I would venture to say that ALL of the dentists practicing in our state WANT to practice with complete compliance to the regulations.  Unfortunately, it seems that the main issue is that people are not aware of changes that are coming down from the Board until after they are implemented OR once they discover that they have violated a regulation.  It is not an excuse, and compliance is our ultimately our responsibility, but a great example is the recent email sent out by the board entitled "Notice of New Regulations for the Practice of Dentistry Effective December 2, 2015" sent out on November 30, 2015.  I have a feeling that this blindsided many.  I would also venture to say that there is a segment of practitioners that didn't even receive that particular email!  There is also a problem with some of the language.  Many regulations seem to come across as vague and easily misunderstood with multiple interpretations.  I can sympathize with the Board that writing the perfect regulation that can be completely understood 100% of the time and by 100% of readers is a tough task.  I believe that a better approach and one that would achieve the goal of the Board in ensuring knowledge of the law would be to break down the regulations in sections in a series of e-newsletters that can be reviewed and put into "layman's terms" with specific examples.   Perhaps even including a frequently asked questions section, or even a way to solicit readers to write in with questions regarding clarification that everyone could read along with the answers from the Board.  The answers to the questions could appear in the next "issue."    A different section can be covered each month in an email from the Board and broken down in a way that all of the regulations will be reviewed in repeating 3 year cycles.  

I feel that this approach is more reasonable and realistic than adding to the financial burdens and time restrictions of the average practicing dentist and hygienist.  I do not believe that any dentist is purposely ignorant of the law, but there are other ways to approach this problem.  Let's make a "test" the last resort as opposed to the first.