dental therapists

Published on

Newsday

State legislation pending in Albany would license dental therapy in New York, a profession that supporters say would lower costs, expand access to dentistry, shorten waits and improve oral health…

…An estimated 68.5 million adults go without dental insurance, according to the 2023 State of Oral Health Equity in America survey by the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. In parts of New York, two-thirds of the population live in high needs areas for oral health, according to a study published in July by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany’s School of Public Health.

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Published on

The Wall Street Journal

Many Americans lack proper access to dental care. Could creating more dental therapists—clinicians who have less training than dentists but can provide some routine dental care like exams and fillings—help?…

…“This is part of the regular dental team and some of the things a dentist can do can now be done more cost-effectively by a dental therapist,” says Jean Moore, an adviser to the Oral Health Workforce Research Center and director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies, an academic research center based at SUNY Albany’s School of Public Health.

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Published on

Times Union

ALBANY — Last summer, the calls started coming into Saratoga Springs Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner’s district office.Woerner said she was curious about the sudden spike in constituents who said they couldn’t find dental care for themselves or family members.“There’s a decided lack of dentists whose practice will include Medicaid patients,” Woerner said. “For example, in my district, it is only the Saratoga Community Health Center, which is run by the hospital. They have one dentist and two hygienists and that’s it for the entire population.”

Across the state, soaring Medicaid rates are bringing into sharp focus the scarcity of dental care options for low- and middle-income people on public health insurance…

…At one safety-net provider in Minnesota, clinicians, administrators and patients overwhelmingly reported positive experiences with the dental therapy workforce, according to a study by Oral Health Workforce Research Center at the University at Albany’s School of Public Health.

A review of dental claims data revealed that by leaning on dental therapists, dentists were freed up to provide a higher level of service, wait times for care decreased and patients had more of their dental needs met per visit.

“It’s pretty obvious that it’s quite positive and you want to say to people, ‘Gee, what are you waiting for? ‘ ” research center director Jean Moore told the Times Union. “But the resistance from organized dentistry at times can be pretty daunting.”

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