Section 332.261

Title XXII OCCUPATIONS AND PROFESSIONS

Chapter 332

Effective - 28 Aug 2001, 2 histories, see footnote   (history) 

  332.261.  License as dental hygienist, application, renewal — continuing education requirement, exception — renewal and reinstatement procedure — out-of-state licensee, eligibility. — 1. No person shall engage in the practice of dental hygiene without having first secured a license as provided for in this chapter.

  2. Any person desiring a license to practice dental hygiene in Missouri shall make application to the board on a form prescribed by the board pursuant to section 332.241. An application for licensure shall be active for one year after the date it is received by the board. The application becomes void if not completed within such one-year period.

  3. All persons once licensed to practice as a dental hygienist in Missouri shall renew his or her license to practice on or before the renewal date and shall display his or her license for each current licensing period in the office in which he or she practices or offers to practice as a dental hygienist.

  4. Effective with the licensing period beginning on December 1, 2002, a license shall be renewed every two years. The board shall not renew the license of any hygienist unless the licensee provides satisfactory evidence that he or she has completed thirty hours of continuing education within a two-year period. The board may extend the time requirements for completion of the continuing education up to six months for reasons related to health, military service, foreign residency or for other good cause. All requests for extensions of time shall be made in writing and submitted to the board before the renewal date. The board may waive the requirements for continuing education for retired or disabled hygienists or for other good cause.

  5. Any licensed dental hygienist who fails to renew his or her license on or before the renewal date may apply to the board for renewal of his or her license within four years subsequent to the date of the license expiration, provided that any such applicant shall pay a reinstatement fee for the license.

  6. The license of any dental hygienist who fails to renew within four years of the time that his or her license expired shall be void. The dental hygienist may apply for a new license, provided that, unless application is made pursuant to section 332.281, he or she shall pay the same fees and be examined in the same manner as an original applicant for licensure as a dental hygienist. A currently licensed dental hygienist in Missouri may apply to the board to be placed on an inactive list of dental hygienists, and during the time his or her name remains on the inactive list, he or she shall not practice as a dental hygienist. If a dental hygienist wishes to be removed from the inactive list, unless he or she applies pursuant to section 332.281, he or she shall apply for a current license and pay the license fees for the years between the date of the entry of his or her name on the inactive list and the date of issuance of his or her current license. If the dental hygienist has been on the inactive list for more than four years, he or she shall be examined in the same manner as an original applicant for licensure as a dental hygienist.

  7. A currently licensed dental hygienist in Missouri who does not practice in this state or who does not reside in this state may apply to the board to be placed on an out-of-state registration list of dental hygienists. Any dental hygienist applying to be so licensed shall accompany his or her application with a fee not greater than the license fee for a licensee who practices in this state or resides in this state. The required fee shall be established by the board, by rule, as with other licensing fees.

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(L. 1969 S.B. 97, A.L. 1981 S.B. 16, A.L. 1983 S.B. 302, A.L. 1993 S.B. 27, A.L. 2001 S.B. 393)