Compliance
HIPAA, OSHA, and documentation practices explained in plain language for dental teams.
The Teenager Who Drove Himself
A seventeen-year-old with a license walks up to the counter by himself. May he be seen today, and who gets told what afterward? The first answer belongs to your state. The second is a federal rule most front desks guess wrong. Both belong on one page the doctor writes before he arrives.
October 12, 2026 · 7 min read
The Third Message
Your after-hours recording was written for your patients. The person listening to it at night with a broken tooth may not be one. The ADA has been specific about what that person should hear, and the Code of Ethics has a sentence about what happens afterward that nobody quotes.
September 23, 2026 · 6 min read
When a Patient Asks the Assistant
The doctor steps out and the patient asks the assistant what she would do. The ADA has drawn her line in a different place from the front desk's, and the state practice act draws it again by how close the dentist has to be. Neither is where most practices assume.
September 21, 2026 · 7 min read
What the Front Desk Is Allowed to Answer
"Am I allowed to tell him that?" Most practices answer with "use your judgment," which is not an answer. The line between what the treatment coordinator can say and what goes back to the doctor already exists, drawn by the state practice act and the ADA's own consent guidance. Here is where it sits, and how to write it down in three lists.
September 7, 2026 · 7 min read
What Happens to Your Data If You Leave
Most owners sign the business associate agreement and never read it again. Inside it is the only provision in federal regulation about what a vendor owes your practice when the relationship ends, and it says considerably less than you would expect.
August 21, 2026 · 8 min read
Who Is Your Security Official? A HIPAA Requirement You Have Probably Already Met
Ask who calls the IT company and you get an answer right away. Ask who the practice's security official is and the room goes quiet. The practice is not missing a role. It is missing a sentence.
August 17, 2026 · 6 min read
What to Do When the Person Who Knows Everything Leaves
The list of everything only one person knows gets long fast, and almost none of it is written down. Some of it, though, is already required to be on paper. Start there, then work outward to the payer specifics, the workarounds, and the reasons behind the rules.
August 10, 2026 · 6 min read