 days or more has already completed, or successfully completes, the above course within a year of the date of employment.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Digest Key

Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 1750 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:

1750.

 (a) A dental assistant is an individual who, without a license, may perform basic supportive dental procedures, as authorized by Section 1750.1 and by regulations adopted by the board, under the supervision of a licensed dentist. “Basic supportive dental procedures” are those procedures that have technically elementary characteristics, are completely reversible, and are unlikely to precipitate potentially hazardous conditions for the patient being treated.

(b) The supervising licensed dentist shall be directly responsible for determining the competency of the dental assistant to perform the basic supportive dental procedures, as authorized by Section 1750.1.

(c) The employer of a dental assistant shall be responsible for ensuring that the a dental assistant has successfully completed a board-approved eight-hour course in infection control prior to performing any basic supportive dental procedures involving potential exposure to blood, saliva, or other potentially infectious materials. who has been in continuous employment for 90 days or more, has already completed, or successfully completes, a board-approved eight-hour course in infection control within a year of the date of employment.

(d) The employer shall maintain evidence for the length of the employment for the dental assistant at the supervising dentist’s treatment facility to verify the dental assistant has met and maintained all certification requirements as dictated by statute and regulation.

(e) The employer shall inform the dental assistant of the educational requirements described in subdivision (f) to maintain employment as an unlicensed dental assistant.

(f) The employer of a dental assistant shall be responsible for ensuring that the dental assistant who has been employed continuously or on an intermittent basis by that employer for one year from the date of first employment provides evidence to the employer that the dental assistant has already successfully completed, or successfully completes, all of the following within one year of the first date of employment:

(1) A board-approved two-hour course in the Dental Practice Act.

(2) Current certification in basic life support issued by the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, the American Safety and Health Institute, the American Dental Association’s Continuing Education Recognition Program, or the Academy of General Dentistry’s Program Approval for Continuing Education, in accordance with both of the following:

(A) The dental assistant shall be responsible for maintaining current certification in basic life support to perform duties involving patients.

(B) The employer of a dental assistant shall be responsible for ensuring that the dental assistant maintains certification in basic life support.

(3) To perform radiographic procedures, a dental assistant shall complete a board-approved course in radiation safety. The original or a copy of the current, valid certificate issued by a board-approved radiation safety course provider shall be publicly displayed at the treatment facility where the dental assistant performs dental services.

(4) To perform coronal polishing prior to licensure as a registered dental assistant, an unlicensed dental assistant shall complete a board-approved coronal polishing course and obtain a certificate of completion. Prior to taking the coronal polishing course, the dental assistant shall provide evidence to the course provider of having completed a board-approved eight-hour course in infection control and a current, valid certification in basic life support.

(A) Coronal polishing performed pursuant to this paragraph shall be performed under the direct supervision and pursuant to the order, control, and full professional responsibility of a licensed dentist, who shall, at minimum, evaluate each patient after coronal polishing procedures are performed by the dental assistant.

(B) The original or a copy of the current, valid certificate issued by a board-approved coronal polishing course provider shall be publicly displayed at the treatment facility where the dental assistant performs dental services.

SEC. 2.

 Section 1755 of the Business and Professions Code is repealed.

1755.

(a)A course in infection control is one that has as its main purpose providing theory and clinical application in infection control practices and principles where the protection of the public is its primary focus.

(b)An unlicensed dental assistant not enrolled in a board-approved program for registered dental assisting or an alternative dental assisting program as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1741, shall complete one of the following infection control certification courses:

(1)A board-approved eight-hour course, with six hours being didactic instruction and two hours being laboratory instruction.

(2)A board-approved eight-hour course, with six hours of didactic instruction and at least two hours of laboratory instruction using video or a series of video training tools, all of which may be delivered using asynchronous, synchronous, or online learning mechanisms or a combination thereof.

(c)A course shall establish specific instructional objectives. Instruction shall provide the content necessary for students to make safe and ethical judgments regarding infection control and asepsis.

(d)Objective evaluation criteria shall be used for measuring student progress. Students shall be provided with specific performance objectives and the evaluation criteria that will be used for didactic testing.

(e)Didactic instruction shall include, at a minimum, all of the following as they relate to Cal/OSHA regulations, as set forth in Sections 300 to 344.85, inclusive, of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, and the board’s Minimum Standards for Infection Control, as set forth in Section 1005 of Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations:

(1)Basic dental science and microbiology as they relate to infection control in dentistry.

(2)Legal and ethical aspects of infection control procedures.

(3)Terms and protocols specified in Section 1005 of Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations regarding the minimum standards for infection control.

(4)Principles of modes of disease transmission and prevention.

(5)Principles, techniques, and protocols of hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, surface barriers and disinfection, sterilization, sanitation, and hazardous chemicals associated with infection control.

(6)Principles and protocols of sterilizer monitoring and the proper loading, unloading, storage, and transportation of instruments to work area.

(7)Principles and protocols associated with sharps management.

(8)Principles and protocols of infection control for laboratory areas.

(9)Principles and protocols of waterline maintenance.

(10)Principles and protocols of regulated and nonregulated waste management.

(11)Principles and protocols related to injury and illness prevention, hazard communication, general office safety, exposure control, postexposure requirements, and monitoring systems for radiation safety and sterilization systems.

(f)Upon successful completion of the course, students shall receive a certificate of completion as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 1741.

(g)The board may adopt regulations to implement this section.

SEC. 3.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

Unlicensed dental assistants are currently required to take an eight-hour course prior to performing any basic supportive dental procedures that would have potential exposure to infectious materials. There have been issues preventing the establishment of the eight-hour course virtually and the eight-hour course is not readily available in many parts of the state, especially remote and rural areas already experiencing access and workforce shortage issues. To mitigate these outcomes, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.