The Dental Hygiene Board of California on Nov. 8 recommended and the full board approved launching the formal rulemaking process for amended regulations that clarify registration and form requirements for mobile dental hygiene clinics and for registered dental hygienists in alternative practice who maintain portable equipment.

Dr. Adena Petty, the board’s regulatory presenter, told the Legislation & Regulatory Committee the proposed changes are intended to resolve conflicts between regulatory text and the underlying statute and to make form instructions clearer for licensees. “So we struck ‘diagnoses’ and added ‘care plan,’” Petty said while walking members through redlined language and new form layouts. Petty explained that the forms now include a third column with an "NA" box where appropriate so respondents can clearly indicate when a requirement does not apply, and that emergency-oxygen and AED requirements are tied to specific clinical practices (local anesthesia or soft-tissue curettage) rather than applied across the board.

Committee discussion focused on how to describe patient records. Several board members proposed replacing the phrase “care plan” with the more specific term “dental hygiene process of care” and explicitly adding “assessments.” Regulations counsel read revised draft language on the record so the patient-record requirement would read that the facility’s patient treatment records include the patient’s dental history related to the “dental hygiene process of care, which includes medical history, dental hygiene assessments, dental hygiene care plan, dental hygiene procedures and treatment, response to dental hygiene treatment, documented consultations with other dental care and health care providers, and referrals for dental care and health care follow-up treatment”.

President Joanne Pacheco moved the committee recommendation to transmit the proposed rule package to the Department of Consumer Affairs and to the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency for review and to authorize the executive officer to take technical steps to start the rulemaking process. The motion—amended on the record to use the “dental hygiene process of care” language—passed on roll call (committee and later full‑board votes recorded by staff).

Why it matters: the edits narrow which facility requirements apply to primary physical facilities (where patients are treated) versus physical facilities that exist only to maintain portable equipment, and tie some safety‑equipment requirements to actual services provided. Board staff said the clarifications should reduce confusion for registered dental hygienists in alternative practice (RDHAPs) and for mobile clinic operators when they complete registrations and forms.

What’s next: Staff will post the proposed text for the 45‑day public comment period, accept comments, and, if no adverse comments or hearing requests are received, the executive officer may proceed to adopt the regulations consistent with the Administrative Procedure Act timeline.