A bill to allow registered dental assistants to place and remove temporary restorations was signed into law by Gov. Hochul on August 17, 2022. The law takes effect immediately. 

In 2007, the New York State Education Department mandated that registered dental assisting programs teach and train registered dental assistants to place and remove temporary restorations, thus declaring in its official directive from then Deputy Commissioner for the Professions Frank Munoz to such academic programs that these procedures were within the scope of practice of registered dental assistants and assistants needed to be educated and trained to perform them.

However, the registered dental assisting scope-of-practice law was never updated to match that directive, which has been carried out ever since 2007. The bill fixes that technical glitch to match the existing education standards and training of registered dental assistants to their scope-of-practice law.