Messner v. Board of Dental Exmrs

In Messner v. Board of Dental Exmrs. (1927) 87 Cal.App. 199, W.M. Cohn, who was not a licensed dentist, managed a dental practice and participated in the profits. The Board disciplined the associated dentist for aiding and abetting the unlicensed practice of dentistry because Cohn, by managing the dental practice, was practicing dentistry. We reversed, finding Cohn was not practicing dentistry. The statute defining the practice of dentistry stated: "'Any person shall be understood to be practicing dentistry within the meaning of this act . . . who manages or conducts as manager, proprietor, conductor, or otherwise a place where dental operations are performed.' " ( Id. at p. 204.) The Court noted: "This does not mean, of course, that one who merely manages a building or a room in which licensed dentists perform dental operations is practicing dentistry. A reasonable construction of the quoted provisions of the statute appears to be that, to come within the terms thereof, one must in some manner, to some extent, directly or indirectly, control or direct some professional service of the kind that dentists are licensed to render." (Ibid.)