More and more people are recognizing that oral health is important to overall health.  Yet thousands of Ohioans can’t get affordable dental care in their communities—hurting their ability to live, learn, and work.  We need new thinking about how our dental care workforce is configured. Fortunately, there is growing recognition that dental therapists are proven providers who can bring care to communities that need it most.

 Dental therapists were recognized in December when The New York Times Opinion Pages series “Fixes” published its Big Ideas in Social Change, 2014. In October, Fixes featured an in-depth article on dental therapists and how they are improving access to care.

This is a significant acknowledgement. In addition to the growing number of evidence-based evaluations of the dental therapist, it should be clear that adding dental therapists to the dental team will:

• Expand access to high-quality dental care
• Make care more cost-effective
• Improve workers’ employability and create economic impact

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 dental therapists can work in remote areas and maintain contact with their supervising dentists.  This is a great opportunity for us to expand and modernize dental care in Ohio. Please join us as we continue working to bring quality dental care to every community.