Dental Pilot Project #300

Sponsor

Willamette Dental Group

Project Status

This project is ongoing. The project is currently approved to operate from May 21, 2020 – January 2, 2025.

Purpose and Project Description

The purpose of this project is to investigate the feasibility of adopting a dental therapist model as a new category of dental care provider for Oregon. There are multiple dental therapy models currently in use in the United States. This is proposing to evaluate the appropriateness of one such model in Oregon. This dental workforce pilot project is designed to determine if adding a dental therapist to the existing dental team is an efficient and cost-effective way to increase access to dental care, especially for patients who experience higher disease rates and barriers to care (i.e. the target population), while maintaining the quality of dental care and safety that all patients deserve. This dental workforce pilot project will also evaluate the efficacy of educating licensed dental hygienists to become dental therapists through a unique one-year dental therapy education program that will allow the dental hygienists to complete dental therapy education while they maintain their current employment as a dental hygienist.

This dental workforce pilot project will be sponsored by Willamette Dental Group. Pacific University will oversee the development and implementation of the dental therapy education program. In the first and second years of the dental workforce pilot project, dental hygienists from Willamette Dental Group and/or from other partner organizations will be educated as dental therapists. Following the education phase, the dental therapist participants will be added as a provider to their assigned clinical practice site working under indirect and/or general supervision of their supervising dentist. Data will be collected to evaluate how the dental therapists affect efficiency, cost, quality, patient satisfaction and patient safety.

The participants in this dental workforce pilot project will be dental hygienists who hold a current Oregon dental hygiene license in good standing with endorsements in local anesthesia and restorative functions. Participants are not required to hold an expanded practice permit or a nitrous oxide permit; however, those who hold these permits may use these skills as part of the pilot project. These dental hygienists must work in a dental practice setting that focuses on improving access to care for patients, especially those in the target population. The dental practice setting must also agree to add these educated dental therapists to their clinical practice sites and collect the data required for the evaluation plan.

This dental workforce pilot project will be successful if the results indicate that the addition of a dental therapist to the dental team is a cost-effective way to increase access to dental care, especially for patients with high disease risk and least access to care, while still maintaining the quality of dental care that all patients deserve. This pilot project will also assess if the work life of health care providers including clinicians and staff are improved through the addition of a dental therapist to the dental team. This dental workforce pilot project will also be successful if dental hygienists can successfully complete the one-year dental therapy education program while they continue to work in their current employment setting. *

Key Documents

Site Visits Reports

Advisory Committee Meeting Materials

November 14, 2022 Agenda (pdf) and Meeting Materials (pdf)

May 9, 2022 Meeting Materials (pdf) 

January 31, 2022 Meeting Materials (pdf)  

Additional Information

If you would like copies of documents associated with this project, including application review, public comments, project chronology, site visit reports, advisory committee meeting minutes, and more, please contact Sarah Kowalski at sarah.e.kowalski@oha.oregon.gov and these items will be made available to you.