The Problem:

In 2000 the Ohio Department of Health declared that dental care was the number one unmet health need for children and low-income adults in our state. To this day affordable care has been out of reach for too many Ohioans. More than 1.5 million Ohioans live in Ohio’s 84 Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas where there are just not enough dentists, and many more cannot afford dental care. Tooth decay is a silent epidemic and is the leading chronic illness among children.  Poor children, children who live in Ohio’s Appalachian region, and children of color are disproportionately affected.

Oral Health Is Essential To Overall Health

We need to take our oral health a lot more seriously.  Poor oral health increases our risk of stroke, heart disease – including fatal heart attacks – and diabetes.  It can lead to respiratory infections like pneumonia and bone mass loss in older women.

Children Are Affected The Most:

Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease – more common than asthma. Left untreated, dental decay can impede learning, social development and proper nutrition.  It can also lead to a lifetime of poor health, and increased risk of diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.

Expanding The Dental Team Is Key To Expanding Access:

We must make dental care affordable for families. Dental therapists (DTs) offer a cost-effective way to help more Ohioans get the dental care they need.  Working as part of a dentist-led team, DTs provide preventive care and routine, everyday services.  That way, dentists can see more patients, and DTs can practice in communities where there aren’t enough dentists.

Why Now Our dental care system is failing too many Ohioans, and the problem is getting worse. We should take a cue from the medical care system, where Ohio has done a good job of modernizing our laws and removing restrictive regulations so that nurse practitioners, advance practice nurses and physician assistants can provide needed care to more people. We need to do the same for dental care. In addition, advances in health information technology mean that DTs can work in remote areas and maintain contact with their supervising dentists.  On May 17, Senator Peggy Lehner, introduced Senate Bill 330 that allows the evidence based providers: dental therapist and dental hygiene therapists, to join the dentist-led team.

Objective:

• Get state legislation passed that expands the dental team to include the dental therapist (DT) and dental hygienist therapist (DHT), as an important professional member of the dentist led team to help address Ohio’s unmet and worsening dental health access problems and improve quality of care.

Accomplishments:

• Organized 3 successful Advocacy Days where supporters met with their legislators to ask them to sponsor dental therapist legislation.
• Grew the the number of organizations that support us from 62 to 88 including diverse groups such as Ohio Public Health Association, Americans For Prosperity, and Ohio Dental Hygiene Association.
• Obtained Legislative sponsor for dental therapist legislation, Senator Peggy Lehner.

Leadership Team:

• Ohio AIDS Coalition
• CareSource
• Ohio Association of Foodbanks
• Clintonville Resources Center
• NASW Ohio Chapter
• Pike County General Health District
• Ohio Dental Hygiene Association