Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 63-5-112 (2026)
Specialists
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) No licensed dentist shall claim to the public to be a specialist, or be specially qualified in any particular branch of dentistry or to be giving special attention to any branch of dentistry, or claim to limit the dentist's practice to any branch of dentistry, until that dentist has complied with the additional requirements established by the board and has been issued a certificate by the board authorizing that dentist so to do. The board is authorized to certify "specialists" in the following branches of dentistry:
- (1) Dental public health;
- (2) Endodontics;
- (3) Oral and maxillofacial pathology;
- (4) Oral and maxillofacial surgery;
- (5) Orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics;
- (6) Pediatric dentistry;
- (7) Periodontics;
- (8) Prosthodontics;
- (9) Oral and maxillofacial radiology; and
- (10) Any other branch of dentistry hereafter recognized as a specialty by the American Dental Association and approved by the board.
- (b) Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are held to the same standard of care as physicians licensed under chapters 6 or 9 of this title.
- (c) In considering or acting upon matters related to specialists or special areas of dentistry, the board shall utilize as consultants one (1) or more knowledgeable persons certified in the applicable specialty or knowledgeable in the special area.
Acts 1957, ch. 32, § 13; 1969, ch. 29, § 5; 1981, ch. 99, § 8; T.C.A., § 63-541; Acts 1988, ch. 635, § 11; 1996, ch. 766, § 1; 2001, ch. 330, §6; 2003 , ch. 237, § 5.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2
cases, 1996–2000 · leading case: Douglas v. State, 921 S.W.2d 180 (Tenn. 1996).
Douglas v. State, 921 S.W.2d 180 (Tenn. 1996). “§ 63-5-112 provides, in pertinent part: No licensed dentist shall hold himself out to the public as a specialist, or being specially qualified in any particular branch of dentistry, or as giving special attention to any branch of dentistry, or limiting his practice to any to any…”
TN Med. Ass'n v. TN Bd. of Dentistry, No. M1999-02279-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. June 14, 2000). “It reasons that the specialty of “oral maxillofacial surgery,” provided for in section 63-5-112, must fall within the scope of dentistry as defined in Tennessee Code Annotated § 63-5-108, and that the Board’s order “impermissibly expands” the scope of dental practice to areas…”
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