Washington State Campaign Pushes For Dental Therapists

Washington state has significant access-to-care problems, with the state’s poorest residents—generally Native Americans and other minority groups—experiencing disproportionate amounts of dental diseases. Much of this problem can be solved, experts say, through the utilization of dental therapists. Dental therapists in Alaska and Minnesota have proven to be invaluable to underserved residents, providing simple yet necessary procedures, such as prophylaxes, restorative care, and extractions. The Washington State Dental Association, however, has lobbied against efforts to incorporate dental therapists into the oral health model of care, citing health and safety risks due to differences in education and training. Instead, the association is calling for increased Medicaid reimbursement rates to grow the number of dentists who accept patients covered by Medicaid.

The Washington Dental Access Campaign—a coalition of health care, minority, union, and social organizations—has been long championing the inclusion of dental therapists without success. Despite the lack of state legislation permitting mid-level provider care, Native Americans of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in Skagit County hired a dental therapist who has begun treating patients on the reservation. Such care is necessary, they say, for their people who have high levels of unmet oral health care needs. Attempts by tribal leaders to introduce bills in the House and Senate that would enable dental therapists to practice have thus far been thwarted.

From Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. February 2016;14(02):16.