Dental care.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to maintain a dental program that includes, but is not limited to, development of comprehensive dental health plans within the framework of a specified state plan. This bill would make these provisions inoperative for a specified period of time upon the creation of a Statewide Office of Oral Health within the State Department of Public Health with a licensed dentist who serves as the dental director. The bill would provide that the office would be established only upon receipt of sufficient funds, as specified, for the purposes of performing various duties relating to the oversight of dental care in California. This bill would prohibit General Fund moneys from being used to implement the provisions creating the office. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2017, the dental director or, in the absence of a dental director, the Secretary of California Health and Human Services or his or her designee to provide administrative oversight with respect to a specified study conducted under described circumstances.