The Virginia Dental Association, in response to the petition put forth by Nicole Cunha, would like to put forth the following comments that we would ask you and the board to consider when discussing this particular issue.
·We all share in the loss of life that occurs under any circumstance, but, in particular, the child that is lost while undergoing dental treatment. There are no words that can replace that sense of greatest loss.
·We equally are aware of the responsibility of each of our practitioners to maintain the highest standards of care possible to avoid any untoward incidents that may cause harm to our patients. We are strongly invested in the effort to make sure our patients are treated under the safest conditions possible. We want the care provided to all our patients, which would include our own family members, accomplished under the highest standards appropriate and necessary.
· The Virginia Board of Dentistry, through its statutory and regulatory authority, already has created one of the strictest set of regulatory guidelines concerning the issue of the use of sedation in dentistry. These currently are set out in 18VAC 60-20-107, 60-20-108, 60-20-110, 60-20-120, 60-20-135 and 60-20-140. These clearly already address most, if not all, of the concerns expressed by Ms. Cunha.
·The vast majority of dentists do not practice sedation dentistry in their offices and would view this petition as an unnecessary and burdensome requirement which exceeds and addresses an issue already addressed in the current regulations.
·There is no one more conscious and concerned about the safe delivery of dental care than the profession of dentistry. We continually look and evaluate all aspects of our care of the safe delivery of services to our most precious resource- our patients.
In summary, we believe in the appropriate use of regulations to set the standard for that care and, believe, in this instance, that we currently have the regulations in place that address the concerns expressed by Ms. Cunha. We therefore would not be in favor of modifying the current regulations concerning this issue at this time.
