Dentist Shortage Forces Dental Therapists to Pick Up the Slack
A nationwide shortage in the number of dentists has caused an influx in the number of states that are licensing dental therapists -- and are being met with resistance from the dentists themselves, a May 6 USA Today article reports.
Only a handful of states currently allow dental therapists -- a dentist's equivalent of a physician's assistant -- to be licensed. Dental therapists get two years of intensive training before entering the field, where their work consists mainly of dental cleanings and procedures like extractions, according to the article.
However, now that there is a lack of dentists across the country, these states are turning to dental therapists to pick up more responsibility.
According to Delta Dental Insurance company data, about three times as many people across t...