§ 33-15-128 — Definitions

(a) As used in this act:
(i) "Board" means the Wyoming board of dental
examiners established by this act;
(ii) "Dentistry" means the healing art practiced by a
dentist which is concerned with the examination, diagnosis,
treatment, planning and care of conditions within the human oral
cavity and its adjacent tissues and structures;
(iii) "Dentist" means a person who performs any
intraoral and extraoral procedure required in the practice of
dentistry and to whom is reserved:
(A) The responsibility for final diagnosis of
conditions within the human mouth and its adjacent tissues and
structures;
(B) The responsibility of the final treatment
plan of any dental patient;
(C) The responsibility for prescribing drugs
which are administered to patients in the practice of dentistry;
(D) The responsibility for overall quality of
patient care which is rendered or performed in the practice of
dentistry regardless of whether the care is rendered personally
by the dentist or by a dental auxiliary; and
(E) Other specific services within the scope of
the practice of dentistry.
(iv) "Dental" means pertaining to dentistry;
(v) "Dental hygienist" means a person who is
supervised by a dentist and is licensed to render the
educational, preventive and therapeutic dental services defined
in this act, as well as any extraoral procedure required in the
practice of a dental hygienist's duties;
(vi) "Dental assistant" means a person who is
supervised by a dentist and renders assistance to a dentist,
dental hygienist, dental technician or another dental assistant
as described in this act;
(vii) "Dental laboratory" means an enterprise engaged
in making, repairing, providing or altering oral prosthetic
appliances and other artificial materials and devices which are
returned to the dentist and inserted into the human mouth or
which come into contact with its adjacent structures and
tissues;
(viii) "Dental laboratory technician" means a person
who, at the direction of a licensed dentist, makes, provides,
repairs or alters oral prosthetic appliances and other
artificial devices which are inserted into the human mouth or
which come into contact with the human mouth and its adjacent
tissues and structures. A dental technician is a dental
prosthetic auxiliary working under the supervision of a licensed
dentist;
(ix) "Dental auxiliary" means any person who works
under the supervision of a dentist and who provides dental care
services to a patient;
(x) "Supervision" of a dental auxiliary means the act
of directing or overseeing duties performed by a dental
auxiliary, as defined by rules and regulations of the board;
(xi) Repealed By Laws 2007, Ch. 210, § 3.
(xii) "Proprietor" includes any person who:
(A) Employs dentists, dental hygienists or
dental auxiliaries in the operation of a dental office, except
as defined in this act; or
(B) Places in the possession of a dentist,
dental hygienist or dental auxiliary or other agent such dental
material or equipment as may be necessary for the management of
a dental office on the basis of a lease or any other agreement
for compensation for the use of such material, equipment or
offices; or
(C) Retains the ownership or control of dental
equipment or material or office and makes the same available in
any manner for the use by dentists, dental hygienists, dental
auxiliaries or any other agents, excepting that nothing in this
subparagraph shall apply to bona fide sales of dental equipment
or material secured by a chattel mortgage or retain-title
agreement or the loan of articulators.
(xiii) "Expanded duties" means those patient's
services which are beyond those regularly practiced by dental
hygienists or dental technicians or other dental auxiliary
functions and which require additional education which shall be
approved by the board of dental examiners of Wyoming and are to
be performed under the direct supervision of a licensed dentist;
(xiv) "Specialty" means a special area of dental
practice for ethical specialty announcement and limitation of
practice which are dental public health, endodontics, oral
pathology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics,
pediatric dentistry, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral and
maxillofacial radiology and any other specialty area recognized
by the board of dental examiners of Wyoming;
(xv) "Radiograph" means the film used with an x-ray
machine and includes the product of a film exposed by an x-ray
machine;
(xvi) "X-ray machine" means an assemblage of
components for the controlled production of x-rays. It includes
at a minimum an x-ray high voltage generator, an x-ray control,
a tube housing assembly, a beam limiting device and the
necessary supporting structures;
(xvii) "This act" means W.S. 33-15-101 through
33-15-133 and may be cited as the "Wyoming Dental Practice Act".