I understand that there are dentists who are violating the rules and regulations of the state.  I do not believe that reading the laws and taking an exam is going to do anything to stop that.  There are always going to be dentists who violate the laws.  Just look at the motor vehicle laws.  People know that speeding is wrong.  They know texting and driving is wrong (and dangerous).  Yet they do it anyways.  You cannot legislate morality.  If a dentist wants to allow their assistants to permanently cement a crown they are going to do it regardless of whether they have taken the jurisprudence exam.

I think we would all agree that the jurisprudence exam costs money.  It may not be very much but ultimately every dentist pays for that through his dental services.  The cost of doing dentistry is rising fast enough as it is.  We don't need to regulate this.

We have a code of ethics in dentistry.  We also all know the golden rule- to treat others the way we would want to be treated.  If we followed that I don't believe we would ever get in trouble with our staff or our patients.  I don't see the need to punish every dentist for the sake of a few. 

I vote no to the requirement of the jurisprudence exam every three years as I think it is unnecessary for the vast majority of dentists.  As part of our license renewal we should be signing that we have read and agree to abide by the laws of the state of Virginia.  Dentists are supposed to be professional.  We should know that laws without having a requirement of the jurisprudence exam.