RSA 317-A was reorganized during the 2023–2024 OPLC reforms. Several sections were repealed or renumbered, so check older citations. See the legislation tracker for pending changes.
1. CPOD status
Tier: Strict- RSA 317-A:20, I(b): a person is practicing dentistry who “[o]wns, leases, maintains, or operates a dental business in any office or other room or rooms where dental operations are performed, or directly or indirectly is manager, proprietor, or conductor of the same.”
- RSA 317-A:20, I(e): supervising a dentist within the scope of dental practice also constitutes practicing dentistry. The clause directly reaches DSO clinical oversight.
- RSA 317-A:33: unlicensed practice is a misdemeanor for a natural person and a felony for any other person. An entity violation is therefore a felony.
- RSA 317-A:28 permits anyone “acting as a manager, proprietor, partnership, association, or corporation owning, managing, or controlling any place where dental work is done” to employ only licensed dentists for dentistry and licensed hygienists for hygiene; RSA 317-A:29 requires such managers to furnish practitioner lists to the board on 10 days’ demand.
- Exception: a health care charitable trust (RSA 7:32-d, V) may own or operate a dental clinic if it is an RSA 292 nonprofit with 501(c)(3) status and runs the practice under a board-licensed supervising dentist, with written notice to the board (RSA 317-A:20, III(c)).
2. Other professions
This page covers dentistry only. Medicine, optometry, veterinary practice, and other professions are governed by different statutes and boards, even within the same state. For medical-practice sources, use the MSO-PC Wiki. RSA 317-A does not address hygienist ownership of a dental practice. Verify the point with counsel.3. Professional entity forms
Permitted forms: Professional corporation under RSA 294-A (dentists licensed under RSA 317-A fall within the RSA 294-A:1 definition of professional services) or professional LLC under RSA 304-D. Ownership: RSA 294-A:8, I limits share issuance to natural persons licensed to render the professional service, plus qualifying all-licensed partnerships and professional corporations. Also confirm before filing:- Naming rules, designator requirements, and any limits tied to licensed owners’ names; several states regulate dental trade names separately
- Board pre-approval or certificates, whether the dental board must act before (or after) the secretary of state will file
- Officer and director licensure, including states that restrict these roles as well as ownership to licensees
4. Fee-splitting and management-fee structure
RSA 317-A does not print a standalone percentage-management-fee provision, but the Board’s current rule Den 501.01(a) makes dentists subject to the ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct revised March 2023. Incorporated § 4.E prohibits accepting or tendering rebates or split fees, and advisory opinion 4.E.1 specifically treats sharing a stated portion of collected professional fees with a third-party advertising or marketing vendor as fee splitting.3 Application beyond those stated facts requires New Hampshire counsel. Independently, a fee-and-control package that makes the DSO an indirect “manager, proprietor, or conductor” falls within RSA 317-A:20, I(b), where an entity’s unlicensed practice is a felony. For the MSA, test whether a percentage-of-collections fee is permitted under the state’s dental, fee-splitting, referral, tax, and contract rules. Several states expressly restrict revenue-linked dental management fees, and the Aspen Dental settlements imposed related party-specific terms. Flat and cost-plus formulas are not automatic safe harbors; the services, calculation, amount, control rights, and actual payments still matter. See Fee-splitting rules and Set the management fee.5. Dentist noncompetes
No dental-specific noncompete statute was identified in the sources this page relies on; enforceability runs on New Hampshire’s general restrictive-covenant law. Verify with counsel before including one. Federal noncompete policy changed substantially in 2025 and 2026. The FTC’s Non-Compete Rule was vacated, the agency dismissed its appeals in September 2025, and the rule was removed from 16 C.F.R. pt. 910 effective February 12, 2026. State law remains central. Dental enforcement resolutions in New York and California have also restricted noncompetes for the settling parties as a corporate-practice remedy. Verify the current rule, worker, agreement type, transaction context, effective date, and remedy in this state. See the legislation tracker.6. DSO-specific law and registration
None. No DSO registration, disclosure, or management-agreement statute was located in RSA 317-A. The phrase “directly or indirectly” in RSA 317-A:20, I(b) can reach an arrangement that makes the DSO the proprietor in substance regardless of the contract labels. For states that require registration, see Register a DSO.7. Death and transition window
RSA 317-A does not supply a dental-practice estate safe harbor, but a professional corporation has detailed succession mechanics in RSA 294-A:9–:13. A deceased or disqualified shareholder’s shares may be transferred to a qualified person; otherwise the corporation must purchase or redeem them to the extent legally available. If governing documents do not fix the price, the corporation must make a written fair-value offer, with a balance sheet and profit-and-loss statement, within six months after death or 30 days after disqualification. If the transfer, purchase, or redemption remains incomplete after 10 months following death (five months following disqualification), the corporation cancels the shares and the former holder retains only the statutory payment right. These are professional-corporation mechanics, not permission for an estate to practice dentistry. See Plan for succession.8. Practical structuring notes
An entity violation carries greater criminal exposure. Under RSA 317-A:33, unlicensed practice is a misdemeanor for a natural person and a felony for a corporate DSO. The “directly or indirectly” proprietor language and the dentist-supervision clause in I(e) separately address ownership conduct and clinical oversight. Keep the professional entity as the operator, exclude DSO personnel from clinical reporting lines, and document fair-market-value support fees. The health-care-charitable-trust route (RSA 317-A:20, III(c)) is a genuine lay-ownership path for nonprofit models, with board-notice obligations including any change of supervising dentist within 30 days.9. Verification checklist
- Confirmed the permitted entity form for dentistry in this state
- Confirmed whether dental board pre-approval or a certificate is required before filing
- Confirmed whether officers and directors must be licensed dentists
- Confirmed the management fee structure is lawful here, including any restriction on revenue-linked fees
- Clinical carve-out drafted against this state’s current statutory language, including any enumerated control prohibitions
- Transfer restriction and succession documents checked against this state’s death-transition window
- Noncompete provisions checked against current state law
- DSO foreign-qualified before it has employees here
- Any DSO registration, licensure, or disclosure obligation identified and calendared
- Trade-name and advertising-disclosure rules for dental practices checked
10. Sources and where to verify
For the cases and statutes referenced above, see DSO & dental case law and the 51-jurisdiction table. For enacted and pending legislation, see the dental legislation tracker.