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More people are starting to visit dental therapists for dental treatment as opposed to seeing a dentist. But is that a good thing?
Since roughly 17 million people don’t see a dentist each year—according to the Pew Charitable Trust—the market for dental therapists has opened. They can’t perform all of the procedures that dentists can, but the cost could be significantly lower in some cases.
Alaska was the first state to set up a dental therapy program, having done so in 2005. Minnesota passed legislation in 2008 that opened up the possibility for dental therapists to treat patients. California, Oregon, Connecticut and New Hampshire are looking at similar legislation.
Evidence doesn’t suggest that an influx of dental therapists causes dentists to lose business based on the fact that there is a wide array of procedures that dental therapists cannot perform.
According to the American Dental Association, however, flooding the market with more people that can provide basic dental care isn’t the answer to helping more people receive treatment. Informing people about the importance of maintaining good oral health is the answer.
Still, dental therapists have an important role to fill in remote areas where there is a lack of dentists or no dentists at all. It’s too be determined, however, how the roles of dentists and dental therapists will impact each other and dental patients in the future.
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