Information at a booth displayed on Oct. 16, 2024, at the First Alaskans Institute’s Elders and Youth Conference offers information on the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s dental therapy education program. Alaska was the first U.S. state to develop a dental therapy program. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
For more than 50 million Americans, finding a dentist is a difficult – in some cases, impossible – proposition. Many rural communities don’t have a dentist . People of color and those with disabilities often lack access , and only about one-third of dentists accept Medicaid .
That’s why dental therapists – professionals who don’t have a full dentistry degree but are trained to provide basic dental care – are becoming increasingly popular. Dental therapists are now authorized to practice in 14 states , and they focus primarily on underserved populations.
Dr. Donald Chi , a pediatric dentist and professor of oral health sciences at the University of Washington, explains the kind of training that dental therapists receive, the critical need for them throughout the U.S., and how they have affected the communities they serve.