Dental therapists will Provide Routine Care to Underserved Patients
A dental therapist is a "midlevel provider" who practices alongside a dentist, much as physician assistants practice alongside a physician.
They will provide basic preventive treatment, such as assessments, X-rays and application of fluorides and sealants, under the general supervision of the dentist. They will also do restorative procedures like fillings and extractions of primary, or baby, teeth - but these must be carried out with the dentist on site to make interoperative decisions or complete treatment if complications arise.
Therapists will be an essential member of the dental team. It is expected they will work primarily with underserved patients, in dental practices and settings like veterans hospitals and public health and community-based clinics. Therapists will also work in rural areas, where there is a growing shortage of dentists.
"Employing dental therapists will make it possible for licensed dentists to care for more patients," says Patrick Lloyd, dean of the University Of Minnesota School Of Dentistry. "Routine care provided by dental therapists will also be more cost-effective."
(MFW Note: Metropolitan State has an Oral Health Care Practitioner Master of Science program that is delivered at Normandale Community College Campus.
The Advanced Dental Therapist provision trains a Master's level educated provider who is licensed to practice as a Dental Therapist and will have a more advanced scope of practice. Advanced Dental Therapists will evaluate, assess and write a treatment plan, perform non-surgical extractions of permanent teeth and administer all services of a Dental Therapist without the requirement for onsite supervision. Like Dental Therapists, Advanced Dental Therapists will work with a supervising dentist via a collaborative management agreement.
This paves the way for students educated under the ADHP model at Metropolitan State University to be licensed and enter the workforce as Advanced Dental Therapists. The Metropolitan State program builds on the dental hygiene education model by requiring that students of the Masters program be licensed dental hygienists prior to entry. That will develop the providers who have the full preventive skill set of a dental hygienist in addition to the Advanced Dental Therapist skill set.
Both Metropolitan State's and the University of Minnesota's programs are slated to begin in the fall of 2009. The first practitioners could begin practice as early as 2011.)
The U of M School of Dentistry offers a bachelor of science in dental therapy. Students enter the year-round, 40-month program after completing a year of pre-health professional college course work. The program combines classroom work with training in a simulation clinic where students learn dental technique by practicing on mannequins. Some courses are taken with dental and dental hygiene students, and students from all three disciplines work together to treat patients in the school's campus- and community-based clinics.
The school also offers a master of dental therapy program. This is open to individuals who hold a baccalaureate degree in another field and, in addition, have completed the necessary prerequisite courses.
Source: Star Tribune, Nancy Giguere, 8/21/09
