the dental profession

Chapter VI

The Dental Profession

Police Power and the Profession• It is well established that the regulation of the

practice of dentistry is within the police power of the state, subject to the limitation that the enactment must be reasonable and have some direct, real and substantial relation to the protection of public health and welfare.

• The regulation of the dental profession is a legitimate exercise of the police power of the state.

Police Power and the Profession• Through the instrumentality of the Board of

Dental Examiners, and the duly constituted officers of the law, the Government sees to it that the provisions of the Philippine Dental Act are enforced, with a view to the advancement of the dental profession and the maintenance of ethical and technical standards.

Police Power and the Profession• The state regulation of the dental profession

may therefore be justified under the police power of the state and in the exercise of this power, the state has a right to prescribe qualifications for the dental practitioners.

Prohibition against Illegal Practice of Dentistry• Persons who are not holders of valid

certificates of registration as dentist issued by the Board of Dental Examiners are forbidden to practice dentistry. (Act No. 593)

• Any person who practices dentistry in disregard of this prohibition can render himself liable for prosecution and to the penalties provided by law.

Prohibition against Illegal Practice of Dentistry• This prohibition was re-stated by the

Philippine Dental Act of 1965, by providing that “unless specifically exempt and authorized by this Act, no person shall engage in the practice of dentistry in the Philippines without a certificate of registration as dentist issued to him by the Board of Dental Examiners after successfully passing the required qualifying examination.

Right to Practice Dentistry

• The basis of the right to practice dentistry has been clearly defined since the enactment of the first Dental Law (Act No. 593)

• The basis of the right to practice dentistry is a certificate of registration issued by the Board of Dental Examiners.


Act No. 2462 expressly provided that only the following persons may legally practice dentistry anywhere in the Islands:1. Any person who, upon the passage Act No.

2462, was registered in the official register of the Board of Dental Examiners created under Act No. 593;


2. Any undergraduate dentist who had practiced as such for not less than three years, provided that such person should present his old certificate to the Board of Dental Examiners established by Act No. 2462 within six months after the organization of the Board and secure a certificate of registration in accordance with said Act;

Right to Practice Dentistry3. Any undergraduate dentist completing, after

the approval of Act No. 2462, three years of practice as such, after having obtained a certificate of registration from the Board of Dental Examiners; and

4. Any undergraduate dentist who had practiced as such for less than 3 years and who had passed a postgraduate course in any duly established dental college, after having registered under Act No. 2462


• Dental Law of 1949-provides that “unless exempt from registration, no person shall practice dentistry in the Philippines as defined in this Act without holding a valid certificate of registration as dentist issued by the Board of Dental Examiners”

Unlawful Use of Title• Under the Dental Law of 1949, any person who shall assume, use,

or advertise as a bachelor of dental surgery, doctor of dental surgery, master of dental surgery, licentiate of dental surgery, doctor of dental medicine, or dental surgeon, or append to his name the letters B.D.S., D.D.S., M.D.S., L.D.S., or D.M.D. without having been conferred such title or degree in a legally constituted school, college, university, or board of examiners duly authorized to confer the same, or advertise any title or description tending to convey the impression that he is a dentist, without holding a valid certificate of registration from the Board… shall be guilty of misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to a fine of not less than P1, 000.00 nor more than P5, 000.00 or to suffer imprisonment for a period of not less than one year nor more than five years, or both.

Unlawful Use of Title

• In the Philippine Dental Act of 1965, the minimum fine of P1, 000.00 is increased to P3, 000.00

Display of Dentist’s Name and Certificate• As early as the year 1903, every practitioner of

dentistry was required by law to display his name in a conspicuous place upon the house or office where he was practicing and his certificate of registration, in his office in plain sight of patients occupying his dental chair.

Display of Dentist’s Name and Certificate• The Dental Law of 1949 broadened the

provisions of Act No. 2462 relating to the display of the name and registration certificate of every dental practitioner, by further requiring the dentist’s health certificate, likewise in his office in plain sight of patients occupying his dental chair.

Display of Dentist’s Name and Certificate• The Philippine Dental Act of 1965 re-stated

the provisions of the name and registration certificate of every practicing dentist, but eliminated the requirement as to the display of the dentist’s health certificate.

Penalties for Violation of the Dental Law• The first Dental Law (Act No. 593), as a means

to compel obedience to its requirements, provided penalties consisting of a fine of not more than One Hundred Dollars and/or imprisonment of not more than 90 days, but these penalties were to be imposed only for violation of the provisions of Section 11.

Penalties for Violation of the Dental Law• Act No. 2462 broadened the scope of the

offense punishable by the prescribed penalties by providing that the fine and/or imprisonment would be imposed not only for unlawful advertising and fraudulent assumption of titles but also for violation of any other provisions of the act.

• The maximum limit of the fine and period of imprisonment were also increased to P1, 000.00 and one year, respectively.

Penalties for Violation of the Dental Law• The Dental Law of 1949 (Republic Act No. 417)

made P1, 000.00 the minimum of the fine and one year, the minimum period of imprisonment, and at the same time, increased the maximum fine to P5, 000.00 and the maximum period of imprisonment to five years.

Penalties for Violation of the Dental Law• The Philippine Dental Act of 1965 repeated

the penalty provisions of the Dental Law of 1949, except with respect to the minimum of the fine, which is increased from P1, 000.00 to P3, 000.00

Practice of Dentistry by aliens- Reciprocity Requirements

• The enactment of Act No. 3680 on October 16, 1930 ushered in a new policy designed to protect Filipino dentists against possible professional competition by foreign dentists coming from a country that does not permit practice of dentistry within its territory by Filipino dentists on account of their nationality.


• Act No. 3680“no foreign dentists shall be admitted to examination unless the country of which he is a subject or citizen, permits Filipino dentists to practice within its territorial limits.”


• Reciprocity- derived from the Latin word reciprocus (re=back, pro=forward)- defined as a relation established by law, treaty, or agreement between two countries or states whereby each country or state grants to the nationals or citizens of the other the privilege of being admitted to the practice of professions within their respective territorial jurisdictions

Practice of Dentistry by aliens- Reciprocity Requirements• Philippine Spanish Treaty

- “Treaty on Mutual Recognition of the Validity of Academic Degrees, the Mutual Accreditation of Courses of Study in their Curricula and the Reciprocal Treatment in the Exercise of Professions Between the Philippines and Spain.”- primary object is to remove the existing barriers to the admission of Spanish citizens to the practice of the established professions in the Philippines


• Privileges of American citizensThroughout the American regime in the

Philippines, American citizens had the same rights and privileges in the practice of professions as those enjoyed by Filipino citizens


• Republic Act No. 76“existing laws or the provisions of existing laws granting privileges, rights or exemptions to citizens of the United States of America… are hereby repealed unless they affect rights already vested under the Provisions of the Constitution or unless extended by any treaty, agreement or convention between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America”


• Parity Amendments-merely extend to American citizens whatever privilege is give to Filipinos in the disposition, exploitation, development, and utilization of all agricultural, timber and mineral lands of the public domain, waters, mineral, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces and sources of energy, and other natural resources of the Philippines, and the operation of public utilities

Practice of Dentistry by Physicians• In 1934, a bill was introduced in the Philippine legislature

designed to authorize physicians to practice dentistry without their being required to take up the dental course, and to entitle them to register as dentists without examination.

• Dr. Gervasio Eraña – Manila dentist who led a group of dentists that made vigorous representation against the bill, together with UP School of Dentistry Dean Victorino G. Villa.

• The Eraña group succeeded in having the bill vetoed by Governor General Frank Murphy by their central theme: “There may be some benefits resulting from the approval of the bill but certainly, the proposed law is inimical to the public interest.”

Physician-dentist relationship

• In the early years of the dental profession in this country, medical practitioners had been professionally indifferent to the dentists. They never believed in nor recognized the effective role, if any, of dentistry in the general health of the people.

• Dr. Gervasio Eraña, in a medical convention held in Baguio City, elucidated on his thesis that oral infection and oral ill health are, in the ultimate analysis, the causes of many systemic diseases.

• Jacobo Fajardo (Director of Health) and Dr. Intengan (Assistant Director of Health) circularized the field and all the health agencies under the Bureau of Health about a health regulation newly prescribed by the Bureau requiring prior mouth examination, in cooperation of dental practitioners, in every case where a diagnosis of a patient’s disease was to be made.

Practice of Dentistry Defined• Act No. 593

“A person shall be regarded as practicing dentistry, within the meaning and intent of this Act, who shall, for a fee, salary, or other reward, paid to himself or to another person, perform any operation or part of an operation upon the human teeth or jaws, or who shall restore lost teeth, jaws, or portions of jaws artificially, or who shall treat diseases or lesions or correct malpositions thereof…”

Exemption from Registration2. Dentists or oral surgeons from other

countries who are invited for consultation or demonstration, provided that in such cases their work will be limited to the specific tasks assigned to them and that a previous authority has been granted by the Board of Dental Examiners

Practice of Dentistry Defined• Section 8 of Act No. 2462

- deleted from the scope of dental practice, the professional authority of the dentist to “restore lost teeth, jaws, or portions of jaws artificially.”

• Republic Act No. 417-authorized the dentists to perform an operation not only upon human teeth or jaws, but also upon the human mouth and surrounding tissues. The law also clarified the professional authority of a dentist to treat diseases or lesions by specifying that he can only treat oral diseases or lesions.

Practice of Dentistry Defined• Philippine Dental Law of 1965 (RA 4419)

- omitted the dentist’s authority to treat oral diseases and lesions but instead, empowered him to “prescribe drugs or medicines for the treatment of oral diseases and lesions

• According to the aforecited provisions of the Dental Law, there are three basic dental services which are circumscribed by the term “practice of dentistry”, namely…

Practice of Dentistry Defined

1. Performing an operation, or part of an operation, upon the human mouth, jaws, teeth, and surrounding tissues;

2. Prescribing drugs or medicines for the treatment of oral diseases and lesions; and

3. Correcting malpositions of the teeth

Practice of Dentistry DefinedThe provision defining the scope of dental practice, however, does not apply to the ff. classes of persons:1. Artisans or technicians engaged in the

mechanical construction of artificial dentures or fixtures and other oral devices, as long as none of the procedures is done inside the mouth of the patient;

2. Students of dentistry undergoing practical training in a legally constituted dental school

Practice of Dentistry Defined

or college under the direction or supervision of a member of the faculty who is licensed to practice dentistry in the Philippines; and

3. Registered dental hygienists serving as dentist’s assistants who may be allowed to perform oral prophylaxis and such other procedures which the law regulating the practice of dental hygienists may permit

Prerequisite to Practice• Unless specifically exempt and authorized by

the Dental Law, no person is permitted to engage in the practice of dentistry in the Philippines without a certificate of registration as dentist issued to him by the Board of Dental Examiners, and such certificate may be obtained by an applicant only after passing the required qualifying examination given by the Board.

Registration Required• Qualification in the dentist examination is not

enough to entitle a person to the right to practice dentistry in the Philippines. Before a successful candidate in the dentist examination may legally engage in the practice of dentistry, he must first register with the Board of Dental Examiners and secure from it a certificate of registration as a dentist.

Age Requirement• Although no minimum age is required of

applicants for admission to the dentist examination, the Dental Law, however, provides that no certificate of registration as dentist will be issued to any candidate who qualified in the examination unless he has reached the age of twenty-one years.

Exemption from RegistrationRegistration as a dentist under the Dental Law is not required of:1. Commissioned dental officers of the army,

navy and air forces of any foreign country whose operations in the Philippines are permitted by the Government, while rendering service for the members of the said forces only.

Exemption from Registration2. Dentists or oral surgeons from other

countries who are invited for consultation or demonstration, provided that in such cases their work will be limited to the specific tasks assigned to them and that a previous authority has been granted by the Board of Dental Examiners.

Issuance of Certificate• Certificates of Registration as dentists are

issued by the Board of Dental Examiners to applicants who have passed the dentist examination and have satisfactorily met the requirements prescribed by the Dental Law for the issuance of such certificate, and upon payment of the required registration fee.

• No certificate will be issued to any applicant who has not reached the age of twenty-one years.

Form of Registration Certificate• Every registration certificate of a dentist has

the ff:1.Full name of the registrant2.Serial number3.Signed by Chairman and members of the

Board, the Commission of Civil Service, and the Secretary of the Board

4.Board’s official seal for authentication

Temporary Certificate

The Board of Dental Examiners had been authorized by law to issue a temporary certificate of registration to practice dentistry in the Philippines under certain conditions and limitations provided by the Dental Law• Republic Act No. 417 (Dental Law of 1949)Eliminated the provision concerning the

issuance of temporary certificates of registration as dentist

• Republic Act No. 4419 (Dental Law of 1965)the Board of Dental Examiners is again

empowered to issue a sort of temporary certificate, but of a very limited scope

The temporary certificate is in the form of a temporary permit or prior authority granted by the Board to dentists or oral surgeons invited to the Philippines from other countries for consultation or demonstration

The duration of the authority must not exceed thirty days.

The Dentist’s Oath

• Consistently observed as a requisite ceremony to mark the formal admission of newly registered dentists to the practice of the dental profession in the Philippines

Oath – all forms of attestation by which a party signifies that he is bound in conscience to perform the act faithfully and truly.

Refusal to Issue CertificateThe Board of Dental Examiners will refuse to

issue a certificate of registration as a dentist to:

1. Any person convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction of any criminal offense involving moral turpitude, and to any person guilty of immoral or dishonorable conduct; or

2. To persons of unsound mind; or3. Those suffering from communicable or

contagious diseases

Replacement of Certificate

• A new certificate of registration as dentist to replace any certificate that is lost, destroyed, or mutilated, may be issued by the Board of Dental Examiners, subject to the rules of the Board.

Annual Registration

• Republic Act No. 465Every practicing dentist is required to register

annually with the Secretary of the Boards of Examiners.

An annual registration card is issued to every applicant who has filed the requisite application and paid the prescribed annual registration fee.

Dentists in the government service are also required to pay the annual registration fee as provided in Section 3 of Republic Act No. 465

Revocation of Certificates

• Act No. 593 provided only four causes for revocation of certificates, namely:

1.Conviction of the registered dentist by a competent court of any criminal offense;

2.Being guilty of immoral or dishonorable conduct

3.Being of unsound mind;4.Being guilty of unprofessional conduct

The additional causes provided by Act No. 2462 for the revocation of registration certificates are as follows:1. Malpractice2. Incompetency, serious ignorance, and malicious

negligence in the practice of dentistry3. Willful destruction or mutilation of a natural tooth of a

person with the deliberate purpose of substituting the same by an unnecessary or unessential artificial tooth.

4. Making use of fraud, deceit, or false statements to obtain a certificate of registration

5. Habitual use of intoxicating liquors or medicines causing them to become incompetent to practice dentistry

6. Employment of persons who are not duly authorized to do the work that under the law can only be done by registered dentists

7. Employment of deceit or any other fraud with the public in general or some client in particular, for the purpose of extending his clientele

8. Making false advertisements, publishing or circulating fraudulent or deceitful allegations regarding his professional attainments, skills or knowledge, or the methods of treatment employed by him

• The Dental Law of 1949 provided an additional ground upon which a dentist certificate of registration might be revoked, namely: suffering from communicable or contagious diseases

Reissuance of Revoked Certificate• The Board of Dental Examiners may, after the

expiration of five years from the date of revocation of a dentist certificate of registration, for reasons it may deem sufficient, entertain an application of a dentist whose registration certificate was revoked, in the same manner as receiving an application for an original certificate, but in so doing, the Board may, in its discretion, exempt the applicant from taking another examination.

Development of Dental Code of Ethics• The Board of Dental Examiners was vested with

authority to exercise the powers conferred upon it by law, with a view to the maintenance of efficient ethical and technical standards in the dental profession.

• Pursuant to this authority, the Board of Dental Examiners, on March 14, 1930, promulgated for the first time a code of ethics for the dental profession by making the Code of Ethics adopted by the American Dental Association as the code of ethics to govern the conduct of dentists in the Philippine Islands.

Practice of Dental Hygienist

Dental Hygienist – a person who, with or without compensation, removes calcific deposits, accretion and stains from the exposed surfaces of the teeth, performs surface application of medicaments for the prevention and control of dental caries, or does other helpful duties in the reception and care of patients, in the sterilization of instruments, and in rendering assistance to the dentist at the chair or laboratory

Practice of Dental Technician

Dental Technician – engaged in the mechanical construction of artificial dentures or fixtures and other oral devices, as long as none of such procedures is done inside the mouth of the patient

Achievements in Dentistry• Capitan Chencheng – the first Filipino dentist expert in carving

tooth and plate on a single ivory piece• Gregorio R. Mateo – devised and introduced “infiltration

anesthesia” (consists of procaine hydrochloride and adrenalin- also invented gold-porcelain fixed bridge in place of caoutchouc denture (principal constituent of natural rubber, sometimes called pure rubber)

• Juanito Arevalo – contributed Basibaro, an astringent mouthwash made of lime, betel leaf and betel nut

- also introduced gold-foil filling• Antonio de Asis – introduced a kind of general anesthesia

called somnigen and used it for anesthesizing his patients submitting to tooth extraction

New dental materials, equipments, techniques and procedures introduced in this country by Bienvenido B. Eraña:• Analgesor that uses a colorless gas Nitrous oxide on

the principle of analgesia (insensibility or inability to feel pain)

• Vitallium – cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloy• The use of cavitron in oral prophylaxis. Cavitron is the

trade name of the equipment invented for removing tartar of calcareous deposits on surfaces of the teeth.

• The use of Page-Chayes handpiece (150, 000 revolutions per minute)

• The use of Borden high-speed handpiece (300, 000 – 350, 000 revolutions per minute)

• The turbo-jet, another type of high-speed dental instrument, the driving force of which is not air but water.

• New procedures on rubber impression and gingival retraction.

• The use of dielock trays and disposable needles.• The use of splints, provisional acrylic-resin jacket

crowns for restorative dentistry

Enforcement of the Dental Act• Act No. 593 – merely empowered the Board of Dental

Examiners to make rules and regulations• Act No. 2462 – merely provided that the Board of

Dental Examiners may, with the approval of the Director of Health and the Secretary of the Interior, approve rules and regulations

• Act No. 2602 – divested the Board of the rule-making power

• Act No. 2711 (Administrative Code) – the power to promulgate regulations necessary to carry the provisions of the Dental Law into effect was restored to the Board of Dental Examiners.

• Republic Act No. 417 vested the Board of Dental Examiners the authority to :- promulgate rules and regulations and to enforce or carry out the provisions of Dental Law- investigate the violations of the Dental Law- inspect dental schools and other establishments to see if the laws relating to dentistry are enforced- discharge other duties as the Board may deem necessary for the maintenance of efficient ethical and technical standards of the dental profession in the Philippines, for the well-being of the public and safeguarding of life and health

End of Chapter VI

Presented By:Barapon, Ma. Hermie Culeen F.Bashir, EmtithalIbrahim, Mohammed

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

Sources:• Robles, Gonzalo S. A History Of Dentistry. Professionals Pub.

Co., 1968. pg. 178-227

the dental profession

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