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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — A nonprofit dental clinic that sued the state’s dental association says it will drop its lawsuit as soon as Gov. Robert Bentley signs into law a dental bill passed this week by the Alabama Legislature.

State dental officials say they’re also satisfied with the legislation and are ready to move on.

The bill that passed Thursday requires nonprofit dental clinics like Sarrell Dental to register with the state Board of Dental Examiners but does not subject them to more stringent regulations. That’s despite earlier attempts to require them to get special permits.

“The passage of this bill will not change one single thing as far as how we operate our not-for-profit, clinically, organizationally or strategically,” Sarrell CEO Jeffrey Parker said in an emailed statement.

Sarrell pushed for the legislation, which Parker called “our bill,” and which also updates other statewide dental regulations, including raising fees for exams, instructional materials and licenses. But both the Board of Dental Examiners and the dental association said they were also pleased.

Keith Warren, interim executive director of the state board, said the board is happy to have the issue of nonprofits settled after at least three years of dispute. Although the dentists and hygienists who work at the nonprofit clinics are regulated by the board, the companies themselves were not even recognized as legal entities.

Warren said the law gives the board more authority to address complaints against nonprofit clinics when they arise and also adds stricter requirements for operating a mobile dental facility like Sarrell’s dental van, but exempts a mobile clinic run by the Jefferson County Department of Health.

The Alabama Dental Association also said it supported the legislation.

“I am glad it passed, since it reflects a joint effort by the Board of Dental Examiners of Alabama and Sarrell Dental Clinics to find common ground and put this issue to rest,” the dental association’s executive director, Zack Studstill, wrote in an email Friday.

The Anniston-based clinic tangled with the dental group last year after a transcript of the association’s meeting surfaced in which leaders said they were concerned about the oversight of nonprofit clinics and expressed a need to “band together” in order “to protect dentistry,” in the words of one participant.

Soon after, the University of Alabama at Birmingham pulled its residents from Sarrell’s clinics in Bessemer and Anniston. UAB said it ended the relationship because of a disagreement over supervision of students; Parker said the school was pressured by alumni dentists to withdraw.

Sarrell, which has 11 clinics around the state and a mobile dental van, treats mostly children whose care is covered by Medicaid. Parker has said that the state’s dentists are threatened by Sarrell’s rapid growth.

“All Sarrell Dental ever wanted and asked for was to be left alone to do good work for the children of Alabama that have no access to dental care,” Parker said in his statement. “That day has now come.”

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