The Oregon Board of Dentistry wants to discipline one of its members for several violations of state dental law, including offering prescription drugs to people without a prescription and trying to find the identity of someone who submitted a complaint about him.
The board issued a notice of proposed discipline last week for John "Matt" Tripp, a dental hygienist who works in Medford, according an oregonlive.com story. Tripp had also been accused of trying to hide the names of newly disciplined dentists and hygienists.
The alleged violations include the following:
- Offering prescription drugs to people without a prescription
- Refusing to return dental equipment that he borrowed
- Trying to determine the identity of someone who submitted a confidential complaint to the board about him
- Trying to use his position as a board member to obtain information pertaining to the board's investigation of him
Tripp said he disagrees with the allegations and is hiring a lawyer. The board has refused to release more information, citing the pending discipline case.
Gov. John Kitzhaber named Tripp to the dental board in 2013. Tripp was among the board members who voted in June to remove the names of newly disciplined dentists and hygienists from the board's newsletter.
Heading the push to remove the names was Portland dentist Todd Beck, DDS, who has been disciplined himself. Publicizing the names of those disciplined served no purpose, he said.
But a former board president, Eugene dentist Norman Magnuson, DDS, has said that the only reason members want the change is just to make it harder to find out who has been disciplined, and they don't want their names out in the community.
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