Dental Therapists
Google search of 24 Sept 2020 Are dental therapists in demand? Search Results Featured snippet from the web
In recent years, the profession of dental therapy and hygiene has seen exponential growth in the United States. With a much faster than average growth rate of 20 percent (BLS, 2019) anticipated between 2016 and 2026, dental hygienists are in high demand—adding 40,900 new jobs across the country. Advocacy for Dental Therapists & Hygienists - Expanding Care
People also ask What states have dental therapists?
So far, Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington have authorized the practice of dental therapy, and more are likely to follow.Aug 9, 2019
More States Adopt Laws to Boost Oral Health Care Workforces | The ...
www.pewtrusts.org › articles › 2019/08/09 › more-states-...
Google search 25 Sept 2020 what is the ada position on dental therapists?
Despite the states amending the problem of high cost and lack of accessibility to dental care by implementing a new category of dental provider, the American Dental Association (ADA) and dentists state-wide oppose the use of dental therapist. The ADA is firm in its position against the dental therapist.Dec 31, 2018 Dental Therapists: A Solution to the Lack of Dental Care Needs...
Feb 21, 2017 - Recent news coverage has reported on state activity related to dental therapists as an option to address access to care challenges. There is no available data that demonstrate new models that replicate what dentists already do well have increased access to care at a lower cost. Data from the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute (HPI) indicate the current number of dentists will continue to grow through 2035 and outpace population growth. In addition, more than 27 percent of dentists indicate they have the capacity to add more patients.
Rather than add a new category of providers, the ADA believes there is a critical need to connect underserved people seeking care with dentists ready to treat them. This can be accomplished through community health worker outreach and improved funding for dental services under Medicaid which in turn would increase the number of dentists participating in the program.
An HPI research brief concluded that 22 states could add extensive dental benefits to their existing Medicaid program by adding 1 percent to their Medicaid budgets. Currently most state Medicaid budgets allocate less than 2 percent of their entire Medicaid budget for dental services. When states reform their Medicaid programs using evidence-based solutions, there is tremendous progress. Maryland, Texas, Connecticut, and Michigan are just a few examples.
Apr 16, 2018 - Earlier this decade, Minnesota lawmakers were convinced they had the solution for rural and low-income people not obtaining oral health care. Create a new midlevel provider called a dental therapist and all would be right in the world. What has happened instead should be a cautionary tale for Arizona, where an East Coast foundation is peddling the same off-target solution. While the Pew Foundation and its allies declare Minnesota's dental therapist experiment a spectacular fireworks show, it's really nothing more than a few people standing around waving sparklers.
Since that vote seven years ago, the percentage of Minnesota's Medicaid children receiving any dental service has stubbornly remained around 41 percent. Adding almost 80 dental therapists didn't budge the rate at all. Nor did it reduce dental costs. And now the federal government has put the state on notice: It is at risk of having federal Medicaid money withheld. In contrast, 49 percent of Arizona kids on Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System — the state's Medicaid agency — had a dental visit last year, about the national average. That's still not high enough, but increasing the rate comes from understanding why kids aren't getting oral health care. It's not because of a lack of providers.
We need real solutions that address real issues. Minnesota shows us why. After seven years of expecting dental therapists to fix the problem, Minnesota's elected officials are scrambling to get more children into dental chairs. Nowhere to be found is any suggestion to add more dental therapists.Instead, the governor asked for a substantial increase in Medicaid dental reimbursement rates, which are so low that dentists won't sign up. Legislators, having been assured dental therapists were the panacea, saw no need to raise those rates. They're just now realizing this was never a workforce problem; Minnesota has plenty of dentists. The legislature there wasted time and energy creating a new kind of professional, while ignoring the real barriers to access. Just as in Minnesota, Arizona does not face a workforce shortage. Indeed, 90 percent of publicly insured children live within 15 minutes of a dentist who accepts state Medicaid patients.
Higher reimbursement rates would help attract more Arizona dentists, but the bigger challenge is that Arizona's Medicaid system limits the number of dentists who can sign up. I personally know dentists who would accept state Medicaid patients but have been turned down by the state's contracted insurance plans. Adding dental therapists doesn't fix that bottleneck. Allowing any willing dentist into the program would increase access for children. And there's more we should be doing, like focusing on the real challenges that parents face in getting their kids to a dental office.
We should continue to be creative in expanding preventive services to avoid tooth decay in the first place. We can effectively do this with our existing dental team and the solutions dentists advocated and legislators approved. Dental therapists are a distraction. They solve nothing. Legislative efforts to bring this position to Arizona divert attention from the real issues and real solutions. They set us up to be the next Minnesota, scrambling a few years from now after we learn that Pew's hollow promises only delayed the day of reckoning. Let's not go there. Let's work together on solutions that will really make a difference.
This editorial, reprinted with permission, first appeared in the Arizona Capital Times on March 29. Dr. Robert S. Roda, a Scottsdale, Arizona, endodontist, is president of the Arizona Dental Association.
Breaking down the Minn. dental therapist experiment April 26, 2018 -- Is the dental therapist experiment in Minnesota a success? The answer largely depends on who you ask, and it is likely too soon to know for sure. However, the program at least appears to be on the right track, according to the panelists of an April 24 webinar held by the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP).
Dental therapists currently practice in 54 countries and territories worldwide. In the U.S., these mid-level providers have been delivering care for more than 40,000 Alaska Natives in 81 remote communities since 2004. They have been authorized in Minnesota since 2009, and are authorized in Maine and Vermont; and on tribal lands in Oregon and Washington State. Based on safety and quality data, the demand for dental therapy is growing in the U.S. Currently 9 other states are actively considering dental therapy legislation.
Dental therapist proposal remains controversial EMERY COWAN Sun Staff Reporter Sep 1, 2017 Updated Sep 1, 2017
Early Impacts of Dental Therapists in Minnesota
A review of the global literature on dental therapists
Dental Therapy Toolkit:A RESOURCE FOR POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS