---
title: O.C.G.A. § 43-11-71. Qualifications of applicants for license; criminal background check.
collection: code
id: 43-11-71
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 43-11-71 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/43-11-71
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/43-11-71.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/43-11-71/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t43-ch1-32-(v30)-2022-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=921d056f_0#page=433
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/43-11.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/43-11-70.1.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/43-11-71.1.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: PROFESSIONS AND BUSINESSES / DENTISTS, DENTAL HYGIENISTS, AND DENTAL ASSISTANTS / DENTAL HYGIENISTS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 43-11-71. Qualifications of applicants for license; criminal background check.

(a) No person shall be entitled to or be issued such license as set out in Code Section 43-11-70 unless such person is at least 18 years of age, of good moral character, and a graduate of a dental hygiene program recognized by the board and accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association (ADA) or its successor agency which is operated by a school or college accredited by an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education whose curriculum is at least two academic years of courses at the appropriate level and at the completion of which an associate or baccalaureate degree is awarded.

(b) Application for a license under Code Section 43-11-70 shall constitute consent for performance of a criminal background check. Each applicant who submits an application to the board for licensure agrees to provide the board with any and all information necessary to run a criminal background check, including but not limited to classifiable sets of fingerprints. The applicant shall be responsible for all fees associated with the performance of a background check.

## History

Ga. L. 1927, p. 250, § 5; Code 1933, § 84-1009; Ga. L. 1949, p. 1192, § 3; Ga. L. 1975, p. 832, § 1; Code 1933, § 84-727, enacted by Ga. L. 1976, p. 484, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 932, § 8; Ga. L. 1994, p. 97, § 43; Ga. L. 2000, p. 812, § 1; Ga. L. 2004, p. 720, § 10.