A U.S. appeals court has affirmed a lower court's decision in favor of the American Academy of Implant Dentistry (AAID) that the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners' rule on dental specialist advertising is unconstitutional.
The AAID, along with the American Society of Dentist Anesthesiologists, American Academy of Oral Medicine, American Academy of Orofacial Pain, and five licensed dentists, had argued that the Texas dental board's regulation prohibiting dentists from advertising themselves as specialists in areas not recognized as specialties by the ADA was unconstitutional.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled 2-1 that the dental board's regulation restricted the AAID's First Amendment right to free commercial speech. As a result of the decision, Texas and also Louisiana and Mississippi, which are part of the Fifth Circuit, are enjoined from enforcing these rules, the AAID said.
"This Court of Appeals decision continues a string of legal victories supporting the proposition that non-ADA recognized specialties in fact do exist, are bona fide, and dentists board-certified in those, such as implant dentistry, may inform the public of their specialization," noted Frank Recker, DDS, AAID's general counsel, in a statement.
In November 2016, a resolution approved by the ADA House of Delegates following the decision by the Texas lower court allowed specialists to practice outside of their announced specialty.
