Dental Laws in Japan

DENTAL TECHNICIANS LAW

(Law No. 168, August 16, 1955)

Chapter I. General Provisions

Article 1 (Purpose of the Law)

　The purpose of this law is to specify the qualifications of the dental technician and to regulate the practise of the dental technician to get it performed properly, and thus to contribute to diffusion and development of dental treatment.

Article 2 (Definition of terms)

　"Dental laboratory techniques" in this Law shall be construed to mean manufacture of, repair of or working-upon prosthetic appliance, filling or orthodontic appliance for use in dental practise for specific person. However, the practise carried out by the dental practitioners themselves (including the medical practitioners who may practise the dental profession: hereinafter referred to as the same) on the patients under their treatments are excluded.

2."Dental technician" in this Law shall be construed to mean a person who practises dental laboratory technique by profession with a license from the Minister of Health and Welfare.

3."Dental laboratory" in this Law shall be construed to mean the places where dental practitioners or dental technicians perform dental techniques by profession. However, the places within the hospitals or clinics, where no dental laboratory techniques are performed for other than the patients under treatment in the same hospitals or clinics are excluded.

Chapter II. License

Article 3 (License)

　The license for a dental technician (hereinafter referred to as "the license") shall be given to a person who has passed the dental technicians' examination (hereinafter referred to as "the examination").

Article 4 (Absolute disqualification)

　The license shall not be given to a blind person.

Article 5 (Relative disqualification)

　The license may not be given to one who comes under any of the following items.

(1)One who has committed a crime or done a wrongful act concerning dental treatment or dental technician's practise.

(2)One who is a mental patient, or an opium, narcotic, opium or marihuana addict.

Article 6 (List of dental technicians)

　A list of dental technicians shall be prepared by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the matters concerning the license shall be registered therein.

Article 7 (Reporting on Registration and delivery of the certificate)

　The license shall be given on registration in the list of dental technicians.

2.A prefectural governor, when he has given license, shall deliver the dental technician's certificate (hereinafter referred to as "the certificate").

3.A dental technician engaged in the practise shall make a report of his/her name, address, and other matters as of December 31 of every two years specified by the ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, to the Governor of the Prefecture where his/her laboratory is located by January 15 of the following year.

Article 8 (Cancellation of the license, etc.)

　When a dental technician comes under the provision of Article 4, the Minister of Health and Welfare shall cancel his license.

2.When a dental technician comes under any of the items of Article 5, the prefectural governor shall cancel his license or order suspension of his practise for a fixed period of time.

3.A prefectural governor is held responsible to notify the Minister of Health and Welfare in case there is a need to execute action as indicated in preceding 2 items mentioned above for dental technicians.

4.A dental practitioner revoked of her/his license due to the regulations in Item 2 may have their license reinstated when they no longer apply to the reasons for the license being revoked or when it is recognized as being appropriate to reinstate the license due to other conditions. In this case Items 1 & 2 of the aforementioned article will take effect.

Article 9 (Special case of hearing)

　The Minister of Health and Welfare, when he is going to execute the provision under the preceding paragraph, shall notify the person to be dealt with, of the reason for the disposition and the date and place of the hearing at least two weeks before the date, demanding the appearance of the person concerned or his proxy, and shall hold the hearing.

Article 10 (Delegation of authority of decision to be made by to the Cabinet Order)

　Except as provided in this chapter, the matters concerning application for license, deletion of registered matters from the register of the dental technicians, correction and delivery, re-writing, re-delivery, returning and submission of the certificate, and reporting of address shall be prescribed by the Cabinet Order.

Chapter III. Examination

Article 11 (Purpose of the examination) 　The examination shall be conducted on the required knowledge and technique of a dental technician.

Article 12 (Carrying out of the examination)

　The examination is conducted by the Minister of Health and Welfare at least once each year.

2.For the administration of the affairs concerning actual carrying out of the examination, the Minister of Health and Welfare may assign, as stipulated by the Cabinet Order, the whole or a part of the administration to the prefectural governor.

3.The Minister of Health and Welfare may assign to the members of the Dental Practitioners' Examination Council, the necessary works such as making out of examination paper and checking for evaluation except those matters assigned to the prefectural governor under the provision of the previous paragraph.

Article 13 (Prohibition of wrong-doing by the members of the Examination Council)

　The members of the Dental Practitioners' Examination Council or the Dental Technicians' Examination Council and others in charge of the affairs related to the examination shall be strictly fair and never do any wrongful act in the discharge of the affairs.

Article 14 (Qualification for the examination)

　No one shall be qualified to take the examination unless he comes under any of the following items:

(1)A graduate from a training school for dental technicians authorized by the Minister of Health and Welfare,

(2)One eligible for National Dental Practitioners' Examination or the Preliminary National Dental Practitioners' Examination, or

(3)One who can take dentist's state examination or preliminary one,

(4)One, who has graduated from a foreign school for dental technicians or the foreign training institute for dental technicians or who has obtained a license of a dental technician in a foreign country, which is recognized by the governor of the urban or local prefecture as appropriate.

Article 15 (Prohibition of unfair practise)

　In case there is any unfair practise in the examination, the governor of the urban or local prefecture may suspend the person or persons concerned from taking the examination or invalidate his or their results of the examination. In this case, the permission to take the examination may be suspended for a fixed period of time.

Article 16 (Delegation of power of decision to Ministerial Ordinance)

　Except for those provided for in this Chapter, the training institutes for dental technicians as provided for under Article 14 item 1 or 2, and the subjects of the examination, the procedures of application and other necessary matters concerning the examination shall be regulated by the Ministerial Ordinance.

Chapter IV. Practise

Article 17 (Prohibited act)

　No one shall practise dental techniques as profession, unless he is a dental practitioner or a dental technician.

2.The dental practitioner who has been given an order of suspension of his dental practise under the provision of Article 7 item 2 of the Dentists Law (Law No. 202, 1948) shall not practise dental techniques as profession.

Article 18 (Written instruction for dental techniques)

　A dental practitioner or a dental technician shall not practise dental techniques as profession, except as prescribed for a dental practitioner with the matters as provided for in the Ministry of Health and Welfare Ordinance. However, the case, where it is done at a place within the hospital or clinic and, also, under the direct supervision of the dental practitioner in charge of the treatment of the patient, shall be excepted from the rule.

Article 19 (Preservation of written instructions)

　The manager of the hospital, clinic or a place where dental technique is applied shall preserve the written instructions concerning the dental technique practised in the hospital, clinic or such other place prescribed under the preceding Article for two years from the day of the completion of the dental treatment.

Article 20 (Precautions in practise)

　A dental technician shall not perform, in his practise, impression taking, bite taking, trial, setting or other acts which are liable to cause hygienical harm unless done by a dentist.

Chapter V. Dental Laboratory

Article 21 (Report)

　One, who has established a dental laboratory shall report about the place of establishment, the name of the manager and other matters as provided for by the Ministry of Health and Welfare Ordinance to the governor of the urban or local prefecture the site of the dental technique practise belongs to within ten days of its establishment. In case of occurrence of any change in the matters, as stipulated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare Ordinance, the same shall be reported.

2.When a dental laboratory has suspended its operation or abolished it, the person who established it shall report the fact to the governor of the urban or local prefecture within ten days. In case of re-opening the suspended dental technique application site, the same shall be applied.

Article 22 (Manager)

　One who establishes a dental laboratory shall appoint a manager who shall be dental practitioner or a dental technician at the site, provided that there may an exception in the case when he is a dental practitioner or a dental technician and is also the manager of his dental laboratory.

Article 23 (Duty of the manager)

　The manager of the dental laboratory shall supervise the dental technician and other workers at the place of dental technique application and pay necessary attention so that nothing is missed in the execution of the practise.

Article 24 (Order for improvement)

　The governor of each prefecture, when he finds that, the structure and equipment of the dental laboratory are insufficient and the prosthetic appliance, filling and orthodontic appliance which are manufactured, repaired or worked upon in the same dental laboratory are liable to cause any sanitary problem, may order the establisher of the laboratory to improve its structure and the equipment within a reasonable period of time.

Article 25 (Prohibition of the use)

　The governor of each prefecture, when the establisher of the dental laboratory does not obey the order based upon the provision of the preceding article, may prohibit the establisher from the use the whole or part of the dental technique facilities until the improvement of the structure and the equipment indicated in the same order is completed. The provision of Article 9 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 26 (Limit to advertisement)

　As to the profession in dental technique or the dental laboratory, no one shall advertise any matters other than those specified below, irrespective of whether it is done in writing or by any other method:

(1)The fact of being a dental practitioner or a dental technician;

(2)The name of the dental practitioner or the dental technician engaged in dental technique;

(3)The name and telephone number of the dental laboratory and the matters that show its location; and

(4)Other matters which are permitted by the governor of respective prefecture.

2.Even in the advertisement of the matters specified in each of the preceding items, matters concerning the technical skill, the career or the academic degree of the dental practitioner or the dental technician shall not be referred to, nor any false matters shall be stated.

Article 27 (Order of report and step-in inspection)

　When the governor of a prefecture, and the mayor, who approved setting up of the health centres, find it necessary, they may order the establisher or the manager of the dental laboratory to report necessary matters, or have the competent officials to step into the dental laboratory and inspect its condition of cleanliness, structure and the equipment or the written directions and other books and documents.

2.The competent officials who execute the step-in inspection under the provision of the preceding paragraph shall carry with them certificates to identify them, which they shall present on demand by concerned persons.

3.The official power under the provision of paragraph 1 shall not be construed to be admitted for crime detection.

4.When the mayor of the city who has approved setting up of the health centre, finds it necessary to deal with the dental laboratory according to the provisions of the preceding two articles, shall notify the governor of the urban or local prefecture of the fact with reasons thereof.

Article 27-2

　One who has dissatisfaction over the decision of his being dealt with by the mayor of the city setting up the health centre, under the provision of previous paragraph 1, may apply for reexamination of the decision to the Minister of Health and Welfare.

Chapter VI. Penal Provisions

Article 28

　One who comes under any of the following items shall be punished with a penal servitude of not more than one year or a fine of not more than 10,000 yen (20,000 yen).

(1)One who has violated the provision of Article 17 paragraph 1.

(2)One who has obtained the license on the basis of any falsification of fact or wrong information.

Article 29

　One who comes under any one of the following items shall be punished with a penal servitude of not more than 6 months or a fine of not more than 5,000 yen (20,000 yen).

(1)One who has violated the order of suspension of practise under the provision of Article 8 paragraph 2.

(2)One who has divulged in advance the examination questions on purpose or by any serious mistake against the provision of Article 13, or who has done fraudulent marking on purpose.

(3)One who has violated the provision of Article 17 paragraph 2.

(4)One who has violated the disposition under the provision of Article 25.

Article 30

　One who has violated the provision of Article 18 shall be punished with a fine of not more than 10,000 yen (20,000 yen).

Article 31

　One who comes under any one of the following items shall be punished with a fine of not more than 5,000 yen (20,000 yen).

(1)One who has violated the provision of Article 7 paragraph 3.

(2)One who has violated the provision of Article 19, Article 21 paragraph 1 or paragraph 2, Article 22 or Article 26.

(3)One who has neglected to report under the provision of Article 27 paragraph 1 or made false reporting, or refused, interfered with or evaded the inspection by a competent official.

Article 32

　When a representative of a juridical person, or the proxy of a juridical person or an individual person, or the employee or other worker has committed a violation under Article 29 paragraph 4 or paragraph 2 or paragraph 3 of the preceding Article in connection with the business or practise of the same juridical person or the individual person, it is not only the doer himself who shall be punished, the juridical person or individual person concerned shall also be punished respectively with the fnes stipulated under these articles.