Despite well-funded opposition, momentum for dental therapy continues (and Americans are already benefiting)
Dental therapists have been practicing for more than 100 years around the world, but the American Dental Association and state dental societies oppose them in the U.S.
Colorado has become the 14th state to allow dental therapists to practice and improve access to oral health.
The dental therapy momentum continues, despite continuing and well-funded opposition from the American Dental Association and state dental societies.
Dental therapists have been practicing for more than 100 years around the world, starting in New Zealand, where hundreds of dental therapists have been trained, including several who are now treating patients in the United States.
Dental therapists are similar to nurse practitioners and physician assistants. They have a limited scope of practice, ranging from screenings and cleanings to filling cavities and uncomplicated extractions.
Many states and tribal communities have turned to dental therapists in recent years to alleviate problems associated with a growing shortage of dentists. According to the federal government, nearly 62 million Americans live in 6,678 officially recognized “dental deserts,” places where dentists are few and far between.
More than 20 years ago, then Surgeon General David Satcher called the lack of access to dental care in the U.S. a “silent epidemic.” As he noted, people in poor neighborhoods and rural areas are especially disadvantaged and at risk of dental disease, which can be lethal.
Meet Mary Williard, a dentist and dental therapy advocate who has been a leader in this space:
The dental therapy movement in the U.S. started in Alaska Native communities, where dentists are especially scarce. With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, tribal leaders there overcame fierce opposition from the Alaska Dental Society and established a dental therapy training program in 2003. In 2009, Minnesota became the first state in the Lower 48 to authorize the training and practice of dental therapists.
Thanks to those tribal leaders in Alaska and the determination of dozens of state-based advocacy organizations, hundreds of dental therapists are now practicing from coast to coast. (The other states that currently allow dental therapists to practice are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Lawmakers in more than a dozen other states are considering bills to allow dental therapists to practice, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts and Community Catalyst, which have also provided support to advocates.)
I have reported on both the oral health care crisis in the U.S. and the success (as well as the setbacks) of those advocates over the past decade. With support from the Kellogg Foundation, I also wrote an ebook about the promise of dental therapy and how community leaders have taken up the fight to allow them to practice. Here is the interview I did for the Foundation’s Every Child Thrives newsletter. You’ll find a link there where you can download the book free of charge.
Never even knew such a profession. As soon as dental care becomes part of mainstream health care what the bet the insurance industry will push for this profession to become the norm