delivered the opinion of the court:
In the circuit court of Cook County, plaintiff, Dale Chastek, sought a permanent injunction restraining the Department of Registration and Education (Department) from conducting a hearing against him on a pending complaint. Plaintiff and the Department each filed a motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted plaintiff’s motion, finding the statute under which he was charged by the Department invalid, and issued a permanent injunction restraining the Department from conducting a hearing based upon its complaint.
The issues are (1) whether section 7(11) of “An Act to regulate the practice of dental surgery and dentistry ***” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 111, par. 2222(11)) is vague, thereby depriving plaintiff of his constitutional right to due process, and (2) whether “unprofessional conduct” under the statute includes conduct of the type alleged against plaintiff.
The facts are not in dispute. On August 31, 1979, the Department filed what we will refer to as a three-count complaint against plaintiff, a registered dentist and orthodonist, charging him with unprofessional conduct in the treatment of three patients. The first count alleged that plaintiff rendered improper treatment to one patient for nine years which resulted in a condition known as “cross bite.” The improper treatment asserted included failure to take cephalometric head plates and failure to advise necessary extraction of certain teeth prior to the placing of braces. The second count alleged that plaintiff rendered improper treatment to another patient for eight years, including failure to take cephalometric head plates, improper placement of a retainer which interfered with the consumption of food, and failure to provide dental records to the dentists who assumed subsequent treatment of the patient. The third count alleged improper treatment of another patient for eight years which resulted in a malocclusion. The improper treatment asserted in connection with this patient included failure to take cephalometric head plates and failure to order oral surgery when necessary. The Department sought to suspend or revoke plaintiff’s dentist and orthodonist licenses on the ground that the above acts and omissions constituted “unprofessional conduct” under section 7(11) of the statute.
Prior to a hearing on the Department’s complaint, plaintiff sought and was issued a temporary restraining order against defendant in the trial court on November 7, 1979. On December 21, the trial court found the statute void and entered a permanent injunction preventing the Department from conducting a hearing to suspend or revoke plaintiff’s licenses.
The statute in question provides:
“The Department of Registration and Education may refuse to issue, may suspend or may revoke a license for any one or any combination of the following causes:
* * *
11. Improper, unprofessional or dishonorable conduct.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 111, par. 2222.)
Plaintiff contends that the statutory phrase allowing license revocation for improper, unprofessional or dishonorable conduct is vague, thereby depriving him of his constitutional right to due process. He argues that section 7(11) of the statute affords him no advance notice of the type of acts that constitute “unprofessional conduct.”
Plaintiff cites several cases in which the courts have not allowed license revocations. (Megdal v. Oregon State Board of Dental Examiners (1980),
“It might be agreed that the term [unprofessional conduct] covers conduct in the course of rendering the professional service on the one hand, and on the other that it excludes the licensee’s purely private affairs unrelated to any relevant professional qualification or performance. But between these two poles, there may be questions how far ‘unprofessional conduct’ extends to financial arrangements or to mixing professional with other relationships.”288 Or. 293 , 315,605 P.2d 273 , 284.
Similarly, in Turna, where a nurse was charged with discussing alternative treatments with a patient, the court stated, “With respect to [the nurse], however, there appears to be no contention whatever that she is unfit to nurse ***.” (
This court has held that a statute does not violate the due process clauses of the United States or Illinois constitutions, on grounds of vagueness, if the duty imposed by the statute is prescribed in terms definite enough to serve as a guide to those who must comply with it. (E.g., Stein v. Howlett (1972),
Plaintiff argues that Shea, Martinez, Richardson, Reybum, Cherry and Warnshuis are distinguishable in that the statutes involved have language defining unprofessional conduct. Although these cases involve statutes with some definitional verbiage, the additional language was not utilized by the courts in arriving at the conclusion that the doctors’ actions constituted unprofessional conduct. Consequently, the notice to persons involved that their actions fell under the ambit of the statute was no greater than if the additional language were absent. For example, in Shea v. Board of Medical Examiners (1978),
Similarly, in Board of Medical Examiners v. Mintz (1963),
In Reyburn v. Minnesota State Board of Optometry (1956),
The rationale in the cases upholding these statutes is that it is impossible to categorize all the acts constituting terms such as “unprofessional conduct” or “gross immorality.” Further, terms such as “unprofessional conduct” are susceptible to common understanding by the members of the profession. When combined with the legislative purpose of protecting the public from people unfit to practice, the term “unprofessional conduct” provides fair notice to licensed professionals and is not unconstitutionally vague.
The statute at issue lists 20 separate grounds for which a dentist can have his license revoked, one of which is unprofessional conduct. The principal purpose of the statute is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. Section la of the statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 111, par. 2202) provides:
“The practice of dentistry in the State of Illinois is hereby declared to affect the public health, safety and welfare and to be subject to regulation and control in the public interest. It is further declared to be a matter of public interest and concern that the dental profession merit and receive the confidence of the public and that only qualified persons be permitted to practice dentistry in the State of Illinois. This Act shall be liberally construed to carry out these objects and purposes.”
The meaning attached to a statutory provision is derived from an examination of the language of the statute and its purpose. (Miller v. Department of Registration & Education (1979),
Moreover, the statute necessarily must be broad because it would be impossible for the statute to catalogue specifically every act of unprofessional or dishonorable conduct which would justify the refusal or revocation of a license. (People ex rel. State Board of Health v. Apfelbaum (1911),
Plaintiff contends that, although the acts alleged against him may constitute negligence and professional malpractice, the term “unprofessional conduct” applies only to wilful acts on his part. Plaintiff has not cited any authority nor has our research revealed any support for this allegation. Plaintiff also argues that the legislature intended to exclude negligence and malpractice as grounds for license revocation. In support of this argument, he points to other Illinois statutory provisions that specifically use terms such as “malpractice” or “incompetence.” His examples include optometrists (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 111, par. 3814(c)), which refers to “gross malpractice”; physicians (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 111, par. 4433(27)), which refers to “professional incompetence”; professional engineers (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 111, par. 5124(2)), which refers to “gross negligence, incompetence or misconduct”; and psychologists (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 111, par. 5316(2)), which refers to “gross negligence.” According to plaintiff, if the legislature had intended to allow a dentist’s license to be revoked for repeated negligence, the statutory language would have specifically reflected that intent.
In ascertaining legislative intent, the entire statute must be considered (People ex rel. Morrison v. Sielaff (1974),
We therefore hold that section 7(11) of the statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 111, par. 2222(11)) is not unconstitutionally vague and that repeated acts of negligence may constitute unprofessional conduct within the meaning of the statute.
For the above stated reasons, the judgment of the circuit court of Cook County is reversed.
Judgment reversed.
MR. JUSTICE SIMON took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.