Petition Submitted to New Jersey Dental Board for Recognition and Advertisement of More Specialties

The American Board of Dental Specialties (ABDS) recently submitted a petition for rulemaking to the State Board of Dentistry (Board) requesting that the Board amend existing N.J.A.C. 13:30-6.1 to formally recognize the ABDS-recognized certifying boards/areas of practice as specialties, and any future ABDS-recognized specialties. This would allow dentists certified by the ABDS boards to advertise as specialists in accordance with New Jersey rules. Currently, the rules allow such specialty recognition and advertisement decisions to be made only by the American Dental Association. The ABDS also requests that the following additional specialty areas of dentistry may be announced as specialty dental practices: oral implantology/implant dentistry; oral medicine; orofacial pain; dental anesthesiology; and any other area of dentistry recognized as a specialty by the American Dental Association or the ABDS as a specialty area. The Board referred this matter to its Rules and Regulations Committee for further deliberation. The rules are located at N.J.A.C. 13:30-6.1 and 6.2.