1. “The Missouri Dental Board” shall consist of seven members including five registered and currently licensed dentists, one registered and currently licensed dental hygienist with voting authority as limited in subsection 4 of this section, and one voting public member. Any currently valid certificate of registration or currently valid specialist’s certificate issued by the Missouri dental board as constituted pursuant to prior law shall be a valid certificate of registration or a valid specialist’s certificate, as the case may be, upon October 13, 1969, and such certificates shall be valid so long as the holders thereof comply with the provisions of this chapter.

2. Any person other than the public member appointed to the board as hereinafter provided shall be a dentist or a dental hygienist who is registered and currently licensed in Missouri, is a United States citizen, has been a resident of this state for one year immediately preceding his or her appointment, has practiced dentistry or dental hygiene for at least five consecutive years immediately preceding his or her appointment, shall have graduated from an accredited dental school or dental hygiene school, and at the time of his or her appointment or during his or her tenure on the board has or shall have no connection with or interest in, directly or indirectly, any dental college, dental hygiene school, university, school, department, or other institution of learning wherein dentistry or dental hygiene is taught, or with any dental laboratory or other business enterprise directly related to the practice of dentistry or dental hygiene.

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3. The governor shall appoint members to the board by and with the advice and consent of the senate when a vacancy thereon occurs either by the expiration of a term or otherwise; provided, however, that any board member shall serve until his or her successor is appointed and has qualified. Each appointee, except where appointed to fill an unexpired term, shall be appointed for a term of five years. The president of the Missouri Dental Association in office at the time shall, at least ninety days prior to the expiration of the term of a board member other than the dental hygienist or public member, or as soon as feasible after a vacancy on the board otherwise occurs, submit to the director of the division of professional registration a list of five dentists qualified and willing to fill the vacancy in question, with the request and recommendation that the governor appoint one of the five persons so listed, and with the list so submitted, the president of the Missouri Dental Association shall include in his or her letter of transmittal a description of the method by which the names were chosen by that association.

4. The public member shall be at the time of his or her appointment a citizen of the United States; a resident of this state for a period of one year and a registered voter; a person who is not and never was a member of any profession licensed or regulated pursuant to this chapter or the spouse of such person; and a person who does not have and never has had a material, financial interest in either the providing of the professional services regulated by this chapter, or an activity or organization directly related to any profession licensed or regulated pursuant to this chapter. All members, including public members, shall be chosen from lists submitted by the director of the division of professional registration. The list of dentists submitted to the governor shall include the names submitted to the director of the division of professional registration by the president of the Missouri Dental Association. This list shall be a public record available for inspection and copying under chapter 610. Lists of dental hygienists submitted to the governor may include names submitted to the director of the division of professional registration by the president of the Missouri Dental Hygienists’ Association. The duties of the dental hygienist member shall not include participation in the determination for or the issuance of a certificate of registration or a license to practice as a dentist. The duties of the public member shall not include the determination of the technical requirements to be met for licensure or whether any person meets such technical requirements or of the technical competence or technical judgment of a licensee or a candidate for licensure.

5. The board shall have a seal which shall be in circular form and which shall impress the word “SEAL” in the center and around said word the words “Missouri Dental Board”. The seal shall be affixed to such instruments as hereinafter provided and to any other instruments as the board shall direct.

6. The board may sue and be sued as the Missouri dental board, and its members need not be named as parties. Members of the board shall not be personally liable, either jointly or severally, for any act or acts committed in the performance of their official duties as board members; nor shall any board member be personally liable for any court costs which accrue in any action by or against the board.