The Dental Hygiene Board of California received an informational enforcement and licensing update at its March 22 meeting that included complaint volumes, citation totals, licensing counts, exam pass rates and continuing education audit results.

Assistant Executive Officer Albert Law reported that for fiscal year 2024'25 (through February 2025) the board had received 63 consumer complaints and 9 arrest/conviction complaints, initiated 272 complaints overall and closed 366 investigations in the reporting period. The board issued 231 citations and fines totaling $192,800 and $101,375 in other fines this fiscal year; probation monitoring flagged seven violations and included positive drug screens for banned substances in that group.

On licensing and examinations, staff reported 403 registered dental hygienist (RDH) licenses and 41 RDH in alternative practice (RDHAP) licenses issued so far in the fiscal year. The RDH law-and-ethics pass rate showed approximately 71% passed on the first attempt and the RDHAP pass rate about 80% on first attempt. The board's active-license counts were summarized: roughly 19,118 active RDH licenses and 783 RDHAP licensees.

Continuing education audits: staff reported 666 continuing education audits conducted so far this fiscal year. Audit results showed licensees failed audits for several reasons: invalid CE provider, missing documentation and unacceptable formats (for example, fully online basic life-support was repeatedly cited as not acceptable). In the board packet a chart showed about 28% of failed audits were for invalid CE providers. Board members and staff discussed outreach to programs and the public to reduce failures.

Board members asked about enforcement timelines and the status of the board's disciplinary guidelines. Executive Officer Anthony Lum said the disciplinary guidelines need updating and are part of the board's strategic-plan work; staff aim to draft revisions and bring them to the enforcement committee and then to the full board when resources permit.

Board member Julie Elginer asked staff to make exam-pass statistics available to program directors and to request that programs report back on steps they take to address law-and-ethics exam failure rates. Anthony Lum said staff has begun an implementation to notify schools twice a year and will consider additional reporting mechanisms.

Why it matters: enforcement statistics indicate how many cases reach disciplinary or citation outcomes and where resources are consumed. Licensing and pass-rate data are used by program directors and workforce planners; continuing education failures can put licensees at risk of disciplinary action if missing or invalid credits are not corrected.

Selected figures and attributions:
- Assistant Executive Officer Albert Law presented enforcement totals and citation/fine amounts.
- Executive Officer Anthony Lum said disciplinary-guidelines updates are planned as part of the strategic plan and staff will return with drafts for committee review.
- Member Julie Elginer requested routine sharing of exam-pass results with program directors and a simple reporting mechanism for programs to show corrective actions.