➕ Ideas to end the hygienist shortage

In this edition:

• ➕ Ideas to end the hygienist shortage

• 🔺 Lower income families spend 7 times more on care

• 📸 Dental photography on social media

• 🔪 The importance of instrument sharpening

• And more!

Working to address hygienist shortages

The ADHP was created more than 50 years ago to help address the shortage of dental hygienists and lack of access to care in the state. “In 1959, the state legislature gave the Board authority to issue training permits for qualified dentists to sponsor a dental hygiene student in accordance with a dental hygiene training program (ADHP) established by the Board.” Every 10 months the ADHP is able to graduate over 200 dental hygienists.

Students must work as full-time dental assistants with the sponsoring dentist for 24 months prior to entering the program. The ADHP is 10 months and includes on-the-job training provided by the sponsoring dentist and in-person classes one weekend per month. Students are required to complete a minimum of 150 prophylactic procedures. During the program, students can perform hygiene services under a temporary training permit and must have the direct supervision of the sponsoring dentist.

Graduates from the ADHP do not receive an associate’s degree, are not required to take the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination (NBDHE), and are unable to practice in other states. Instead of the NBDHE, they take the Simulated Patient Treatment Clinical Examination (SPTCE) and the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Recently announced, “The American Council on Education (ACE) Learning Evaluations has evaluated and recommended college credit for the ADHP (17 semester credit hours).”

Lower income families spend 7 times more on care

Lower-income families paid 7.4 times more in out-of-pocket costs for dental care compared to higher-income families between 2007 and 2021, according to a new report from the Carequest Institute for Oral Health. 

The report, published June 25, analyzes dental care spending and dentist visits among families with various incomes. Data used for the report represents nearly 500,000 individuals surveyed between 2007 and 2021 in the national Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

The report also shows that in 2021, 55.3% of individuals living at 400% or more of the federal poverty level had a dental visit within the past year, compared to 27% of individuals living at 100% or less than the Federal Poverty Level. 

CareQuest concluded that more solutions are needed to improve dental care accessibility in the U.S. Some of these solutions include expanding adult dental coverage under Medicaid and increasing provider participation in Medicaid, CareQuest said.