Minnesota OKs mid-level dental care provider: Oral Health Practitioner

[coreyb]

Minnesota OKs mid-level dental care provider: Oral Health Practitioner


http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?articleid=3004

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[blissdental]

Finally some good news thanks to the the dental students of U of M !!
Thank you so much for fighting hard for the dental profession!

 

[airsimon]

talking to my father as a dentist in Alberta he says the advanced dental hygienist isn't so bad of an idea. U could make a butt load off them and have ten so all ur dirty work while u focus on more complex procedures

 

[airsimon]

ok so sdn on my iPhone won't allow me to make edits to my posts. I meant to say u could have them do all ur dirty work for u. This would allow u to go faster

 

[12YearOldKid]

talking to my father as a dentist in Alberta he says the advanced dental hygienist isn't so bad of an idea. U could make a butt load off them and have ten so all ur dirty work while u focus on more complex procedures

That may be true IF they were required to work under the diagnosis and supervision of a dentist. This new position granted nearly complete autonomy.

 

[toofshucker]

So basically Minnesota created a group of people to try to figure out what this new practitioner would be...which means shut the hygienists up for a little while.

I personally think this is b.s. Do one of two things - get rid of dentists and let the all knowing hygienists do what they want or two - make dental school quicker to finish and open up 100 more schools. Either way, allowing a "Practitioner" to do irreversible procedures is doing one of the two above options.

But, like I said, this is most likely just something to shut the hygienists up until 2011. Come 2011, we will find out that all their research has proven what we already know. If you want to be a hygienist, go to hygiene school. If you want to be a dentist, there are 50+ schools you can apply to.

 

[blissdental]

That may be true IF they were required to work under the diagnosis and supervision of a dentist. This new position granted nearly complete autonomy.

True + who knows when they would start asking for autonomy like the CRNAs. Those midlevels are driving the physicians crazy.

 

[blissdental]

talking to my father as a dentist in Alberta he says the advanced dental hygienist isn't so bad of an idea. U could make a butt load off them and have ten so all ur dirty work while u focus on more complex procedures

I would say it's better that dentists just do their own work. If you previliege the midlevels to make a butt load off for you, pretty soon you'll find them asking for autonomy to make a butt load off for themselves.

 

[blissdental]

So basically Minnesota created a group of people to try to figure out what this new practitioner would be...which means shut the hygienists up for a little while.

I personally think this is b.s. Do one of two things - get rid of dentists and let the all knowing hygienists do what they want or two - make dental school quicker to finish and open up 100 more schools. Either way, allowing a "Practitioner" to do irreversible procedures is doing one of the two above options.

But, like I said, this is most likely just something to shut the hygienists up until 2011. Come 2011, we will find out that all their research has proven what we already know. If you want to be a hygienist, go to hygiene school. If you want to be a dentist, there are 50+ schools you can apply to.

I doubt any of us would be totally satisfied with this conclusion. But at least it's better than before since U of M will have a say in what setting and procedure these midlevels will be able to practice.

But yes, it would be really frustrating if we had to send out emails again in 2011. In the meantime, I guess we could work on something else while we're waiting. Like improving the status of the dental assistants so that they could start doing a bit of hygiene work. I think I saw a post somewhere regarding this issue...
Now since it's too late to prevent these midlevels from forming, I say we now focus on distributing the power between them. If we don't want those midlevels to compete with us, we need to make them compete with each other.

 

[Aceofspades]

Very strategic thinking. I read somewhere in the Medicine forums that many Physicians wish they would have promoted the Physicians assistant in order to combat the rise of the CRNA's. Though neither is an ideal situation, at least the Physician's assistant is controlled by Physicians. CRNA's only answer to themselves.

 

[MacGyver]

talking to my father as a dentist in Alberta he says the advanced dental hygienist isn't so bad of an idea. U could make a butt load off them and have ten so all ur dirty work while u focus on more complex procedures

That works OK for about 10 years or so until the ADHPs realize they can lobby their legislators with claims of "my dentist lets me do all these procedures solo and doesnt supervise me, therefore I'm qualified to do them all solo"

 

[Taurus]

This is definitely the lesser poison of the two. A very clever move by the MDA.

 

[golfgirl]

"Like improving the status of the dental assistants so that they could start doing a bit of hygiene work. I think I saw a post somewhere regarding this issue..."
WHY WOULD IT BE SMARTER TO GIVE MORE POWER/STATUS AND CONTROL TO ASSISTANTS WHO HAVE 100% LESS EDUCATION THAN A HYGIENIST?.. I HOPE ITS NOT BECAUSE IT WOULD COST LESS!! I WOULD RATHER SEE A HYGIENIST ALLOWED MORE FUNCTION THAN AN ASSISTANT WHO HAS NEVER EVEN TAKEN AN ANATOMY CLASS.

 

[blissdental]

"Like improving the status of the dental assistants so that they could start doing a bit of hygiene work. I think I saw a post somewhere regarding this issue..."
WHY WOULD IT BE SMARTER TO GIVE MORE POWER/STATUS AND CONTROL TO ASSISTANTS WHO HAVE 100% LESS EDUCATION THAN A HYGIENIST?.. I HOPE ITS NOT BECAUSE IT WOULD COST LESS!! I WOULD RATHER SEE A HYGIENIST ALLOWED MORE FUNCTION THAN AN ASSISTANT WHO HAS NEVER EVEN TAKEN AN ANATOMY CLASS.

Since when did we need an anatomy class to clean teeth well??
Who cares about education when even high school grads or community college grads get to be dentists, right?
And of course it's not about the money....
It's because of the access problem


And by the way, I agree with you.. Of course those assistants with "100%" less education than hygienists shouldn't be able to just clean teeth without any training. But that's no big deal, we're just going to have to come up with a nice name for them along with a 6 month fast track course.
But no worry... it's not like they're going to be hygienists..of course not... they're just going to be able to clean teeth, take impressions, do radiographs... that's all nothing more than that. I'm sure you agree that the access problem is very, very serious and a less skilled scaling is better than none. I mean as a dental student, don't you have any sympathy for all those people that can't afford to get any scaling?

 

[blissdental]

WHY WOULD IT BE SMARTER TO GIVE MORE POWER/STATUS AND CONTROL TO ASSISTANTS WHO HAVE 100% LESS EDUCATION THAN A HYGIENIST?..

Think harder. I'm sure you'll get it since you were smart enough to become a dental student.

 

[aphistis]

Of course those assistants with "100%" less education than hygienists shouldn't be able to just clean teeth without any training. But that's no big deal, we're just going to have to come up with a nice name for them along with a 6 month fast track course.
But no worry... it's not like they're going to be hygienists..of course not... they're just going to be able to clean teeth, take impressions, do radiographs... that's all nothing more than that. I'm sure you agree that the access problem is very, very serious and a less skilled scaling is better than none. I mean as a dental student, don't you have any sympathy for all those people that can't afford to get any scaling?

Very slick, very nice.

 

[Fido00]

I have not been following this issue very closely, but let me say that I am a physician assistant, and will be starting dental school in about two months.

To me it seems that the genie is already out of the bottle concerning a mid level provider (MLP), because there will be a case made that there are concerns about access to care in all 50 states. Addionally, there is a strong precedent in medicine for a MLP. It is very important for the ADA to be proactive in this matter in providing leadership for these programs, helping to define their role and scope of practice. There should be restrictions on their practice, just as my scope was limited as a practicing PA, but there will be much less restriction if the programs and the developing professions are left to define their own roles.

I do think this will be interesting, although I still have concerns about a MLP in dentistry b/c as has been stated there are more irreversible procedures in dentistry than in medicine.

 

[toofshucker]

Why? We have what we need. They are called dentists, hygienists, assistants. I understand the lack of access for some people, but dumbing down any profession isn't the answer.

I guess my point is, why re-name the jobs we already have? It won't change anything. The second a "therapist" is able to do irreversible procedures they will leave the "low access" areas. Creating another title and lowering the licensing requirements for the same job solves nothing.

 

[reapply2007]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. These people need to have mandatory patient bases, and reimbursement at a lower rate that DDS/DMD as mid-level folks do in medicine due to differing levels of complexity of analysis and treatment. MN could also take in foreign BSDs to function at the same mid-level practitioner level with the same requirements.

Also, I did not notice any malpractice insurance requirements.