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February 17, 2017

Dental therapists expand access to care

  • Dentists have long opposed the midlevel position, citing concerns over safety and supervision, but a number of states allow them.
    • By BOB SALSBERG
    Associated Press

    BOSTON — Need a tooth pulled or a cavity filled? Forget the dentist. A number of states are allowing or considering letting “dental therapists,” professionals with a lower level of training, do the job.

    In dozens of countries and a handful of U.S. states, dental therapists also sometimes called advanced dental hygiene practitioners help fill gaps in access to oral care for low-income, elderly and disabled people, and in rural areas where few dentists practice, according to many public health advocates.


     
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