Dentists & Dental Practices
Board of Dentistry matters, sedation permits, DEA and prescribing compliance, associate agreements, and practice transitions for Tennessee dentists, from a former deputy general counsel at the Department of Health.
Eleven years inside Tennessee healthcare regulation, including as deputy general counsel at the Department of Health.
Licensed in Tennessee, with federal practice before the DEA, FDA, and HHS nationwide.
The healthcare division of Litson PLLC, ready if a matter reaches court.
How we approach it
A dentist runs a clinical practice and a small business at the same time, and both sides answer to regulators who take their work seriously. The Board of Dentistry licenses the dentist and the hygienists, issues the permits that allow sedation and anesthesia, and reviews the complaints that patients and colleagues file. The DEA registers the practice to prescribe and stock controlled substances and expects the records to match. Matt Gibbs spent more than eleven years inside Tennessee’s healthcare regulatory system, including as deputy general counsel at the Department of Health, and the way a licensing Board reads a file, weighs a response, and decides what to do next is familiar territory he now puts to work for the practices on the other side of the table.
Much of that work is quiet preparation. Controlled-substance recordkeeping that would satisfy a DEA inspector, sedation permit files that stay current, a HIPAA program that reflects how the office actually handles records, and associate agreements reviewed before signature rather than after a dispute. When a complaint does arrive, the first response matters more than any step that follows, so understanding what prompted it and which records the Board is entitled to receive comes before anything is sent. Investigators are doing their job, and a complete, accurate response with the right context usually serves the dentist and the reviewer equally well.
Practice transitions bring their own set of questions, from the terms of an associate buy-in to the regulatory notices and license transfers that accompany a purchase or sale, and getting those in order early keeps a closing from stalling. Payor credentialing follows the same logic, since enrollment takes months and months and rewards the practices that start before the first patient is scheduled. And on the rare occasion a matter goes to a contested hearing or into litigation, RxLaw Group is the healthcare division of Litson PLLC, a full litigation firm, so the dentist keeps one point of contact while the firm scales to whatever the matter requires.
What we handle
Licensing, permits, prescribing, contracts, and the transitions that shape a career.
Complete, accurate responses to the Board of Dentistry, prepared with an understanding of how the Board reviews a file.
Initial licensure, renewals, and the Board-issued permits that allow sedation and anesthesia in the office.
Registration, ordering and dispensing records, and the security controls a DEA inspector expects to find.
Compensation, restrictive covenants, and termination terms reviewed before you sign.
Buy-ins, sales, and partner changes, with the regulatory notices and license transfers handled alongside the deal.
Enrollment with medical insurance carriers, and a privacy and security program that fits a dental office.
An active Board investigation, hearing, or disciplinary action is handled on an hourly or retainer basis with a clear scope and estimate before work begins. Members get unlimited questions, agreement and policy review, permit and DEA readiness, and credentialing on one flat monthly fee.
Common questions
The Board assigns the complaint to an investigator, who gathers the records and may ask to speak with you before the matter goes to a Board consultant or the Board itself for a decision on whether formal action is warranted. Many complaints close with no action once the full picture is in front of the reviewer, which is why the quality and completeness of the first response matters so much.
An inspection is a systems check, not an investigation, and the inspector is confirming that the registration, the ordering records, the dispensing and administration logs, and the physical security of controlled substances line up with one another. Practices that keep those records reconciled as a matter of routine tend to have short, uneventful visits. Preparation is rewarded, and the habit is easier to build before a visit is on the calendar.
Membership covers the questions, agreement and policy review, and credentialing work that surround a matter, and it is the reason most members never face one. An active investigation, hearing, or disciplinary action is a separate engagement, scoped and estimated up front on an hourly or retainer basis, so there is never a surprise about what is covered.
In some cases, yes. Since July 1, 2025, Tennessee law allows licensees of the state’s health-related Boards, dentists included, who completed a Board-approved peer assistance or treatment program at least 5 years ago to petition for administrative expungement of the related disciplinary information from the public license verification page. RxLaw Group handled the first petition granted under the law.
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