Wyoming’s rules come from the Dental Practice Act (Wyo. Stat. tit. 33, ch. 15, substantially revised in 2017) and Board of Dental Examiners rules. Check the legislation tracker for pending changes.
1. CPOD status
Tier: Moderate-to-strict by definition Wyo. Stat. § 33-15-114(a) deems a person to be practicing dentistry ”… (ii) [w]ho is a manager, proprietor, operator or a conductor of a place where dental operations, oral surgery or dental services are performed.”1 The surrounding clauses widen the net: (a)(i) reaches performing or advertising dental operations “directly or indirectly … for a salary, fee, money or other remuneration paid … to himself or to any other person or agency”; other clauses cover prosthetics, diagnosis, extractions, radiograph interpretation, anesthesia, holding out, and dental-college curriculum acts; dental laboratories are excepted at (a)(xii).1 Published sources do not settle the scope of enforcement against support arrangements. Verify the current position with counsel.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.3. Professional entity forms
Professional-entity practice runs under Wyoming’s Professional Corporation Act. Wyo. Stat. §§ 17-3-101 and 17-3-104 require the articles to provide for continual licensed ownership and limit issuance of shares to persons licensed in the profession; professional services must be rendered by licensed persons or people under their supervision. Those restrictions govern the professional form even though the Dental Practice Act does not contain a standalone ownership section. 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 structure
The Dental Practice Act does not print a standalone fee-splitting section, but the Board’s current rules incorporate the ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct (November 2018), excluding only provisions 5.H and 5.I. Incorporated § 4.E states that dentists shall not accept or tender rebates or split fees, and advisory opinion 4.E.1 addresses advertising or marketing arrangements in which a third party receives a specified portion of professional fees collected. Section 33-15-112(a)(iii) authorizes discipline for Board-defined unprofessional conduct. Application to a particular MSA still needs Wyoming counsel; the absence of a fee-splitting sentence in ch. 15 is not the end of the analysis. 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. Noncompetes
Dentist noncompetes in Wyoming are governed by the state’s general restrictive-covenant law. Verify current enforceability with counsel before drafting 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
No DSO registration, disclosure, or enabling statute was identified in the official sources reviewed through August 2026. No on-point published Wyoming appellate decision or attorney general opinion was identified in that review; that is a research result, not proof that none exists. The operational boundary remains the proprietor clause: a DSO must support the dentist-owned practice without becoming the “manager, proprietor, operator or … conductor” of the place where dentistry is performed.7. Death and transition window
No estate or transition provision was located in ch. 15 for this page. Verify succession mechanics with counsel and see Plan for succession.8. Practical structuring notes
The statute includes “manager” in the restricted conduct. Draft the management services agreement (MSA) and operating policies so the dentist-owner remains the operator. The DSO can provide listed support services under the owner’s direction for fair-market-value compensation, but contracts, signage, and marketing should not identify it as the office operator. Wyoming has neither North Dakota’s percentage cap nor Washington’s express permissions, so confirm the structure with Wyoming counsel.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
Entity formation runs through the Wyoming Secretary of State; board rules through the Wyoming Board of Dental Examiners; pending bills through the Wyoming Legislature.
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.